#4) Creativity Inspiration/Prompt for the week:
Have some fun in the sand …
Try some sand fun. Craft stores sell multiple colors of sand. Find a cool container and play around with creating your own zen garden. (See photos)
Items: Multiple colors of sand, miniature rakes/shovels, miniature animals, miniature bridges, rocks/stones, miniature mushrooms, seashells, moss, etc. Be creative and have difun with items that are appealing to you.
Note: Hobby Lobby has some miniature items in the miniature house section.
Notice:
Is there a theme you are interested in? Note: A fairy garden can be inspiring.
What colors of sand are you drawn to?
Notice what your inner child wants to play with in the craft store.
What did you discover?
Put layers of sand and notice what happens when you rake or dig with the miniature tools how it relaxes or distracts you.
Share with your friends and be prepared to watch their responses.
Resource: Angie Douglas, inspired by discussions with others
Michelangelo —
“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”
For more information about art as a method to recover from anxiety, trauma, grief, depression, and more go to —
ART and RECOVERY PAGE
#3) Creativity Inspiration/Prompt for the week:
Set an Artist Date
Set a specific amount of time each week to nurture your creative consciousness or inner artist. This is something you do alone, invite you and your inner artist. Do not judge what creativity emerges. Allow yourself to spend time with this creative part of yourself.
Notice:
If there is resistance, or you feel critical about this idea . . . remind yourself you cannot afford to NOT find time for these artist dates.
Think of this as quality time, how can you enjoy this time and nurture your creativity? Maybe you love painting but you feel a block . . . what if you tried using a different medium? Find something that feels enjoyable. What if you walked around a hobby store and found something different that inspired you?
“Remember it is a time commitment that is sacred.” (The Artist’s Way, pp. 19)
What did you discover?
“Commit yourself to a weekly artist’s date, and then watch your killjoy try to wriggle out of it. Watch how the sacred time suddenly includes a third party. Learn to guard against these invasions. (The Artist’s Way, pp 19)
“Above all, learn to listen to what your artist child has to say on, and about, these joint expeditions. For example, ‘Oh, I hate this serious stuff.’ your artist may exclaim if you persist in taking it only to grown-up places that are culturally edifying and good for it. Listen to that! It is telling you your art needs more playful inflow. A little fun can go a long way toward making your work feel more like play. We forget the imagination play is at the heart of all good work.” (p. 19-20)
Resource: The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (pp. 18-20)
Rene’ Magritte —
“Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist.”
#2) Creativity Inspiration/Prompt for the week:
Listening to Yourself
This activity keeps track of your thoughts or internal dialogue as you create. Thoughts are thoughts, learn to recognize them without judgment. Notice doubts, ideas, frustration, and critical comments without allowing them to interfere with your creative adventure. Just notice what comes up without giving it too much of your energy.
Try this:
Choose a creative activity that you find challenging or try one you enjoyed in the past, using an unfamiliar medium.
Be aware of both the activity and your thoughts as you create.
What are you telling yourself in the process?
Try to record these comments - Say the thoughts out loud into a recording device. Try not to edit yourself, just way what you are thinking as you continue to create.
Keep working this way until you feel your creation is complete.
REPEAT . . . Take a few deep breaths, relax, and then do the activity again.
Now when the inner commentary starts, continue creating without verbalizing or following the thought. Instead reconnect with your body in the act of making.
If emotions, arise, feel the physical sensations in o your body, then return your attention to your materials and the creative process.
When you are done, look at both creations and listen to the recorded thoughts. Examine what happened as a curious observer.
What did you discover?
This is an opportunity to notice and be curious about who you are and understand what you want.
What did you learn?
Is there a difference between the two creations? If so, what?
What emotions and sensations arose with each activity?
Write down any other thoughts or insights.
Resource: Be, Awake, Create by Rebekah Younger, MFA (pp. 43-45)
Leonardo da Vinci —
“All our knowledge has its origin in our perceptions.”
#1) Creative Inspiration/Prompt for the week:
Limitless Perceptions
When you are open and curious, you’ll find that your perceptions are limitless. There are a multitude of sense perceptions in any given moment: sounds, sights, smells, and so on. We are the ones who stop looking because we think we already know something. As the adage goes, “I know it like the back of my hand.” Let’s take another look at that part of our body we think we know so well.
Look at your nondominant hand. What do you see?
Look with an open, curious mind, as if you had never seen it before.
Notice all the colors, shapes, lines, textures, and shadows.
Look for at least 5 minutes. The more you look, the more you see.
Add touch, smell, and taste to your investigation.
From your exploration, make a creation — visual, written, musical, or in movement — based on your observations.
What did you discover?
Each observation provides more detailed information about your hand. Eventually, you may reach a point where words drop away altogether and you just see its unique is-ness. As the title of artist Robert Irwin’s biography suggests, “Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees.” With that level of attention, an intimacy develops between you and the object.
Resource: Be, Awake, Create by Rebekah Younger, MFA (pp. 54-55)