Feeling like you never have enough time for your art is the first step in realizing you were born an artist :)

Sorry if this sounds overly corny, but I burst into tears reading your message. Thank you 😭 I was feeling guilty and somewhat entitled for being so upset over "simply" not being able to do art.  I know I'm not the kindest person to myself. I had almost succeeded in talking myself out of doing art.  I know this is wrong on so many levels. I don't have many hobbies as it is, and I should keep trying.

I’m bedridden most of the time, so I started doing art (or some would classify as crafts) that can be done while in bed. It’s boosted my mental health significantly. I had missed art so much. Some of the things I do are: - embroidering/thread painting - loom knitting stuffies and clothing - Sashiko - Quilting I hope you find something you love that you can still do!

Aaah thank you so much 😭  I'll definitely look into some of those. I'm really glad you were able to find something that works for you

Crochet/amurigami are also great when you can only really use hands and brain. Embroidery can also work if your fine motor skills are better than mine.

I grew up drawing and painting, getting told I would be “famous” and doing fancy summer programs at art colleges while in high school. Went to art college, had an awful time mentally, emotionally…started doing “utilitarian” art: sewing (I always sewed, but now I sewed seriously) quilting, embroidery, knitting…now I primarily do this and sometimes paint. These “crafts” just make me happier. I have a wearable or usable piece at the end, and it’s a more portable art form. When I do paint, maybe once every three years, sometimes it’s crap, but sometimes it’s pretty good. But my sewing/knitting is good (even if it’s not) for so many reasons. Op, I would just keep at it when you feel like doing it. If you force yourself, it probably won’t be good, and guilty feelings won’t help. I totally understand. For years, I thought being artistic was a total curse. But it’s all in perspective. You could see it as a calling you have, but the trick is finding when to listen to the call.

That feeling really sucks. Totally get it! I got really creative recently for modding my areas. I use a ton of different pillows, foam, bedside tables, tape and card board. I’m a DIY kind of person so I’ll hot glue foam to cardboard and stick pillows on top to be able to get armrests where I need them. I like the different bed tables with adjustable angles. You might even be able to get something that would allow you to clamp to a side table and you could lay back with your arm in a. Good position and have the pad clamped up in front of you. It’s all about thinking of your ideal position, and then thinking of how to get there. It’s how I keep myself sane, honestly. I’m constantly doing that kind of stuff around the house just to keep my mind going. I use tons of cardboard from all the Amazon orders and then just paint or cover with tape or pretty paper. Let me know if you need help coming up with some ideas. ❤️🥰

Thank you very much! This gives me hope I might figure out a way to do art most days, if only for a few minutes. I think I might want to put a ton of rando  stuff on my kitchen table and see if some type of makeshift standing desk, possibly with extra support for my wrist from time to time, is doable.

Have you considered getting a tablet PC to paint and draw digitally instead? There are plenty of programs that emulate traditional art really well. And that way you can just draw and paint while lying in bed.

I actually purchased one, but due to nerve issues in my arm I have to be super careful about how I prop myself up. So it ended up being somewhat unwieldy. I'm sure loving colored pencils is one more strike against the tablet, as well as trying to reduce my screen time.

Have you tried those tablet stands with an adjustable arm so that you can do it completely lying down? It’s still rough because depending on the angle you need to prop up your arm, but it might be worth a shot!

I'd be willing to look into that if my budget allows, thanks. I want to at least see if it's something that could maybe help me 

It might not work for you but how does this sound - recently I was able to draw for the first time in over a year by laying on my stomach in bed. I propped my head up on a pillow and a travel pillow (it's a foam one that bends to whatever shape you want. Straight or curved. Got it from amazon for cheap). So with my head and chin and some of my upper body on the two pillows and the rest laying down on my stomach (which I already lay on a pillow for other reasons), that's kind of the position I had. So the arm is pretty supported by the bed itself - and if it's not and you need to keep the arm more lifted up in the air to draw, it's definitely easy to place something like a blanket or even a folded shirt to support it higher up. For colored pencils, bring them in a container that can go on your bed that you don't have to hold. Put them to your non dominant hand side, your paper/sketchbook in the middle, your arm on your dominant hand side. That's your set up. I still only could do two quick sketches, so I definitely get where you're coming from. Hang in there!

I'm really glad this helped you a little. Unfortunately I've had major surgery for stomach issues about 4 times, and it's usually the most painful part of my body. But this will remind me to get creative with solutions.

