Expanding Creativity

The self-isolation requirements brought on by COVID-19 began wearing on me a few months ago. As an introvert, parties, etc. are not my thing but my husband and I still went out to dinner with friends, attended a weekly Bible study, went grocery shopping, etc. Now, we haven't been to a restaurant or grocery store since early March and our Bible study group has been cancelled. It didn't take long before restlessness set in with a vengeance. I decided that I needed to find a creative outlet outside of writing. As much as I love to write, it's a marathon, not a sprint, and I needed to find something sprint-worthy.

 

All I have to do is make these parts look like the picture...

 

Facebook ads to the rescue! I signed up for a monthly kit club. Each month, I'll receive a kit for a different project. The variety of projects will let me try my hand at different things without making a long-time commitment to any of them. The first kit was for a decorative birdhouse. I'm fairly handy and can use a hammer with the best of them, but most of my projects are large. Working on something so small was going to be a bit of a challenge, but that's what this is all about - trying new things.

 

Making progress!

When I'm trying something new I have a tendency to follow the directions to the letter and would have done the same this time if it weren't for my husband. He looked at the picture of the completed birdhouse and said "That's a lot of white. Why don't you change the color for some of it?" This was an excellent suggestion and we have quite a few sample-sized paints left from hubby's various projects. I decided to change the base and the trim for the roof to a light gray. Not much different from the original but I've always loved a pop of red against a gray or white.

The project is now complete and I have to say that I'm pretty pleased with it. 👍 My perfectionist tendencies mean that I see all all of the flaws but as my husband says, the flaws are what makes it unique. (He balances me well. 💕)

Ta-da!

Next month: Inspirational magnets.

What are your hobbies?

 

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Finding the Joy

I am not an artist. When I was young, I had a set of acrylic paints and brushes. I remember sitting outside and painting nature scenes. Was I any good? Not really. Could I have been? I don't know. My parents insisted I take an art class. I begged them not to make me go. I was painfully shy and the very idea struck terror into my heart. However, I went and it was even worse than I imagined. There were several of the "mean girls" from my grade in the class and the instructor's teaching style was not one that meshed with the way I learn. Taking the paint brush away from me and doing something for me taught me nothing except that I wasn't good enough. Being so shy and insecure, I already knew that. In my mother's later years she said that forcing me to go to that class was one of her biggest regrets because I never painted again and she was correct. I didn't. However, not painting wasn't a conscious choice I made in order to be vindictive for being forced to attend class against my will. It was simply a case of the experience destroyed any joy I found in painting.

It has only been within the last five years or so that I have once again found happiness in painting. There are a number of art studios that have sprung up across the country offering instructor led classes to the masses. (Many of these classes also allow the imbibing of alcoholic beverages during class.) The purpose of these studios is not to teach students how to be the next Picasso but instead to let them see that, with a just a little instruction, we can each be more creative than we may think possible. "Oh, I could never do that" becomes "Look what I did!"

My daughter-in-law is blessed with artistic talent. Somehow, I let her talk me into taking a "fundamentals of painting" class with her. Much to my surprise I enjoyed it. I also appreciated the fact that the instructor never took my brush away from me to "fix" my work or told me that I was doing thing "wrong." He simply made suggestions as to how to improve next time. True, several of the paintings I completed in that class will never see the light of day (especially the first one) but there are a couple I am extremely proud of, such as this one:

Some of my favorite classes are those offered by Truth Be Told Art. Most Truth Be Told paintings begin with a stencil to outline the image being painted and the font used for the text. But the actual color choices and painting, shading, etc. are up to the participant. I usually attend these classes with friends and it's always fun to see how different our paintings are from everyone else's. This is the Truth Be Told painting that hangs in my dining area:

So, what is the purpose of this post? It's to encourage you to not worry so much about trying to be perfect; after all, perfection is a myth. It's okay to just create and find joy in the process. So, go out and do something that makes you happy and don't worry about what anyone else thinks!

