A Controlled Creative Climate

For the longest time, I have wanted my own creative space. I have carved them out of back rooms and basements. In this house, I have use of a sun porch which we call the craft-room. It would seem that would be good enough until I can’t be in there alone without “company” and then the Summer weather makes the room unbearably hot.

But don’t be fooled, this isn’t just about the actual space to physically create in. This is also about the mental space and permission with which to be our truest selves. I have waged a battle inside that had me losing the opportunity to create regularly until now.

When we are in a creativity mode, we need to know that we are safe. We are our inner children wanting to play uninterrupted. The irony that our actual children steals that away from us is an unfunny life joke. Seems a fair enough request to ask for regular recess in our play rooms but our inner adults often have better more productive plans for us. Eventually we give up and we resolutely stuff our “childish” desires down some dark hole in our psyche.

In my case, my inner child began to tantrum. And what I came to understand was that not only did I need to allow her to indulge in her recess, I needed to create a safe environment in which she could play free of judgements and distractions. And then she needed to trust that when she wanted to play, I’d create time and space again for her. This is exactly the process by which I’ve begun to trust myself.

So this Summer, to further indulge my need to create safely, I’ve hired a sitter to regularly engage my daughter (CRAZY COOL) and purchased a mobile air conditioner for my craft room (COOL LIKE CRAZY). Which means I can close the door and create at will. There are no more obstacles and I feel slightly giddy.

This is how I am creating a space to grow into. Like setting an empty box down to be filled with a project of yet unnamed magnitude. I’m nervous at the prospect of having no more excuses in some ways but I’m also giddy at the notion of possibilities. And all it took was circumventing my excuses, ridding my roadblocks, and taking responsibility to keep my inner artist safe until she can come out to play.

And If you enjoyed what you read, subscribe, via the subscription box in the sidebar, to my thrice weekly posts via your email box. And visit me on Instagram to see my daily pictures, friend me or like my page on Facebook. Or come find me on Twitter or Pinterest  too. I am always practicing Intentional In-touchness so chat at me please. I live for conversations.

And, as always, Thanks to you for your visit.

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The Writing Lull During a Creative Burst

I have been at odds with myself recently in that I haven’t really wanted to write. I acknowledge that I am both a creative, equally prioritizing the visual and the verbal parts of me. I like when I go through a prolific phase of writing and it happens often enough to expect it. But there has been a writing radio silence of recent.

This week, I hosted a small creativity challenge and that’s been very satisfying. Unlike during previous challenges, I wasn’t nervous about what I was going to do every day. I would just get up to my craft room and let it flow. And I began to think today that perhaps the two parts of my brain know that they need to take turns. That there’s periods of contemplation and graduation that need to happen before better work can emerge.

Where my visually creative self is like my inner child playing, my verbal side is like my inner parent always figuring out the next understanding and plan through my words. I find out who I am and what I think by writing. And perhaps I am entering a phase that is more like an inner Adult at work.

I see a bigger picture emerging. I am watching myself from afar doing what I’m doing. I’m seeing what the next step is, I’m considering my whys and my ways and then I’m hoping that I will feel empowered into action on what I see to be the next direction that will make me happy.

I’m just winging it here but I am truly sure that following my intuition and listening to my own needs to write or create is the only way that I will not only truly trust myself, but will also help me navigate the best way through my life.

And If you enjoyed what you read, subscribe, via the subscription box in the sidebar, to my thrice weekly posts via your emailbox. And visit me on Instagram to see my daily pictures, friend me or like my page on Facebook. Or come find me on Twitter orPinterest too. I am always practicing Intentional Intouchness so chat at me please. I live for conversations.

And, as always, Thanks to you for your visit.

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Our Creative Selves Challenge Continues

Sometimes, I need an excuse to just mindlessly stand at my craft table holding scissors and glue in my hands for an entire week. And that’s what I’ve done here by creating this Our Creative Selves Challenge. And I invited a few friends to the party. Because I believe in the healing power of creativity especially in community. Find the introduction to my challenge post here.

