Into Existence

I often talk about creativity on this blog because creating is an activity that’s essential to my life. In fact, I think it’s essential to everyone’s lives. There is something quite miraculous about making something yourself, taking materials from nothing to something, whether it’s ingredients for a meal or pieces of fabric or yarn.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, to create means to “bring into existence.” This is a very powerful definition, and perhaps scary to some people, but in truth it was not too long ago that if we didn’t create or make something, it didn’t exist.

Think about hunters and gatherers inventing new tools to better feed themselves, or pioneers sewing their own clothes. We have come a far way from that—practically everything we own (and even things we eat) was made in some far-off land by a whole fleet of laborers we don’t know. Maybe things have gotten too easy—so easy that we take it for granted that we’ll be able to acquire everything without any effort. But despite this, even if just for ornamental reasons or pure fun, many of us keep coming back to making things by hand.

I am constantly inspired by all of the crafters and artists that continue to create new and beautiful things by hand. I am also continually inspired by the process of making things and how it uses a whole different part of me. Making things is a cycle of fulfillment—you get to choose inspiring ingredients or materials, experience the process of making, and then appreciate the product—either by using it, looking at it, or sharing it with someone else.

If you’re not already experiencing this cycle, I highly recommend jumping in—you can start with anything! Make a handmade card, decorate a pot, bake cookies, make a collage, create a scrapbook, cook dinner from scratch, plant a garden . . . the list goes on to infinity.

In fact, let’s inspire each other with our creativity—what are you making/have you made recently/would you love to make?

We’d all love to hear about it! Post a comment here, add a link to a picture of your project, if you’d like!

I’ll start:
I am currently making some new greeting cards and another sewn house drawing.
I would love to make a dress for myself and handmade tortellini.

Expansive Thoughts

It is so easy to get caught up in small, cramped thoughts (to name a few: I hate my job, I have do finish all of these things by the end of the day, I will never have enough money).

I recently added the idea of the expansive thought to my bag of tricks to get myself out of mental messes. Instead of dwelling on the small thoughts that put me into a box, I am trying to think of the most wide, expansive thoughts I can. So far, one of my favorites is this:

I think one of the biggest fears for a lot of creative people is that they will one day run out of ideas. I believe this fear is part of the reason behind writer’s block and vast periods of un-creativity that leave us feeling uninspired and unfulfilled. There is this fear that there will be nothing new to say, or that we each have a particular number of ideas, and once they’re used up, that’s it. This keeps people from starting and continuing with creative pursuits, and makes a lot of people think they could never sustain a creative life.

We are all bound to get into a rut once in a while, but I find the idea of infinity to be inspiring. Creativity is like air—it’s just floating all around us, and there are an infinite number of possibilities.

If you would like to hang this idea on your wall, I have some 5 x 7 inch prints of it in my shop.

In the beginning

I have two little nephews in Colorado, and one of my greatest privileges as Aunt is to buy them art supplies. Can you think of a more fun present to buy? Paints and markers and colorful papers—all of the fun and messy thing most people grew out of, when the grew up.

I suppose that is one of the best things about being an artist—you can be messy and colorful—it’s almost expected that you will get paint on the floor. But as a kid, it’s definitely expected, so it’s even more fun. And kids have no fear, they just start slopping the paint on, they are enthralled by the color on the page, the way the paint feels on their hands, the marks they can make on the paper.

My 4 and 1/2 year old nephew Simon is just learning his letters, and I was lucky enough to receive one of his handmade holiday cards this year, hand signed:

(front)

(back)

I would say this is the beginning of a budding career in hand typography, don’t you think?!

When I was visiting for Thanksgiving, Simon would ask how to draw a certain letter, and his mom or I would try to describe how it looked, or draw it in the air. He is in such a great stage—one where he is really excited by letters and still really thinking about how each one is formed.

Once we get past this stage and don’t have to think about how to make letters, we just start writing and never really think about it again. Doing hand typography, or any typography for that matter (maybe any art) forces you to try and go back to that stage of not knowing, of really thinking about what you’re doing. You almost have to unlearn what they taught you in school.

It’s a wonderful experience, perhaps the one I live for—when you are able to forget what everyone told you and it’s just you, the paper, and the pen. But it can also be really hard to let go. Those moments are a simple miracle when they happen.

Do you have any “zen moment” art stories? I’d love to hear them! Post a comment!

***Thanks to Simon for supplying the artwork for this post! You’re the best!

Drawing away the day

Hello there, and happy Wednesday. I’ve been working on several different projects lately including a couple illustrations for different contests. I submitted an illustration for the design a t-shirt contest being put on by 350.org and Craftster.org for global warming awareness. I will let you know when all of the designs have been put up for public viewing and voting.

