How Weather Affects Creativity

The world is obsessed with weather. It is deeply rooted in us and for good reason - survival. Clearly, times in the past, when our world and food supply was less connected, bad weather could mean starvation. Crops could be wiped out or conditions leading to brutal winters, floods, and damaging winds, could be the end of us. To some degree, this is still true today, but far less so.

Modern living for most artists simply means hunkering down for the worst months and digging deep for your mojo. If your studio is outside, well then, you may be digging deep through snow first! Some thrive and some barely stay alive creativity speaking. It depends on how the weather and also the lack of summer light affect you. Some become somewhat depressed.

But then comes the reprieve of a few days of warmth and Shazam!!, we get a big boost of energy! Maybe it’s better to be called a time-out. If you live in Virginia as I do, I can share something. I can do so because I’m also a long time motorcyclist who has been riding through the last 20 years of winters. The truth is, every year we get these warm day time-outs that come in January or February. These are the days set up to let us spray varnish artwork outside, or go do a plein air painting, or as my wife Linda was doing yesterday, washing out silk screens with the hose.

They come and then they go, so it’s best to be prepared for them as they arrive each winter like a gift at your doorstep!

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