The first day’s prompt was exploration and boy, there was such inspiration out in the wide world for this prompt. It was the best way to start with an excuse to play.

I chose to make a paper flower in honor of the woman who gave me a most exquisite paper flower making book. It was satisfying. Other participants grabbed oil pastels and brayers and clay and enjoyed the excuse to play.

The second day’s prompt was circle. And oh the loveliness that’s filling my eyes. There was knitting, paper clay making, puff paint, and prisma markers. And that each person made sure to take time out of their day to indulge their inner children, that is the good stuff right there.

This is what I said at the end of my Instagram post in which my circle art was posted.

“Create with abandon. Create with permission.

Steal the supplies, steal the time, and notice all worries fall away,

at least for a short time, as you find out what you make of your world.”

Here’s to Five more days of making! Hope you get a chance to create today just because you can. No really, you can. I’ll lend you the permission.

And If you enjoyed what you read, subscribe, via the subscription box in the sidebar, to my thrice weekly posts via your emailbox. And visit me on Instagram to see my daily pictures, friend me or like my page on Facebook. Or come find me on Twitter orPinterest too. I am always practicing Intentional Intouchness so chat at me please. I live for conversations.

And, as always, Thanks to you for your visit.

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The First Our Creative Selves Challenge Begins

Today is the first day of a week-long creativity challenge I am hosting on Instagram running from February 13th through February 19th, 2017. If you have followed along with my creative endeavors since last year, you may remember the September Creative Challenge I gave myself where I made art a non-negotiable. Read the wrap up here. By committing to practicing my creativity daily and posting my results every day in September with the hashtag #mycreativeseptember, I was able to indulge my inner six year-old with enough playtime to trust me again. As many people who had joined me throughout the month wanted a way to continue being creative together, I created the hashtag #ourcreativeselves to continue our creative connection.

A hashtag conveniently puts every post that includes that hashtagged word onto one page. So in this case, the creative endeavors of everyone who’s participating will show up on this Our Creative Selves page when they add #ourcreativeselves to their post. This way, we can visit other participants pages and cheer each other on. That is what a challenge is all about. To hold yourself responsible to do something because you said you would and then feel great about it when you follow through and get such lovely feedback from other people. Balm for the creative soul I can tell you.

The prompts were chosen from a bunch of words thrown into a virtual hat. And the idea is to take inspiration from them or use them as an excuse to do something daring. Any creativity is welcome. It could be writing or knitting or creative spitting if you are so moved. There isn’t such thing as perfect. All creative efforts made are a wondrous joyous thing. It’s all so good.

Thank you dear readers for all of your support in my creative endeavors! Hope you enjoy your week and I’ll keep you posted with my/our progress.

And If you enjoyed what you read, subscribe, via the subscription box in the sidebar, to my thrice weekly posts via your emailbox. And visit me on Instagram to see my daily pictures, friend me or like my page on Facebook. Or come find me on Twitter orPinterest too. I am always practicing Intentional Intouchness so chat at me please. I live for conversations.

And, as always, Thanks to you for your visit.

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My Creative October Thus Far

Having created daily for the last week in August and all of September, I rolled into October still with daily art making as my intention. At least to be creative for the first two weeks as there was one more round of Creativity Bootcamp with That Curious Love of Green.  I’m catching up with this post. I’m still showing up in one way or another to maintain my new title of “artist” which I finally earned/granted myself in that first week of September working on pastel still lives. I just did one again today in fact.

Here’s what you’ve missed if you do not follow along with my shenanigans on Facebook and Instagram, my social media(e) of choice.

My writing and my arting are now on an even keel of importance and validation in my heart. And that’s just as I’d hoped. Like some sort of mathematical equation I had to work out, I now have proff of what I’m capable of. Now to screw up the courage to use it.

And If you enjoyed what you read, subscribe, via the subscription box in the sidebar, to my thrice weekly posts via your emailbox. And visit me on Instagram to see my daily pictures, friend me or like my page on Facebook. Or come find me on Twitter orPinterest too. I am always practicing Intentional Intouchness so chat at me please. I live for conversations.

And, as always, Thanks to you for your visit.

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