Living the Creative Life by Rice Freeman-Zachery

Living the Creative Life, Ideas and Inspiration from Working Artists is an image packed paperback that’s definately worth a read.  It’s also beautiful (and sweet) enough to make a great gift for your favorite artist.

Long before I began writing about creativity, I was researching it.  Not because I wanted more creativity.  Mostly, because I have so many ideas, I could spend a life time lost in them.   This book is kind of like that.  There are numerous images, thoughts and ideas from various artists, there is a little something for everyone.

Some of my favorites artwork in the book included:  Pg. 24, a colorful image of a quilted diary by Susan Shie.  Shie is featured again on page 105. The puppets by Scott Radke on page 85, 111 and 120 are surreal and sublime.  The first puppet he made was to woo his wife.  How romantic is that?

My favorite suggestion from Rice:  “Today, have as many sensory experiences as you can.  Divide a piece of paper or a page in your journal into six columns:  Tasted, Touched, Heard, Saw, Smelled, Did.  Then, for one day, list the things you experience.” It’s amazing all that we experience in one day!

The book is full of ideas, tidbits from artists, and suggestions of things to try.  I think of this type of book as bathtub reading — you can pick it up, plop it open at any page and read as much, or as little, as you like.  It does not have to be read from cover to cover to be useful and inspiring.

I’d rate this book a 4 out of 5 with the only suggestion that it could be longer.  At 140 small pages, it leaves you wanting for more, but that’s a good thing.

I’m not an Amazon affiliate, but here’s a link just in case you’d like more info.

Glass Abstraction, by Mira Woodworth

It’s probably no surprise that color can affect the way we think and process ideas.  Laran Neergaard recently published an article through the Associated Press on the topic.  When I saw it at Yahoo News, I thought I’d write about it.  But, when a reader also pointed out the article, I thought I’d write about it now.

Lead researcher Juliet Zhu of the University of British Columbia reported on a study that has proven that the color blue increases creativity, while red increases attention to detail.

I’m wondering if these influences are caused from learned behavior.  We learn to pay attention to warnings written in red, red stop signs, red traffic signals, or a red tie worn with a black suit.  Red gets our attention.  Marketers have taught us that anything in green must be healthy.  Yellow and orange seem happy and cheery like the sun.

I suppose it makes sense that blue spurs creativity.  Blue conjurs serene thoughts of the ocean and the sky; both are  seemingly endless and boundary free.  My only question:  Would I be more creative if I painted my studio Tiffany Blue, Robin’s Egg Blue or Royal Blue?

As a Make Do Artsit, ReArt (real name unknown) enjoys junk shops, salvage yards, yard sales and cast offs in general.  ReArt is a great example of last week’s fieldtrip friday.

ReArt states, “As a designer, pack rat and enthusiastic recycler, making ReArt pieces allows me to play with some of my favorite things, and expand my awareness of the beautiful in the ordinary and discarded. ReArt is a convergence of personal joys, skills, visions and idiosyncracies and I am delighted to share it.”

ReArt is an excellent example of an artist Making and Doing with what is already available.  Check out her site!

I haven’t posted suppliers yet, so this is the first.  And, it’s a good follow up to last week’s Fieldtrip Friday on turning junk mail into art.

xxxcookie on etsy punches and sells junk mail.  This picture shows some trees, ready for use in your scrapbooking, collage or other artwork.  Seriously, at less than a quarter, go to her site and help stimulate the economy.  You’ll be helping the environment too!

Who's Watching Whom, Acrylic on Canvas, by Mira Woodworth

As artists, it seems we are always looking for new ideas and concepts to portray in our work.  We yearn to express our unique experiences and philosophies.  We instinctually know that simply copying the work we see on the internet would rob us of our creative mojo.  Copying is not creativity at all – it’s busy work.  But, it’s so easy to peruse the internet and find example after example of excellent work and ideas.  “Why didn’t I think  of that first?” we wonder.

How can we take inspiration from the work from other artists without copying?

Next time you are admiring another artist’s work, take time to read their profile.  Study the artist’s intent.  What questions are they answering, what beliefs do they hold?  You can glean inspiration and ideas by researching the artists’ motivation.  Once you have done this, formulate a creative cue.  The creative cue is the gem behind the artwork that is free for the taking.

Formulating a creative cue is similar to math and is actually an exercise in lateral thinking.  First, determine (or even guess) at the motivating factor(s) of the artist who created the inspirational piece.  You can find revealing information in profiles, artist statements or the artist’s comments about the work.  Next, use this information as a creative cue by looking inward to your own beliefs and ideas.  Next, apply this new found knowledge to your chosen medium.

