Creativity and Ideas

Where do creative ideas come from?

I think they are in the air waiting to be harvested. How many times have you had an idea, maybe for a story or a book, maybe for an invention, maybe for....who know what? Time and life get in the way and you don't pursue, develop, or encourage it. Some day, you think....One day you are strolling through the bookstore or hardware store and there it is...your idea. Fleshed out, well packaged, and for sale. Oh sure, it may not be entirely like you imagined, but that's because it came through someone else's creativity, but you recognize it. Someone else tamed the feral idea. Tamed it and made it theirs.

I often imagine ideas like the birds at my feeders outside. When seeds are put out, when water, shelter, and safety are available, an amazing variety of birds flock to the feeders. Ignore them, and they fly to someone else's feeders.


The same with ideas...when they are fed, nurtured, sheltered, watered, and made safe, they flock to you.
What ideas do you need to encourage and feed? In what ways can you offer a nurturing, safe environment for them to make a home?

Happy creating!

The Coffee Club

Every Monday morning, I hang out with a creative group of people at a local Starbucks. The focus of our discussion is someone else's work for which we offer encouragement, advice, critique, and opposing points of view. We also share stories, ideas, and lots of laughter and, in doing so, have gotten to know each other well.

Because of the holidays, we'd missed a couple of sessions. This morning, I braved potentially icy roads to be there because I needed what ever it is that we breathe and sip during those minutes. And I'm not talking about coffee.

Creativity. Acceptance. Encouragement. Ideas.

A potent brew.

I love hanging out with creative souls. They make my life richer.

Gift ideas for Creative Souls

Need some ideas on how to stuff the stockings of your creative friends? Or, maybe, you need to give a list to someone in your life so they can stuff your stockings in a grand fashion?

1. Small supplies.

For Quilters, a spiffy new rotary cutter with blades, a handmade pincushion, or a new ruler. Fat quarters and charm packs are always fun.
Gardeners love cool hand tools like trowels and pruners, knee pads, hand lotion, wind chimes, bird houses, seeds, small transplants from your garden.
Artists (gotta think of another name for these...we are all artists) brushes, portable cases, hand made papers, sketch books, inspiration books.
Writers--interesting pens, printer cartridges, paper, clever notebooks, Starbucks cards, small pillow for their backs while they write.

2. Magazine subscriptions to a creative magazine.

3. Artist Date supplies....entry to an art museum, promise of lunch out with like minded souls.

4. Creative books

5. Junque...cute themed key chains, mouse pads, Christmas ornaments, socks, tee-shirts.

What are some of your favorite creative boosting gifts you've gotten or given over the years?

Creative Retreat

One of my favorite things about professional photography was the great seminars, workshops, and conventions I got to attend. After going to an event, I'd come home exhausted, but overflowing with ideas. For the last several days, while the rest of my family was away, I've indulged in a creative workshop right here at home. I literally withdrew from my normal routine and commitments as if I'd gone away on a long trip and immersed myself in all things creative. The goal was to listen to and honor and enjoy my creative spirit.

And it was good.

I wrote several thousand words on a fiction project. And resisted the urge to do work on too many writing projects at once. Pacing and patience. Not usually one of my strong points.

I spent some time with hands on creative projects. Cutting, pasting, rearranging, playing with framing...it was tactile and textural. Creativity I could touch. Very satisfying. I was limited by my stash of supplies and, occasionally by my lack of training. But it was still fun to approach a project with a child's sense of play.

I savored other people's words on the creative process. Gently, slowly, thoughtfully instead of my usual glup and swallow method of reading.

There were times of playing with food tastes and textures. Enjoying roasted veggies of the season with olive oil and a bit of garlic. Savoring tangy tomatoes and crisp, sweet watermelon. Green salads with raspberry vinagrette and strawberries. A feast of flavors, a different kind of fulfillment.

My head and my notebook filled up with thoughts, ideas, drawings, and details. My family is back home from their far-flung endeavors, so life is back to normal. But I hope not to the same old routine. In the past couple of years, I've taken one time a year to indulge in a creative or writing retreat. Once is not enough. I need a few days here and there throughout the year to think and be and refresh. I'm nosing around in my calendar now to find a fall date for a one or two day do-it-myself workshop time. Wanna join me?

I'm looking forward to working with the fresh ideas captured in my notebook. The future looks creative and fun.

Whispers, Echoes, Ideas

Busy-ness kills creativity.

My life is full of responsibilities right now. Too many responsibilities, it seems, but they are mine to deal with. So I do. I rush from one meeting to the next, from home to a class to the store and back again. At home, I scurry to cross things off my to-do list and make sure N is crossing things off his school to-do list. Everything I do involves an element of creativity and flair, but not in an overt way. Some days I feel very productive and some days I feel like a gerbil in an exercise wheel. Lots of effort with little travel. Drained. Stagnant.

In the rush to get things done, we lose the chance to savor, reflect, and enjoy quiet moments. It is in the quiet moments that I hear myself think and creativity is born.

Whispers of wishes.

Echoes of dreams.

Threads of ideas.

If those whispers aren't heard, if the echoes fade away, and if the threads aren't stitched together I begin to feel frazzled. Empty. Dissatisfied.

Uncreative.

A friend once called this feeling a crisis of creativity. When life and responsibilities overwhelm me causing the artistic part of my soul to suffer. Projects I want to complete reproach me as I pass them. Projects I want to start sit impatiently waiting their turn. Time and busy-ness are my enemy. I sigh when I see the holidays approaching because I know my schedule will get worse before it gets better.

Usually clearing my calendar for a few days and a shopping trip to a favorite raw materials store (craft store, an art shop, a fabric store, a garden center, a bookstore) cures me of creatius crisisus. A day or two indulging in hands on work or intense concentration fulfills me.

When I can't clear an entire day or weekend, I try to work in a little bit of creative thought every day. Just now, I spent an hour in the my favorite part of the garden on the pretense of watering pansies. (Check mark the to-do list.) But, as I sat in the swing and listened to the leaves fall, I relaxed. In that moment, I enjoyed the beauty of the little garden we've created. The last of the rose blossoms. The cheerful faces of the white and purple pansies. Birdsong. I savored the mellow sunlight through the thinning trees.

And whispers, echoes, and ideas stirred in my heart.

I'll get to the repainting the shabby garden swing (not the purple one) and I'll get to the quilt I want to make. I'll get to the porch wreath that wants to be redone. I'll get back to the book I'm writing, as well as the photography fine prints I want to do. It'll come.

For the moment, it was nice to take a breather, commune with the Creator, and know that my creativity shimmers within me....a reflection of His.....waiting for the opportunity to burst forth.

Ideas

Pressed down, shaken together, overflowing. This Bible verse expresses well the abundant ideas flowing today. More than I can keep up with….exciting. Character thoughts, an idea for a writing seminar, thoughts on making the porch prettier, blogging ideas….

Time to capture them in my notebook or here on the computer. If these ideas are captured, they can often be tamed. It takes persistence, good care, kindness, firmness and love to win their hearts, but the process is so worth it. Once tamed, an idea becomes your friend, a guide, an inspiration.

What ideas are running wild through your mind and heart? Corral them in your notebook for future consideration. Give them time to settle, grow, and mature, then explode them into your life. At the very least, tag them so you can follow and observe them in their natural habitat. Observe, remember, compare…you never know when one idea will bounce into another to create something totally different.

I love new ideas. They are like bright blooming flowers in my heart, full of potential, magic, and charm.

Which ones shall I work on first?