Inspiration: Nurturing Creativity

My brother recently shared with me this wonderful TED talk by Elizabeth Gilbert – author of bestselling novel Eat, Pray, Love. I loved her book and was so moved by this talk that I had to share.

This got my mind wandering on the topic of nurturing creativity and what sorts of things get in the way for me from time to time…

I cannot imagine the tremendous and daunting task of continuing to do work after having a bestselling novel out in the world. But I can certainly relate to the frustration of trying to figure out just what to do with that creative energy. I skip around from one thing to the next so often – one day its photography, the next it’s welding, or needle felting or wire art or design or illustration or cooking sumptuous new recipes. It’s very fun and satisfying, but for the past year I’ve been a bit haunted by the notion that I am just flitting about – touching the surfaces of many things but not really diving into any of them deeply. My logical self doesn’t see anything wrong with that. But there seems to be some old messages playing in me that tell me otherwise.

We are taught to go to school to become an expert at something and then do it until we can’t anymore. Sorry, but I don’t love any one thing that much. Sure I have a career as a graphic designer, and yes I am darn good at it and I do enjoy it. But it’s not my life’s work nor my greatest love by any means.

What if I just want to be an expert at experiencing many things?

So, I sometimes find myself building up this impossible ideal in my mind where I MUST succeed at ONE thing.. as an artist and creative person, because of some sort of talent I was born with. I’m sure anyone out there who’s had some kind of talent since they were a child has heard many a times the old line.. “when you’re famous I can say I knew you back when!” Although they mean well, for a child, that can create such an immense weight to be somebody. And such a pressure to find your niche and really dive into it and be an expert at it. I’m not sure how other creatives have dealt with that idea – some seem to embrace the idea of doing many things very openly. Others seem to find their niche and just pour themselves into it.. which is wonderful. But what if you are someone who doesn’t have a niche?

It’s true, I don’t love any one thing enough to totally commit my life to it. And I am slowly becoming more comfortable with that as I explore my creativity. What if – at least for the time being – I don’t want to pick ONE thing? What if the thing that I want to be an expert at is experiencing many things? Well, I’m deciding this is a wonderful thing. We need specialists just like we need generalist in the world, after all.

I think my Muse is a Bimbo

I like the old Greek/Roman philosophy Elizabeth is speaking of in this TED talk. I like it a lot. This idea that our creative spirit comes not from within us, but from some divine precious thing that stops by for tea from time to time. It sure takes the pressure off or trying to force it into existence or bottle it into one area of expertise. Perhaps my divine muse just gets bored quickly. Or maybe she’s a bit of a bimbo (that would explain a lot!) and just likes to flit about and play in many different pools of creativity… and just maybe, its not my job to try and stop her from doing that. Maybe it’s my job to always be open to whatever new creative adventure she would like to take me on. Maybe that is all we are ever really supposed do with that creative energy when it arrives – just open the door and invite it in for tea.

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How do you nurture your creativity?
What things get in your way of opening up to that creative spirit?
How did Elizabeth’s talk resonate with you? I am curious to know what you have to say.

Quickly! I must post this NOW because my ditsy creative muse just got distracted by a flower in Timbuktu and ran off and I can feel the self doubt about this post quietly tiptoeing back into my mind! lol – oh to be human! ;)

Resources:
Eat, Pray, Love (Elizabeth Gilbert)
Refuse to Choose: A Revolutionary Program for Doing Everything You Love (Barbara Sher)
Creative Generalist – What Exactly Do Generalists Do?

 

Quarterly Project: Welding & Malformed Metal Frogs

I haven’t posted in a few weeks about my adventures in learning how to weld. Since my last post, I’ve gotten to try out the plasma cutter and practiced just doing straight lines of welding beads to try and get the form and technique down. Plasma cutter is gloriously fun – mostly used for thin metal to do more finely detailed work. It was a ton of fun – like drawing in metal!

Finding My Niche
In my last class I also decided to mess around with the torch welder a bit. I grabbed some scrap re bar and started heating and bending it… my teacher showed me how to braid re bar, and off I went braiding away. Pretty sure I’m in love with bending and forming metal. My teacher said that I would probably really like blacksmithing because its more about bending and manipulating the metal form. Oh my.. looks like I will just have to take the blacksmithing class next!

Making Malformed Metal Frogs
This past weekend I started on an exciting project. Back in early college, I made these fun little wire frogs for my sculpture class. Over the course of a year, I sold about a dozen of them to various folks. Back then, I’d wanted to make larger versions of them, but the wire became too hard to bend at thicker gauges and I didn’t have any access to tools, so eventually I just filed the idea away. That was almost 10 years ago. And now I’m excited to get to dig this project back up and finally make the giant versions of these little guys I’ve dreamed of for nearly a decade!

