What do you do?

[laf.art]

aimless
candacendiaye Actually I work as an English language teacher for foreign students so work wise I have to be fairly creative. But, although I draw, sketch and scribble nothing liberates me, nothing engages me and nothing leaves me feeling as satisfied as paint and colour does, so I'll just have to carry on being a grumpy cow until I can afford new supplies

[RVM45]

When I can't Paint I Draw.

Pencil Leads and Sketch papers are. They are not terribly expensive.

When my Drawing Muse is On-Strike, I Write.

Google "RVM45"

My Fiction is all over the Internet.


.....RVM45

[Joshua_Miller]

When I can't paint, I play Battlefield 3 or go to the pub. Being a full time artist there is always time to paint. But I don't do it all the time

[Border Corpsman]

When I can't paint (which is often due to work and time constraints), I play piano or guitar.

[RedBlackDragon687]

I use tons and tons of sharpies, markers, and pencils because it's way cheaper than paint.

[Morgan411]

If you were in the US, I would suggest going to the free section of craigslist or to freecycle.org. Frequently on craigslist I have seen people giving away art supplies --either because they have moved on to a new hobby, or they could be cleaning out a studio of someone who has died.

Check in your area to see if there's an online classifieds where people give things away or barter.

[maryinasia]

I'm so sorry! It's frustrating to not be able to paint. If you have access to a computer, you can try digital painting.

[laf.art]

Morgan - I live on a small island in the med - not much bartering goes on here and nothing like Craigs list exists
Maryinasia - I've tried digital painting and often play around with it on winter evenings but it still doesn't give me anywhere near the satisfaction that painting does, I think in part it's because I'm not good at sitting in one place for long and painting gives me the freedom to move around. My m,other always said I have ants in my pants ha ha

[RedBlackDragon687]

When I can't draw, I think. I mean sometimes when I'm mad, I wrote the sample drawings before I started drawing real stuff.

[artc]

I enjoy building electronic devices for myself.
I dabble in electronic engineering and build
test equipment that I need.

[lodestar]

Yes ,yes and yes. So I avoid self-medicating accept for Saint John's Wart/ a cup very strong coffee light or no sugar and Vitamin supplements Acetyl L-Carnitine, Ginkgo Biloba with a good night’s sleep melatonin assisted. Since I must do something artistically every day whether I feel fine or not. A lot images or thoughts I don't care for pile up. When I'm up I feel I tackle any creative problem or issue, when I down no one hear a peep from me at all.
I have three bottles of (I dare not name) accept in the company of those who likewise have their own issues. I and I won't touch them unless I lose it almost entirely. Because I loathe them as I cannot function with them in my system physically. Even though the medication drastically reduces certain issues which shall unnamed. No drugs save for the prescribed Prozac.
What really want say Is I get better work done with a cup of coffee stretched over my working period, 1st its hot and I gage my moments of preparation and focus to it, then it's warm and at that point I begin assessing as I ease off intensity and step away into kind of emotional distance.
I try to take a clinical/scientific thoughtful approach, by the time the coffee cools I shut down evenly, deliberately if all is going okay or well I drop a couple ice cubes into it turning the remainder in my cup to Ice Coffee and take a meditative break with calm steady breaths.
With serious meds nothing is happening for me at all (Though my Doctor tells me we still have many more options (I’m thinking he means Anti-psychotics by Varied dosage tweaking and regulation) to try. It, is also by use of Guitar playing I regulate my mood dissipate restless energy or elevate declining energy through increased activity of my metabolism.
I watch my mind and my thoughts, my feelings. I chronicle everything through my Art. When I Don't, I know I headed on a downward spiral that could result in weeks or days of lost time and a bleak period.
I hope these thoughts I contribute here are useful and helpful... to those of like mind for at present I’m emerging from a rut state by converting my garage into a humble but working studio. In activity is like quicksand, and chronic rumination is caustic to effort and energy. Everything is Art to me, Art is everything to me

[Cindy-Lue]

If i cant paint, i grab my camera and look for something to photograph.

[SapphoLane]

I've gone through financial dire straits, like seriously broke, here's some of the things I did to cope.

- For canvas and painting material: I ripped the hard covers off of hard cover books and painted them white. I know, it hurts to hurt books, but I was desperate. I found a place that was getting rid of massive numbers of hardcover books they couldn't sell, so I'd get as many as I could carry and put in my bag (often hurting my shoulders and back), take them home, rip 'em , prime 'em.
- steal pens!!
- paper grocery bags are actually great for sketching and painting; just the right porousity, and they make bright colours really stand out against the brown.
- draw on the back of receipts, papers, flyers, advertisements.

[Mettaphorica]

Food colouring. From the supermarket. It'd be very washy like watercolour, but who knows what you could do with it? I'm not sure how it might be thickened, I'll leave that to the experts.

Melted and thinned lipsticks?! YOu can buy any colour these days, including blue and green.

grasping at straws I know, but you sound desperate. What do you like to use, oil or acrylic or watercolour?
cheers

In Australia, I've been able to pick up stuff from Op shops (goodwill stores), and I picked up for a bargain a set of Rembrandt pastels from a Pawn shop once.
Donna

[laf.art]

Thought I'd give a bit of an update. I was off work for 5 weeks as I was bitten in the face by a dog . At the same time my partner finally found a good job - hurray - and then a sweet artist friend donated a canvas and another good friend donated some acrylics, Last week there was a sale of canvases at my local art supply shop, so I now have supplies and spent yesterday evening sloshing paint around. So I am a very happy artist today. Let's just hope I can produce something good- at the moment I'm just experimenting and getting the feel of it after this long lay off