In this episode of The Creative Couch, I respond to three thoughtful creative dilemmas from Marilyn, Rachel and Jill – exploring the pressure to draw accurately, the weight of creative expectations after a big life change, and the paralysis that comes from overthinking and too many ideas.
Marilyn has loved art her whole life but still feels held back by a voice that tells her her drawings must look exactly like what she sees. After discovering a more expressive way of working, something clicked, but she’s struggling to move away from accuracy and trust her own choices. How do you draw with confidence when you’ve spent years believing there’s a “right” way to do it, and how do you begin to work more freely with colour and mark-making?
Rachel recently stepped away from a long and intense career to create more space for printmaking, but an upcoming exhibition has left her feeling overwhelmed rather than inspired. With her confidence shaken and pressure building, she’s questioning whether she’s ready at all, and feels she needs to create an entirely new body of work to prove herself. How do you approach opportunities like this without turning them into a test, and how do you move forward when everything suddenly feels like it matters too much?
Jill has reached a stage in life where she finally has time to focus on her creativity, but instead of making, she finds herself stuck in overthinking. With multiple mediums, endless ideas, and questions around time, purpose and choosing the “right” project, she hasn’t started anything at all. How do you begin when everything feels important, and how do you stop thinking and start making without needing everything to make sense first?
In this episode, I explore:
• Why accuracy can become a limitation rather than a guide in drawing
• How early experiences shape the way we approach our work, often without us realising
• The pressure that can follow a big life change, and how it can quietly block creativity
• Why you don’t need a whole new body of work to move forward
• How overthinking and too much choice can stop you from beginning
• Why the idea of a “why” can sometimes become unhelpful rather than supportive
Each dilemma is explored with both emotional insight and practical steps you can try in your own creative life.
If you have a creative dilemma you’d like me to explore, please email me at:
thecreativecouchpod@gmail.com
