From Dormant to Dazzling: How to Reignite Your Creative Spark after a break
There’s a quiet magic in the moment you decide to return to your art. After weeks, months, or even years away, your creative spark may feel buried — but it’s never gone. Like embers waiting beneath the ashes, your inspiration glows softly, ready to flare into brilliance with just a little breath. This is the journey from dormant to dazzling — a gentle, joyful path back to color, texture, and self-expression. Whether you’re picking up a brush for the first time in years or dusting off your favorite sketchbook, this is your invitation to begin again, one beautiful step at a time.
There’s a moment — maybe small, maybe monumental — when you feel the pull to create again. You catch yourself doodling during a phone call. You wander into the art aisle of a store “just to look.” You open that old sketchbook, and you are immediately transported back to the days when art-making was a consistent part of your life. In that moment, something stirs in you. Your inner artist, patient, and persistent, has been waiting for you to remember. And so, your creative magick has awakened.
Why We Step Away
Life is full and sometimes crazy, often to the point of being overwhelming. Illness, caregiving, long hours at work, or simply losing touch with our creative self can lead us to set down the brush or pen for months or even years. This isn’t failure; it’s part of the rhythm of an artistic life. Creativity is cyclical. Pauses allow us to rest, grow, and return with a new perspective.
The Whisper of Return
Before the grand, sweeping comeback, there’s often a whisper: a color you can’t stop thinking about, a scene you wish you’d painted, a longing to feel the texture of paper again. These small sparks are your inner artist saying, “I’m still here.”
For me, it’s usually late at night when I know I have to get up early for work, that is when art calls to me in the loudest of silent whispers.
Gentle First Steps
The key is not to demand masterpieces from yourself on day one. Begin with ten minutes a day — a loose sketch, a dab of color, even arranging objects in an aesthetically pleasing way. Lowering the bar opens the door wider for joy and curiosity to walk in.
Sometimes it can be as simple as prepping materials for your next project. I sometimes paint whole pages to be cut up for collage later, or research reference images to help me brainstorm.
Make It Sacred
Turn your art time into a ritual. Light a candle. Play music that moves you. Keep a sketchbook in reach. This isn’t about productivity; it’s about connection — with yourself, your spirit, and the world around you.
I always burn sage to clear my workspace and bless my tools. What can you do to shift from the secular to the mystical realm of creation?
Meeting Resistance with Compassion
Doubt will try to join you at the table. Thoughts like, “I’m rusty,” or “I’ve lost it” are common. Greet them kindly, but don’t give them your brush. Remind yourself that art is not a performance; it’s a relationship, and relationships grow stronger with attention.
You’re not too old and you’re not a bad artist for not creating. You are human, doing human things. Life takes over, and when it becomes too much, we often forget to nurture our sacred selves.
Be kind and compassionate to yourself and make a gentle yet firm commitment to honor the creative self you were born into.
Sustaining the Spark
Make creativity part of your everyday environment. Leave supplies out where you see them. Surround yourself with inspiration — books, nature walks, art by your favorite artists. Let your style shift, morph, and surprise you.
Your inner artist has been here all along, waiting for you to remember that art is not just what you create, but who you are.
Take Your Creative Awakening Further
If you’re feeling that tug to create again, now is the perfect time to nurture it. Your spark has been waiting — and with the right prompts, it can grow into a steady, joyful flame.
That’s why I created 7 Days to Reignite Your Creative Spark — a gentle, pressure-free journey designed to help you explore, play, and reconnect with your art in small, magical steps. Each day brings a new invitation to create, from exploring a single color to dreaming up enchanted objects. Includes a printable art page to display for inspiration.
It’s not about perfection or productivity — it’s about remembering the deep connection between you and your art, and letting that relationship flourish.
🌙 Download your free copy and let’s walk this path together — one color, one breath, one moment at a time.
8/14/2025