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Creativity by Michael E. Gonzales

I attended a very interesting lecture this evening, the topic was “Where” is creativity, now what is creativity?

The lecturer began by pointing to a painting and asking, “How many of you have looked at a work of art and said, “How creative.”

He then pointed out the obvious flaw in that statement, the inanimate object (be it a painting, a bronze or a book) cannot be creative, it is the artist who is creative.

This struck me because I had several of my friends say to me, “Your book is do creative!” And the little voice inside my head cried out, “I created the story, the story did not create me!” (Fodder for a whole new blog!)

He went on to discuss how all creativity starts in the mind.

He defined creativity thusly: the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas.

I keyed in on the term, “new ideas.”

The first ax ever invented, basically a sharpened stone, some millions of years ago, was a new idea, but what about the second? When someone came up with the idea of attaching the stone to a wooden handle, was that a new idea or a logical extension to a new idea?

Books are not new by any means, but if a story is published that has not been told before, is that a new idea?

The idea of the stone ax, millions of years ago was the creation of an idea, formed in the mind and translated into an actual tool. 

The invention of something that had never existed into a real implement.

What about the first cave painting? The difference here is that the animals painted already existed. So, nothing new there, what was new was the ability of that early artist to render what he saw into art.

A great deal of work and invention was invested just to decorate the inside of a dark cave. They had to invent paint, a method to apply that paint. They had to illuminate the cave in a way that would not darken the ceiling, which they also painted, with soot. They invented scaffolding to reach those high ceilings. These he termed technology.

But is not technology an act of the creative mind?

Einstein’s many discoveries, particularly relativity, was a scientific first. He “Discovered” this through the use of mental images, then to support his conclusions he learned to be a mathematician. His discovery, I contend, was thus an act of creativity, and not relativity itself for it already existed, he just brought it to the world’s attention.  

The science already existed when Steve Jobs made his breakthroughs, would anyone not call him creative?

I believe that all living human beings are capable of creative thought. A great many who are not actually creative only lack the skill sets. 

Perhaps there is another Einstein out there, who, through his weak math and science knowledge is to timid to step forward.

Another Ayn Rand may be living next door to you, but because she lacks education in proper writing, the correct use of the English language and has not been motivated her talents, her stories, her voice go unheard.

Creativity has been the one thing that has allowed our species to survive.

As the lecturer pointed out we had three things going against us prehistoric times; we’re fragile, we’re weak, and we’re tasty.

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Where Does Inspiration Come From?

I'm old enough to remember television before "reality tv" became a thing. I was underwhelmed when the first reality shows came out. I didn't understand the fascination and swore I would never watch them. As I have done so many times before, I had to eat my words.

There are several reality shows that I enjoy, among them: Chopped, Project Runway, and Ink Master. It took me a while to realize that the shows I like have certain traits in common: competition and creativity. I enjoy watching various creative processes from the beginning to end. Give the contestants, whether they are chefs, fashion designers, or tattoo artists, the same challenge and each one will have a different interpretation and the end results will be completely different. Why? Because each artist is an individual with different experiences and different thought processes. 

Image courtesy of Depositphotos.com

It's the same with writers. Each of us sees the world through different eyes and will be inspired by different things. Romances in particular seem to get a bad rap. Many people think they are all the same. I beg to differ. Each author approaches their stories from their unique perspective.

What inspires me? All sorts of things. My Kudzu Korners series was inspired by a rescue cat named Zombie.

I was also inspired by the story of Melissa Dohme, a domestic abuse survivor who married one of the EMTs who rescued her. The next installment in my Kudzu Korners series, Dances with Werewolves, features a Sydney, a heroine who learns to love after domestic abuse. I didn't specifically have Melissa's story in mind as the when fleshing out Sydney but I know that it was there in the back of my mind as I did.

My most recent inspiration comes from a video I saw on Facebook. You can view it HERE. There will be a scene loosely based on this video in an upcoming inspirational romance titled Choosing Love.

What inspires you?

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