In this week’s episode we start a little experiment in what happens when you stop consuming… and start creating.

We’re talking about Reading Deprivation Week, the seven-day challenge as part of Unlocking and the Artist’s Way, of not consuming new content. No books. No podcasts. No mindless scrolling for inspiration. Just you and your own brain.

It started for us on Friday 20th Feb, and it’ll finish two days after this episode goes live (26th Feb)… so you’re very much listening to us mid-experiment.

What we didn’t expect was how quickly the urge to “take in” became the urge to make.Turns out, when you stop filling the allotment with everyone else’s seeds… something of your own starts growing.

We talk about:

How restriction can actually feel like creative freedomThe difference between consuming for comfort vs consuming to avoid

Morning Pages – why Lauren takes forever and Jacqueline somehow doesn’t

An update on the “Unlocking” group (oil paints, museum trips, roller skates, Othello…)

Jacqueline’s visit to Nottingham Contemporary to see Dala Nasser

And a beautiful philosophical moment about not “letting go” of past versions of yourself… but integrating them

This one is about self-imposed boundaries, creativity, about stingy artist energy (yes, that’s a thing) and about remembering what you loved before you thought you had to be sensible.

If you’ve been feeling overstimulated, creatively blocked, or disconnected… this might be the nudge you need.

And if you fancy trying Reading Deprivation Week with us, there’s still time.

We’d love to know What would you buy if you weren’t being a “stingy artist”?

And what did you love before the world told you to grow up?

Big love,

The Blondes 💛

P.S. Here’s the link to check out Dala Nasser’s exhibition at the Nottingham Contemporary

https://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/whats-on/dala-nasser-cemetery-of-martyrs/