Posts tagged ‘Being creative’

May 18th, 2012

Creative Space: Spring Tulips

I decided to change the name of my creative posts because 1) creativity doesn’t always come on a Friday 2) I love Oprah’s Breathing Space – a place where you can just be present and breathe. Don’t we all need more of that?

I think true joy comes in noticing the small things.

Take this, for example:

{photo by The Inspiring Bee}

It’s the inside of a beautiful tulip. See all those tiny strokes of red as if someone took a paintbrush and hand painted each individually?

It’s so awe-inspiring even on the outside.

It inspired my latest painting.
When you take time to observe the small things, you open yourself up to inspiration.

What have you noticed lately?

October 21st, 2011

Creative Friday: Creating Counts

Does a creator need the attention, numbers and sales to create?

I might as well ask the philosophical question: “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”

Of course it does.

Just because no one yet knows about the secret thrill you get from knitting, blogging or compiling photo slideshows, doesn’t mean it doesn’t count.

In fact, there is an immense list of artists who were discovered later in life, sometimes even after they were gone. Emily Dickinson ring a bell?

 

Why Your Creative Efforts Count

I know of too many people who gave up on their dreams because they believed that what they created didn’t count.

But it does. Because somewhere out there needs exactly what you have to offer. And while you’re holed up away, hiding it from critical eyes, you are denying them and yourself from benefitting from it.

I know it’s difficult because it feels like everyone younger than you has already done what you’re doing, only better and faster. But our creative gifts are like fingerprints. No one is exactly like the other.

 

Be a Crafty Creator Starting Now

Today, why not take that step to share your craftiness with the world {would love to see what you’re working on: leave your link in the comments} or at least with someone you trust?

Every time I blog I risk that this piece will bomb big time. And a lot of times it does. Then, I read how this person or that person has millions of hits per month and I want to crawl under a big rock and hide. But instead I keep doing it. Because every once in awhile I will get an email that moves me to tears. The kind of letter that reminds me empowering the disempowered, helping those believe that anything is really impossible, is enough of a reason to keep going.

For creative Friday today, I’m going to share with you a few of my quirky photos. It’s something I do often here. And I do it with both love and fear. Somewhere deep inside my creative heart, I think that one of the “real photographers” out there will criticize it.

But it’s okay.

The point isn’t perfection, it is perfect creativity. Creativity is a blend of intuition and the beauty of imperfection.

Hope it will inspire you to do something creative today and this weekend!

{my husband said my photos should be called, "reflections." guess he sees a theme in my photos.}

 

{sometimes timing is everything. caught this shot of my husband as the sun was setting.}

 

{i'm a big fan of sunlight in nature. there's something so magical & mystical about it.}

 

Reflections Photo

{a photo I took in Yosemite. loved the view in the rear view mirror.}

For more quirky madness, check out my Etsy shop here.

March 4th, 2011

How to Use Creativity to Inspire Your Life

{flickr photo courtesy of Meredith_Farmer}

Creative Obsessions

I once read a riveting article in Whole Living magazine about creativity and obsession. It was called, “Perfect Brainstorm: How to Tap Your Inner Genius.”

The article itself was brilliant. In my eyes, it exemplified the title. It was the writer Frances Lefkowitz tapping into his own genius.

Essentially, the article discusses all the time zappers in our lives (the worries, the insignificant tasks) that prevents us from doing the really important things-the things that really matter.

It was a reminder of my Get More by Doing Less Challenge. It reminded me about my essay that’s been collecting dust on my computer since summer. What have I been doing in the last 6 months?

It got me thinking about all of you out there who are also like me and the author. You’ve got all these BIG dreams. But several months and years later, you wonder what happened to the dream?

It seems as though little insignificant things took it apart and killed it.

All the attention you’re spending on everything and everyone else stole it.

So what’s the remedy?

Creative obsession baby.

Transforming Your Passion Into an Obsession

Do you remember how you felt when you first fell in love? Do you know how you get when you want something REAL bad?! (Think those pair of shoes you couldn’t stop thinking about, the career you’ve been dreaming of since infancy, etc.)

Choose your passion as your object of affection and then immerse yourself totally and completely into it.

For me, it means obsessively talking, thinking, reading about (yes I’ve already had my eye on 2 books and 1 course on personal essays) everything personal essay.

It means I’m devoting every day to reading it and revising it.

It means that when I’m window shopping or watching a television show, I’ve got one eye on the prize at the same time.

I’m bringing it with me to the doctor’s office-along with a pad of paper and a pen for easy note-taking.

If you think this is all a little…well OBSESSIVE, you’re right! It is. But that’s the whole point.

Try it. Be creatively obsessed and see if that doesn’t just inspire all the things you dream of for your life.