Last Sunday I started on a test version just to see what size I want to make them, and to test the proportions of the limbs to the body and such. All I had to use was some pretty thick re bar scrap from the shop, so as you can see this little guy came out a bit malformed so far. Talk about some giant feet! I’m going to go buy some more metal in smaller diameters and try again next Sunday to hopefully get things closer. It’s going to take a lot of trial and error for sure. One of the trickier parts has been cutting all the ends on the arms so that the angle will match up to the body piece it needs to weld to. It’s a lot of “put piece in vice, cut it, take it out, check it, put back in vice, re-cut it, check it, grind it down, check it…” Definitely not anything as quick as just wrapping some thin wire together like the small versions! I’m excited about the challenge though, I think I can get there in maybe a month’s time.

Week 1: Getting Nothing Done!

Week 1 in my 12 month photo project… I got NOTHING done! Hoorah! But I learned a little and decided to try a creative way of sharing my brief and uneventful first week… video diary!!! (Thanks Micaela for the inspiration!)

My 12 Months of 2012

I’ve spent the past few weeks thinking about what I’d like to focus on creatively this year. To be honest, I had a really hard time deciding! All I knew for sure was that – at the end of each month last year, I would just be gaining momentum and getting excited about one type of project and then I would have to switch gears totally and drop it. So I think this year, I’m ready for longer projects and timelines…

Quarterly Projects
I’ve decided to focus on 4 different types of projects quarterly throughout the year. This might mean that I do one large project for the quarter, or many small ones… depending on how things unfold and you know, how badly I procrastinate. ;)

The 4 projects I’m thinking for now are:

- Welding/Metal Sculpture
- Illustration/Drawing
- Needle Felting
- Nature/Land Art

Welding is something I’ve never done and always wanted to do. I’m signed up for a class at a local community college to start January 22nd, so this is where we begin! The others were things from this past year that I fell in love with and wanted more time with. The list could possibly change if I find anything else exciting along the way – but for now this is a good start!

12 Month Barn Series
Alongside that, I’ve decided I also want to focus on photography for a monthly project. I have a barn series that I began a year or so ago that I was really fired up about but never really got off the ground. So the goal here is to trespass onto as many abandoned old properties with barns as I can find!… or hopefully more of the time enter with permission so no one comes after me with a shot gun (this is Texas, after all).

By the end of the year I want to have photographed a full series of a dozen barns, each with a ceiling shot similar to the one below, as well as other supporting angles and details. I’d really like to get a wide range from old abandoned barns to fully functioning newer ones… but we’ll see where the journey takes me.

I will be doing some research on how to create good black and white images too – as there are good and bad ways to achieve it and I’m pretty sure I’m not using the best methods right now. I may also throw in some techniques to focus on (landscape, macro, HDR, etc) from time to time to help me practice in areas I haven’t taken the time to really read up on or practice a ton yet. Pretty excited to revive this project! I have been in love with it since the first ceiling shot I took and look forward to having my first full series of photos done by the end of 2012!

 
Yes, We Will Create!
And that’s still not everything! On top of my personal creative projects, I’m spending this year trying to get a creative community called We Will Create off the ground. It’s a place to share any and all sorts of creative projects – big or small, long or short. I’m hoping together we can create a real place of open support for each other in all our creative endeavors… a place for anyone who is looking to add a bit more creativity in their lives and wants some friends to do it with! In the much bigger picture, I dream of this becoming a community that reaches millions… where you can explore or join various groups and have specific communities related to your interests (photography, cooking, living green, painting, charity work, etc) as well as joining other groups for 365 projects, 12 month projects, 30 day projects, etc. It’s definitely far from anything that big (yet), but I believe in it a heck of a lot, so I’m doing all I can to get it going. I figure worst case is that a few more people in the world are inspired by each other, and I learn a lot about how to NOT make a community site.

If you actually made it this far into my novel of a post… please take a moment to check us out at wewillcreate.ning.com and if you like what you see, join us or share with your family and friends!

Looking Back on the 12 Months of 2011

Today I’ve been thinking a lot about what this project has meant to me and how it has helped me to grow. In January of 2011, I was really a pretty wimpy creative person… I didn’t believe in myself. I didn’t believe any of my ideas were any good or that anyone else would think they were. I had VERY little confidence in myself as a creative person (which really sucks, considering I’m a graphic designer for a living!! Yikes). I would doubt myself and over-think things to the point of talking myself out of even trying to do them.