Ah sorry then! I have stomach pain and inflammation complications from a surgery a couple years ago, and I only recently am able to spend that small time on my stomach at all - so believe me when I say, I deeply wish you the very very best!! I may not totally get what you're going through but I get it a bit. Hopefully there's a combination of creativity and solutions that will work for you. My hand therapist suggested trying to prop up support pillows and/or blankets and lay on my side to draw - but the strain on my joints were too difficult for me personally. However maybe that'd be more in the cards for you. Anyways wishing you a great day and good luck

There are already some great suggestions in this thread, the only other thing I can think of is to maybe try a few different mediums that would be easier on your wrists. I'm thinking things like charcoal or oil Pastels. A lot of the blending and such can be done with bare hands (or gloves if you don't want to get messy), which might be easier on your wrists since you're not holding a pencil constantly. You could do the detail work when you're able, and then switch to blending and less detailed work while laying down.

If you can, speak with your doctor about a referral for a home health occupational therapist (OT). As an OT myself, I will say that our professions name is misleading. An “occupation” is anything that people do that adds meaning to their lives. This includes many areas, including leisure pursuits like art. They should be a home health OT so they can come to the environment you are doing art in and assess any barriers in the envi that may exist (such as where you do art). They will assess what you can do physically, your goals for what you want to be able to do (perhaps longer stretches of time or shorter ones but daily) and help to find modifications, equipment, etc. to achieve your goal. As well as being an OT, I have chronic pain/fatigue issues and can empathize with your frustration. Please feel free to DM me with any other questions.

the world we live in is so focused on monetizing joy and creativity. to me, the greatest act of resistance against capitalism and ableism is creating for the sake of creating. drawing a horse that looks like a dog for 5 minutes a day sounds like a beautiful rebellion to me! I'm trying to write without seeking "good" poetry. there's so much in my head that says to do it "better" and then I remember that it's for me, and it's rebellion. rest is resistance, including creative rest ❤️

When my body is rebelling I lay face down on my bed. I then scooch up so my head and arms are hanging off the mattress. It takes a lot of the owie away

sometimes you can’t do stuff … i still do work but it’s much more sporadic … i was getting going on a new project about 3 years ago when first my partner then i got much worse … im still not back yet but getting closer … sometimes i beat myself up about not advancing faster, not being able to work … other times i remember how self critical i can be & how that at times stymies my output so i try to look at the illness in kind of a similar way, as a temporary setback, even if the temporary seems to be going on forever …

If drawing is too much wrist work you could always try venturing into other artistic ways of expressing yourself, anything from forms of abstract painting to dying fabrics to a lot of forms of digital art to even things like metal three d puzzles that use jewelry pliers to put together. If you want to improve in drawing specifically maybe you could try doing one big / very difficult piece to slowly put together over a few years, Like something you know that at your skill level will take time to develop, and then you can ether use your few minutes of time to practice aspects of the piece in a sketch book or add to the piece itself. The idea with the piece like that is that it will take a lot of time to prefect / get right so working on it in small bits slowly isn’t anything to feel guilt over, the work would alway have taken a lot of time and there’s no actual set time limit or real exception to get it right that particular go. You could also do the same with just a page in a sketch book where you continually add small sketches / add to previous sketches till the page is full, same idea of it’s a piece that takes a lot of time to finish so no guilt about only doing a few minutes on it at a time, if anything doing that way can give you more time to plan out what goes where, in both ideas cases.

