I like to think that everyone finds themselves in an artistic rut every so often. This makes me feel comfortable when my ideas seem stale.
I’m too busy to rethink things all the time. When I leave work I take the same route. I tried new routes in the beginning, but now that I’ve found one that works I never rethink it. You could say that I’m in a driving rut, but that wouldn’t phase me: I’m spending that time thinking about other things. Sometimes my art process, which is built on the elements and methods that I like and continue to use, becomes a rut like how I drive at the end of a day.
A useful strategy to break this is to purposefully place a problem in the way. A detour, designed to frustrate. forcing different elements and methods. Examples include an early deadline, exotic location, or suppressed budget.
I think your awareness of the usefulness of a “rut” is evidence that you are an “out of the box” thinker. Most of us move in our ruts because it is the “right” way to do something and we tend to miss the serendipity of a new course.
Thanks Tibbie
But what does all this have to do with John Lithgow? 🙂