These monthly projects have really helped to change a lot of that for me. I feel confident now. I know I am a creative person who has valid ideas to share – who deserves to share them. I doubt myself less and I try not to over-think things or judge my ideas as “good” or “bad” (and hopefully catch myself quickly when I do). I find myself leaping into action when something first excites me now. It’s been nice learning how to not get in my own way. Ha!

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” (Maya Angelou)

I love this quote because it is so very true! I have really noticed it this year and it has surprised me. I always used to think that when you did a creative project it left you sort of drained for a while until you recharged. Instead of feeling depleted at the end of each month though, it’s more like each of these projects has added fuel to a creative fire in me. I feel like I am noticing opportunities to be creative in places that I never did before. I suppose it is just like anything else in life – the more you practice it the better conditioned you are and the more easily you can do it. Funny, I thought for a long time that creativity was something you either had or didn’t have – a talent. Sure, some are more talented artists than others, but all of us have our own creative talents that are unique just to us. That’s really kinda beautiful to see.

“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.” (Henry David Thoreau)

This is one of my favorite quotes and it’s one that I’ve connected with a lot in 2011. I’ve been learning to let go and trust things more in all areas of my life. I think it has helped me to have these projects – because you aren’t really looking past a year, or even a month really. You are so intently focused on that month or that day and the project at hand. It’s been so rewarding to get lost in the process of creating things – without worrying “Will I make a good grade?”, “Will the client like it?”, or “Will I win an award or get more business because of this?” I mean what a HUGE release it has been to put aside all of those practical things and just say “Yes! I’m going to put my head in the clouds and be ridiculous, thank you! I will spend hundreds of dollars on supplies and make tons of things that will probably go no where at all! Because I want to and that’s the only reason I need!” Ahhh – even just writing that is refreshing!

The Show Must Go On!

This project has really become a part of my life this year – a big part. It’s sort of my child… and I can’t very well just give up a child! And so, I will continue on in 2012 with a whole new adventure. Instead of a wide variety of projects and themes, I am feeling like narrowing my focus this year. I am toying with the idea of sticking to a particular subject for the entire year… certainly a whole different sort of challenge than what I have ever done before. I’m sure it will be difficult but also get me thinking in new ways.

My Dearest Thanks To You All!

I just want to thank each and every person who has supported me throughout this past year. Without your help, advice, and cheering me on some months would have been pretty tough. Just knowing that there was someone out there reading this really helped to keep me serious and hold me accountable to finishing my goals (even if some of them were a few days late! Hey, no one is perfect). All my thanks to you, and I hope that I can be of support to you in your creative endeavors as well.

Goodnight Dear Friends!

Announcing the Final Project of 2011!

I can’t believe it’s already here…. the final of my 12 monthly projects!

It’s pretty crazy to think that it’s already been a year, but really great to look back at all the many things I have done and learned this year. The theme for this month seems fitting for the last project of the year.. introspection and reflection I think will be a great focus. Still no idea whether I will create this poster on the computer or by hand – we shall see where things go!

Here Come the Hiccups

You know, you’d think after 9 months of projects, I would have realized that things are going to take 300x longer than I expected them to. Screen printing is no different. So here we are, 1:30am and I think I’m throwing in the towel until tomorrow.

I was planning to have the artwork printed and burned on the screen tonight, but of course the film didn’t work on my printer (see example A below)… instead it beaded up into fabulously unusable gobs all over the film… gobs that still – after 3 hours – are mocking me in their happy moist state.

In the interest of making my deadline, I decided to just redraw my art on a new piece of film with an archival ink pen instead of waiting to get it printed somewhere tomorrow. Of course the only pen I could find in my art supplies was the SMALLEST point size known to man. Of course. So a few hours of tedious coloring later, I’m about to burn to the screens and realize that there are no guidelines for exposure time. You’d think this would be a pretty calculated thing, size of screen + wattage of light x distance of light from screen, etc… but apparently for some unknown reason this isn’t how it works. So now, I need to run a test screen to find out my exposure time, and then strip that and recoat the screen and reburn my artwork.

*sigh* I suppose that’s what I get for poor planning in advance. Oh well, tomorrow is a new day – a day that hopefully will end a finished screen-printed project.

 

Announcing the September Project!

I’m pretty happy about this one. September is my favorite month – being the month of my birth and the first month of fall – and screen printing is one of the projects within the 12MOC that I’ve wanted to do most! I’m loving this combo too… I’m already filled with fun questions. Will I screen print on old cereal boxes and milk cartons? Will I create illustrated versions of refuse and print them as posters or t-shirts? Or maybe I’ll take actual fun-shaped garbage right out of the trash and use it to create interesting bizarre shapes to print. Oh the possibilities.. let the games begin!