I also submitted an illustration for a local recreational education organization at UC Davis called The Experimental College. This place is so “Davis,” offering classes from meditation and dancing, to “Bread and Circus” (where you learn how to bake bread and do circus related things, like tumbling and slack-lining, while your dough rises). I crack up at how ridiculously wonderful it is to have a place that even thinks of classes like this. Every quarter, they put out an open call for illustrations for the front of their course catalog, so I gave it a try. I will let you know more about my drawing when the final selection gets made.

It is cool to keep finding more and more opportunities to illustrate. It’s like suddenly I openend my eyes, and now I’m constantly seeing opportunities. While none of these are a sure publication bet, it’s exciting to get more and more work out there.

Other than these illustration challenges, I’ve been working on some different patterns, like the one above which I call, “Stones,” and the one below, that I am titling, “Flowing.”

Sometimes I am torn about attaching titles to these pieces because it probably informs what people see in them, but I end up having to title them something to keep the computer files straight. Usually, something just comes to mind, and I just pass it forward.

What do you all think about this? How do you feel about “Untitled” works? If you’re an artist, how do you choose titles for your work? How does the title inform your perspective on a piece? What if, instead of “Flowing,” I left the drawing above untitled– would you see it differently?

Just some artistic musings. I think a lot about the influence of words and the integration of words and images (as you have probably already noticed).

Have a great mid-week! Do something special for yourself–today! It is Wednesday after all! Want some free or cheap ideas?? Go check out some good music from your public library (I currently have 3 swing CDs checked out), go to a big bookstore (preferably one with comfy chairs) and read all of your favorite magazines, go on a flower picking walk through a public or natural area, make homemade ice cream, have a picnic in the park, go jump in a lake, have a joke-telling contest or poetry reading.

Living Creatively

Last week, I harvested my first two zucchini. I mean first ever– last year the zucchini didn’t quite survive the aphids. These little squash were so perfect, I could have sworn someone had run to the supermarket, bought some zucchini and thrown them underneath my plants. I got such a thrill out of this– the fact that we had thrown some seeds in the ground and gotten these beautiful squash.

This, along with a conversation with Bit o’ Honey got me thinking about how many ways there are to be creative in daily life, outside of traditional art. Some of my favorites are cooking, baking, writing, gardening, dreaming, reading aloud, and thinking. What about you? How do you get creative in your day to day life? Here are 10 more ideas I came up with about how to . . .

1) Plant some seeds- preferably ones that will produce food.
2) Make up a new sandwich.
3) Bake a cake.
4. Take pictures of your daily life and create an album (digital or physical) for a friend or relative living far away.
5. Plan a food-themed party (pie party, dog days of summer feast, tomato luncheon, Ethiopian dinner).
6. Paint your mailbox or a sign for the outside of your house that says your address or a welcome greeting.
7. Enlarge and frame some favorite photos.
8. Hand-make a birthday, holiday, or just because card for someone you love.
9. Hand write a letter to someone you talk to all of the time or haven’t talked to in a long time.
10. Draw a note for yourself or someone else (for example: “meet you at the library at 6:30″ might consist of a building plus a book, two stick figures, and a clock that reads 6:30)

Wednesday

I recently finagled my way out of working Wednesdays. Mainly, I saw a wavering in my boss’ demeanor. I started working at my current part time office job about two months ago. At the time, I had classes on Wednesdays, but the agreement was that I would move to working 5 days whenever possible. Upon telling my boss that I could move to 5 days because classes were over, he said, “We would prefer that you work five days.”

I thought about this for a couple days, and decided, I would prefer to continue working 4 days. I told him so, and he was not able to say no, although I will work occasional Wednesdays as needed. So here I am, not working on Wednesdays. Woohoo! When opportunity knocks, open the door! I thought I would show you a little bit of what my Wednesday looks like– because, in all reality, it’s not that I’m not working, but that I am taking the day to do the work that I love.

Me working on a new word painting called, “Jane’s Mane” in my “studio” (garage).

A trip to the art store, my favorite kind of store. Unfortunately, I forgot my wallet, so all I could do was browse.

Another “Save the World” sketch in the little sketchbook The Art House provided.

Spending quality time with Lance, my big, silly pup.

Small Steps

So often, I think we all want to move along faster towards our goals. Once we’ve gotten something we want to do in our minds, we want to make it happen right away. I am very much this way with everything– I want to start and quit and do things immediately, and I get disappointed when things don’t happen very quickly.

My relationship with art is this way; I want to be a full-time artist right now. I am slowly learning that very few things happen that way, and most goals require small regular steps.