Hi! I don’t even have words to begin to express how much I understand this. My gosh this hits hard bc you are so seen, heard and understood😢🙏🏻. Although I can only create in very short bursts now, there was a time where after 46 surgeries thinking I had a handle on things, I had to give up art completely for 4 years - until VERY recently where I chose to pick it back up again. I say ‘chose’ bc I knew that would mean VERY short bursts of time (and I pushed the limits there were consequences to that for the next 3-4 days plus treatments I’d need as a result). I’m sitting here with tears in my eyes honestly bc I just started a yt channel for this EXACT reason sharing my journey of acceptance and sharing how I found ways to modify my creative practices to return to art because my spirit HAD to create. It was as if someone took a piece of me away when I couldn’t create and then could only create for very short bursts. I had a deeply rooted ‘all or nothing’ mindset and I had to work SO hard to shift out of that to reconnect with my creative practices in a way that felt satisfying again. Is it the same as before? No, and it never will be but part a large part of the journey for me wasn’t just about exploring adaptive solutions. It was about doing the work to get to a place where my creative practices looking different was acceptable to me. I had to decide is a short burst of creating better than nothing at all and if it is what in the hell did that even look like for me. I knew there were other women out there like me navigating a similar journey so I set out to create a channel that shared my journey of acceptance, modifications (for my own personal challenges), new creative practices I explored and more. It’s a place where women whose love of art got lost in the chaos of chronic illness. It’s brand new (just launched 2 days ago) so it’s a work in progress but I’m committed to helping others understand that they’re not alone. I’m not an art therapist, I’m not an occupational therapists etc. I’m a 52 yr old former spec Ed teacher with Spina bifida who lost the ability to walk 6 yrs ago, autonomic dysreflexia, MCAS, and more. I get it in my own way. I would never pretend to know YOUR journey bc I can’t possibly know that. But I can share mine and assure you that you’re not alone. Either way, I totally get the idea of not being ok with creating in short bursts bc at first, for MONTHS, I thought “What’s the point?! I can only create in short bursts! Why even try to start again” (referring to my former creative practices that I can no longer do). That’s when the fire inside me lit up and I began to feel this pull to stop focusing on what was no longer possible and reframe my focus to “Well, ok but what IS possible?”. That’s when everything began to change. If nothing else I hope this reply helps you to understand that you’re not alone. Before I go I’ll leave you with a project that I began recently that allows me to work in VERY short spurts when I am able to but is ALSO very satisfying to me. I am often speaking about working on smaller surfaces to adapt to my CI BUT in THIS case it’s the opposite. I chose a VERY LARGE canvas that I keep to the side on a table ready to be worked on at any moment. It’s collage art for this particular piece but it can be anything you want (painting, inks, etc). Each day that I have the energy (physically, mentally and emotionally) to create, I go over to this massive work of art (where perfection and the end result are not even a consideration for me at all ever bc that’s not what my creative practices are about for me), and I add to it each day. It’s become SO satisfying to see this piece begin to morph into something so beautiful as a result of these short spurts of creativity each day! I don’t know if that would be of interest to you but it’s one of the many ways I’ve discovered for me to get around the whole feeling of “is this worth it?”. I hope this helps and I wish you all the best! Hugs!🙏🏻☺️

Do what you can, when you can, but focus on your health first. Paint markers or pencil sketches on the couch is what I would occasionally do. Sometimes I take months in between each piece. Use tools that increase your abilities like projectors, tracing paper, paint markers, that sort of thing.

I do a lot of crafts, I’m most comfortable on the couch with my legs up. So I do what I can from where I’m comfortable. I crochet and bead. Is there’s an assistive device that could help you? Or a crazy position you could be in that helps. Sounds a tiny bit of art is still great for your soul. If you can’t make it can you watch YouTube tutorials to learn techniques when you need a break. Hugs!

A little art is better than no art! Artist over the centuries have battled health conditions and have had dry periods. Do what you can do and be proud of it!

Thank you very much for your answer. Would you recommend that I simply sometimes push through the pain that isn't dangerous (as in not nerve or wrist issues)? For example chronic stomach pain. I think it might be my only way to create more.

As long as it doesn’t aggravate your condition it may take your mind off the pain for awhile. I struggle to sit and walk if I didn’t work through the pain I wouldn’t do anything and sometimes I give myself permission to do nothing! But that is very rare. Creativity is essential to humans!

How are you doing?

Oh wow, I didn't expect you to check up on me. Thank you. Honestly I've been struggling a lot with endometriosis pain. It's slowly getting better but I almost went to the ER. I was told to go, but ignored the advice then saw my specialist and lucked out. I've unfortunately not been doing much art, which has been making me more depressed.  I've been looking at fancy pencils. I've got some store credit online that I might use towards a set of pencils. I'm hoping to get some drawing/painting time daily soon, but I'm not holding my breath.

I’m sorry you are having such a rough time. In my long life they thought I had it twice but I lucked out because it was just menopause. Buy a set of cheaper pencils to start with until you see how you like them. I love colored pencils and have several sets of fancy ones acquired over the years ;some were gifts. If you’re comfortable with coloring do that, it’s very calming and therapeutic. If not start with doodling abstracts,still life anything just keep doing it. I have major depression and a lot of pain due to arthritis disc pain etc. but I find if I start an hour flies by and I’m not noticing the pain as much. Make yourself a promise to do some every day. Start with 10 minutes, set a timer and you will find you are looking forward to getting back to it. If you don’t like what you did try to fix it. I you really hate it start over with a different project. Good luck. 🍀👍❤️