Exercise #4 in Stage Three – Play What was something you remembered doing as a kid? Try it again. If you have kids, raid the toy box for toys you loved playing with when you were young. Fashion Plates™ still exist. (I know because I just ordered some, ostensibly for my daughter.) Spirograph® is still […]
Exercise #3 in Stage Three – Play You may have no memory of the joy of finger painting, of what it felt like as a kid to plunge your fingers into paint and to experiment with mixing colors, with moving paint around on a page, but your body remembers. Locked deep within you is that […]
Exercise #2 in Stage Three – Play For this exercise, start a list of the media that may interest you on your creativity journey. First, go back to the notes you took on your childhood creativity in the last exercise. What media did you love most as a kid? Did you go through buckets of […]
Exercise #1 in Stage Three – Play How did you play as a kid? Most likely if you are reading this book you engaged in some form of creative play as a child. Your play profile is probably that of the “Artist” and you found joy in making things. Think back to those halcyon days […]
As children, our creativity flows effortlessly from us. We have not yet learned to question ourselves. We don’t yet hear the negative voices and see no distinction between our created selves and our authentic selves; there is no artifice yet. For this reason, a vital step in your creativity journey and the fastest path to […]
Six weeks ago when it looked like there would be no camp this summer, I started planning art activities and buying supplies for “Mom Camp” to keep my eight year old busy. I placed a big order with Dharma Trading Company that included a marbling kit because, yes, it was something I always wanted to […]
I have heard from so many fellow artists that they are having trouble creating right now. And, it’s no wonder since every single one of us is under stress unlike anything we’ve ever experienced before. At the same time, many of us feel like we should be producing a lot of work because we have […]
Last week, I presented at the New England Quilt Museum‘s Meet the Teachers Day, but I was also there wearing my second hat as part of the programming committee for my guild (the Rising Star Quilters). I talked with a few other program chairs about the challenges we face filling workshops. Thinking about that challenge […]
Last month I wrote about the seasons of creativity and discussed how normal it is to go through cycles of active creation and rest. But, if you find yourself in a creative winter like I do right now, how do you bring on the creative spring? Start a new project! Many cultures celebrate the new […]
Image by kimura2 from Pixabay Life works in mysterious ways. I had already planned a different topic for this newsletter, but I decided to postpone my mailing when I realized that you’d just heard from me. So, I postponed my writing too and that gave me time to read David Brooks’ piece in The New […]