I am proud to say that I have been keeping my eyes open for these small opportunities, and one of them is coming up this weekend. I will be showing some of my vessels in the Art Space at The Whole Earth Festival, a great crafty, community festival in my current hometown, Davis, CA.

If you’re in the area, come on out. It’s a crafty good time with lots of live music and a goal of as little waste as possible– you heard me correctly, this outdoor festival charges a deposit for reusable dishes among other waste saving strategies.

For your viewing pleasure, here is one of my newest vessels. I call it “Loud Vessel” because it has a stronger, darker style to it:

Trust

I just wanted to share a great thing I heard recently:

TRUST YOUR INSPIRATION, DOUBT YOUR FEAR

It is so simple, but for some reason it feels like the opposite of what I have been doing. When I am afraid of something, I take it seriously and wonder what I should do to make the fear go away. When I’m inspired, I treat it like a whim. I have started trying to think of fear as a big, mean, bully that doesn’t deserve my time. It helps to think of a silly theme song like “I’m gonna knock you out, mama said knock you out.”

On the theme of inspiration . . . here are two more vessels. I call them “open” and “cup.” I am having a lot of fun making these- there are so many different possibilities, and as a recent teacher said about developing as an artist and developing a body of work, find a theme, and then make 10 or 20 pieces on that theme.

Opening Up

I find myself often drawing vessels and vases. I like triangles too; the upside down “V” shape has so much potential for holding things. I’ve been thinking a lot about vessels for the past several months because they have become my metaphor for my creative self or myself as an artist. Something about the openness, for things to enter and a container for collecting images. I imagine my chest as a giant “V” open to everything and always gathering.

The feeling of being open, of letting ideas come into me, is exhilarating. When I am completely open and available for this wonder to happen, for creative energy to come to me, I am at my best.

I think that if you can figure out what activity or feeling makes you feel like this, you have found your destiny. Of course, nothing is magical all the time, but we all have these moments of being purely in ourselves, calm, thrilled, and heart overflowing all at the same time. When you figure out what you really love to do, you figure out what you are meant to do, because it is through doing what you love, that you can give to this world and everyone in it.

I think the word “dream” has become corrupted to often mean something far-fetched or silly. Something so ethereal that it’s not worth considering. But in the end, I think your dreams are the most real things you can experience because they lead you what you love.

On Creativity

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about being an artist lately, and what it takes to actually live your creative dreams. In thinking about this topic, and struggling with it everyday, I have been looking for a way to share what I have been reading, learning, and thinking.

Last night, I stumbled upon a blog called Creative Thursday written by a very creative and inspirational painter named Marisa. She has been making podcasts as a way of sharing what she learns and inspiring artists to follow their dreams. This idea inspired me and made me realize that one way I could share what I am learning is posting about it on this blog. From now on, I will be creating regular posts about the creative process with fun exercises to get you going. Here it goes.  

 

Last week, running with my dog Lance, I passed a young boy flying a kite with his mom. By some stroke of luck, just at the exact moment I was in ear-range, looking up at his kite rippling in the air, he exclaimed, “It is so beautiful! It is so beautiful up there!” What a wonder it is to be able to admire something so purely. I smiled to myself and thanked the world for letting me experience that moment of pure joy.

For some reason or another, we seem to lose this ability as we get older. Whether it is just life happening or us listening to everyone telling us to “grow up,” I’m not sure, but this is the seed of creative problems. Creativity is a pure and joyful act. I think, in order to let go, and make things for the pure fun of making (and therefore make what you truly should be making) means we need to let go of all of the “can’ts” and “shouldn’ts” of adult life and let ourselves have fun. Be a kid again.

I know it’s much easier said than done, but I believe this will make the difference between living a full and happy life of beauty and exploration and getting into the ruts and drudgery of the stereotypical adult life.

Here is an exercise I stumbled upon yesterday, when I was preparing for the poetry appreciation group I recently started. It is from a book called Poem Crazy by Susan Wooldridge. This is a great book full of stories, insights, and exercises. It’s geared towards poetry writing, but I think it is such an interesting exercise for any artist, especially visual artists because it creates so much visual imagery. 

Jot down and list the first thing you see when you ask yourself,

If I were a color, what color would I be?
(From red to the inside-of-a-watermelon-seed color.)
What shape would I be?
If I were a movement, what movement would I be?
What sound?
What animal?
What song?
What number? (infinity, googolplex, eight)
What car?
what piece of furniture?
What food?
What musical instrument?
What place?
What element in nature?
What kind of tree?
What’s something I’m afraid of?
What’s the word hiding behind my eyes?
Put down the words I am . . .