It’s easier than it sounds. Here are a three examples I recently wrote about:

Leslie from Deviant Art created a sculpture called “Can’t See Forest 4 the Trees.”  Her polymer clay piece is the bust of a person inlayed with forest and trees.  A creative cue I can take from Leslie’s work: Interpret a common saying.   Taking that creative cue, I must think of another famous saying, and interpret it in my preferred medium.  Although inspired by Leslie’s work, my results will be wildly different and contain my own voice.

Margaux Lange provided an interesting creative cue for us.  She uses a toy from her childhood that she recalls being at the forefront of her earliest creative memory.  A creative cue from Lange’s work: Incorporate into your work what motivated you as a child.  Another creative cue from Lange’s work:  Explore your favorite childhood toys in your chosen medium.  Perhaps a painting of a Lego castle?  Do you remember tinker toys?

Karen Kamentzky combines her philosophical belief about how change happens with her art quilting.  After reviewing her artist statement, a creative cue immediately comes to mind:  Explore your beliefs about change.  This creative cue can be expanded to other philosophical ideas such as: Explore your beliefs about religion, politics, and human nature.  Karen quilts, but if you apply your own philosophical answers to your own medium, you will have a piece of artwork that no one else could have possibly dreamed up.

It is possible to find inspiration, motivation, ideas and even direction from the work of other artists without copying.  The key is to look for the motivation behind the artwork and combine that motivation with your personal experiences and philosophy.  If you take the creative cue, you will create original works that could have only come from you.  Afterall, that’s what every artist wants: a body of original artwork unique to ourselves.

For more creative cues, click on the category “Inspirations.”   I regularly profile artists whose work is inspiring along with a creative cue I find.  And don’t forget to share the creative cues you find with me!

“I would love to have you over,” she said. “I’ll have to get an air mattress . . . I haven’t done anything with the room since my daughter moved out. There’s nothing in there but shag carpet.”

The two ideas merged. Why not create a writer’s studio in that space? The act of creating a studio would be a physical commitment to her passion. Phrases like “meditative space” and “creative retreat” came to mind. As I left my friend, I thought I’d look research other creative writing spaces to help her endeavor.

So I googled. And I yahoo’d. And I Searched some more. I found this to be a subject that is sorely neglected. I expected to find images of airy studios appointed with ergonomically-correct work stations. Beauty and inspiration – just what a writer might need. Instead, I found images of desks piled with papers in small corners with poor lighting. Not exactly the gateway to creative bliss by my estimation.

I offer my friend 5 simple suggestions to incorporate into her creative writing landscape:

1. A chalkboard or cork board for diagramming your plots or listing character traits. This is also a good spot for an inspirational Haiku, image or quote to get you going.

2. A comfy chair that is ergonomically correct for writing. How can a writer be expected to lose herself in the zone if her spine is nagging her back to reality?

3. Good lighting to prevent eye strain and headaches while writing. The same lighting is even more important during revisions when eyeballs are more likely to stray to more pleasurable pursuits.

4. A calendar to be used for tracking deadlines, whether they be self-imposed, work-related or contest-driven. A calendar is an excellent tool to track your progress as well. Whether your goal is to write a poem a day or draft a chapter a week, checkmarks on a calendar which track your progress can be an excellent motivational tool.

5. A door, curtain or imaginary barrier to designate to yourself and others when you are in your writing space.

There are many, many creative mediums. More than one person can earnestly attempt to pursue in one life time. There is no problem finding your medium, the problem arises in finding which medium you’d like to study and pursue.

Tips on Developing Creativity

1. Approach situations in your life with curiosity.
2. Question convention. Just because things have always been done a certain way doesn’t mean they can’t be changed.
3. Research, research, research the facts relative to the area in which you are trying to create.

Apply These Tips to Your Medium:

These tips sound benign, but when applied to a medium, they come alive.

I know a quilter interested in developing new ideas relative to her medium. If I take Mr. Forde’s tips and apply them to her medium, the following suggestions spring to mind:

1. Go to quilt shops and imagine you’ve never seen the materials before. Try new tools, touch the fabrics, ask the shopkeeper questions. Be curious about your medium – pretend it’s new.
2. Review patterns, or better yet, past projects, and ask yourself, is this the only way this could have been done? Would I like it more if I turned it inside out, upside down or added another medium such as beads, yarn, paint, words or phrases to the piece?
3. Research, research, research quilting, fiber arts, sewing catalogs, and any other source of information relative to your idea. Combine information from various sources to hit on new ideas.

Now you try it . . Apply these tips to your medium and let me know what creative spark you develop in the comments section!