Fighting Artists Block With Magic Mushrooms

[[DISCLAIMER]] I may have had a good time and saw good results while taking this drug but that is not the case for everyone. I am not condoning the use of this drug, I am just just sharing my experience. If you plan on doing this drug please do your research first so you know what you are getting in to and how to do it safely :D

Fall term of school had just ended and the last of my creative energy had faded along with the green leaves. I was stuck in my apartment with nothing but free time and zero responsibility. In my experience, the second I don't have something to procrastinate on, my inspiration fades and I find myself with a nasty case of artists block.

Usually, on a school break like this I would simply waste away for the duration of my freedom. I might binge watch a couple TV shows, slack on my diet or play video games for an obnoxious period of time. This break however, would be different, because it just so happened that I had an ounce of psychedelic mushrooms at my disposal.

It wasn't what I expected at all. I was under the impression that I would eat some mushrooms, see some trippy stuff, and then paint said trippy stuff. Instead It went something like this. I ate some mushrooms, laughed uncontrollably with my friends, tried to paint and at first, failed miserably.

My mind was going in so many different directions I would start painting one thing, forget what I was trying to do, and then start painting something else. My paintings were chaotic and becoming more and more abstracted. I would lay down a layer of paint and then the image would start warping, the colors would shift and move and I remember getting upset with the painting, wishing it would stay still.

When You take psychedelic mushrooms, you begin to see things from a new perspective. I looked at my chaotic paint doodles and noticed a recurring pattern where layers of dried watercolor overlapped and started to form the illusion of sheets of paper.

I became fascinated with this pattern and started enhancing it's presence and making it the focus of the pieces. The second image is where I had this realization. I was trying to make a landscape and then this tear began to form like reality was pulling apart on the page. I helped the tear grow by adding more and more layers to it. When I was done and saw the results I knew I was on to my next obsession and that my art block was over.

In the end I wasn't influenced by crazy visual hallucinations. The mushrooms made me see a mistake as a new artistic direction. Normally, I would have acknowledged a mistake and moved on to another piece but this time I saw it to the end and found something beautiful that I would have normally over looked.

I have been painting almost every day since and I am still finding new ways I can implement this pattern into my work. I will be posting these artistic experiments throughout the week. Stay tuned for more and let me know what you think :)

Have you ever done art high?