Allow Yourself to Stretch Your Creative Muscle
Welcome to the lens that encourages creativity and individual self expression.
Just create something - don't wait for the laundry to be done, for the mail to be opened, for the dishes to be washed - Just Create!!! Expressing your creativity is a gift you can give yourself each and every day (whether you draw or paint, cook or garden, write, dance or compose music). You are a creative vehicle and, in expressing that creative well-spring, you are tapping into a place of unlimited joy.
I guess you could say that it's like utilizing an under used muscle, which may feel stiff if you haven't used it in awhile. But with more consistent use, mobility increases along with greater confidence in your abilities. There's a reason that children do better in school when they have music and or art in their lives. They have been exercising that creative muscle which helps them hone their creative thinking skills. It is true with adults as well. Creative problem solving helps decrease the stress in your life because you can easily draw upon alternatives in a vast array of situations.
Many of the articles on this page were originally written for The Shared Easel Newsletter, which can be found at my newly transformed website, www.WendyArts.com.
(NOTE: This page is a work in progress. I plan to add a lot more. You can bookmark this page and return to see what's been added.)
Contents at a Glance
Create Something Today. Experience the joy!
Express Yourself
Give yourself permission to step into the joy, to unleash your creativity, and allow yourself the freedom to express your true inner self.
Creating Space for Creativity
Many people feel they don't have the time to express their creativity. I meet individuals all the time who speak of their longing to connect with their artistic selves. Work, family, and the every day things of life fill so much space, there isn't much room for artistic exploration. It is natural for us to want to establish a connection with our creative spirit.The "Mini Creative Retreat Ideas" below are offered to help establish or reestablish your personal artistic flow.
Choosing to cultivate your creativity, is one of the most life energizing gifts you can give yourself. Whether it be through an artistic channel or by finding creative opportunities in any moment, you can lead a more fulfilling and joyful life.
Creativity does not begin and end with the many creative outlets available to us. It can be fostered in the way one views the world, problem solves, thinks and creates. It's more than an art process, it's a way of life.
Just Create Products
These products encourage self expression.
Here are some of the items you can buy at the CafePress Just Create Store. For the full selection of products, please visit the online store.
Just Create Greeting Cards (Pk of 10)
Price: 18.99 
Just Create Framed Panel Print
Price: 38.99
Just Create Calendar Print
Price: 7.99
Just Create Tote Bag
Price: 16.99
Just Create Postcards (Package of 8)
Price: 9.99
Promoting Creative Thought:
Things Anyone Can Do
There are many things you can do to help add creativity to your everyday lives. Here are some simple things that anyone can do to foster creativity:Move the furniture around in a room and see things from a new perspective.
Take a new route to work or to any place you travel often.
Look for ways of doing anything differently.
Order something new on the menu of one of your favorite restaurants.
Surprise yourself and choose to react differently to something that usually bothers you.
Spend time in silence. Creativity loves the sound of silence. It is in those quiet moments that creativity's spark is ignited.
Visualize yourself creating. What you can visualize you can create in your life.
Write a poem.
Dance while cooking dinner...with or without music.
Spend time with a creative friend.
Looking at clouds is not just for children. Take some time to see what images you can find in the clouds.
Next time you are sitting in traffic, create a story about a wonderful experience that awaits you because of the traffic delay. You are able to be at just the right place at exactly the right time because you were unable to get to your destination sooner.
Allow yourself time to do something you truly love to do, and let go of all the should do's on your list.
Go out and watch the sun set...then write about it, dance, create music, paint or draw, let it motivate you to create something from the experience. Maybe even create a dinner that is influenced by the sun set.
Mindfully experience one entire meal. Experience every flavor, every texture. Fully taste each bite of food and consciously chew and swallow every morsel.
Walk down a street you've be to many times. But this time make believe it is your very first time there. See things as if it is fresh and new.Is there anything you haven't noticed before?
Promoting Creative Thinking Through Curiosity
The Inquisitive Mind - An Exercise
In "How to Think like Leonardo Da Vinci", Michael Gelb suggests generating a list of 100 questions on anything that comes to mind.Although it seemed like a tedious task, I got comfortable with my journal and pen and wrote and wrote and wrote. I found that the process provided some wonderful surprises. As I continued to write, I became more wowed by the wonders of our natural environment, the workings of the human body and the way we interact with one another. The miracles of everyday life became magnified and a sense of awe grew.
Questions came to mind that I have not pondered since childhood. (like...How does a bird have the ability to fly?) And after the first 75 or so, I found that the questions seemed to have more depth and meaning.
At the end of this exercise I was very thankful for all that I have, for what I see, for who I am, and to be experiencing life in a world with so many wonders.
"Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand-and melting like a snowflake..."
-Sir Francis Bacon
Books On Creativity
Make Your Creative Dreams Real: A Plan for Procrastinators, Perfectionists, Busy People, and People Who Would Really Rather Sleep All Day
Sark is a living example of a creative spirit. In this book she provides encouragement on pursuing your dreams.
Amazon Price: $12.96 (as of 12/29/2009)
The Creativity Book: A Year's Worth of Inspiration and Guidance
Maisel is a creativity coach who has written many books on the subject. In this book he shares a one year plan to enhance a persons creativity, providing two exercises per week along with a final project.
Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 12/29/2009)
Audacious Creativity: 30 Ways to Liberate Your Soulful Creative Energy--and How It Can Transform Your Life
30 essays that share individual stories, encourage others, provide exercises and convey experience and wisdom.
Amazon Price: $15.99 (as of 12/29/2009)
Releasing the Creative Spirit : Unleashing the Creativity in Your Life
Dan Wakefield demystifies the creative process and provides
practical exercises.
Amazon Price: (as of 12/29/2009)
Claiming Your Creative Self: True Stories from the Everyday Lives of Women
This encouraging book provides real examples of women expressing their personal form of creativity. Each chapter tells the story of how one woman has incorporated her creative spirit into her everyday life. My personal favorite is the story of the waitress.
Amazon Price: (as of 12/29/2009)
Creative Getaways
Schedule Vacation Time For Creativity
Vacations allow us to feel like life is slowing down just a bit. Whether the feeling of having more space and time is an illusion or a reality, people tend to plan activities which bring them joy. Vacations are scheduled and time is made for those things we've pushed aside during the rest of the year.While you are making plans, consider planning a creative getaway. Why not take an art vacation. Sign up for a workshop on a process that you have wanted to learn. Take a class or an intensive that allows you to immerse yourself in the art or medium that you would love to explore. Or take a break and go somewhere you love, someplace that inspires you. A creative getaway is a great way to jump start your creative flow.
Before returning home consider how to incorporate time for art into your life. Make some commitments to yourself on what you can do to continue the flow once you are back at home. What changes can you make to allow for more creative time in your life?
Mini Creative Retreat Ideas
In As Little As 5 Minutes
Take a mini retreat to express or explore your creativity. You can do this in as little as 5 to 20 minutes. These mini creativity retreats provide an opportunity to nurture your artistic side. Here are some ideas:1. Create an entry in a Drawing Journal or Doodle Diary-take 5 minutes a day to express how you feel in that moment. Then if you have more time you can write about it.
2. Take a walk in the woods, look at the shadows, reflections and shapes.
3. Take yourself on a fieldtrip to the local art supply store. Allow yourself to get inspired by all the wonderful creative tools. Or better yet, buy yourself a gift of materials you are most likely to use. Can it be taken out, left in place, cleaned up easily? Is this something that can be used for a 10-20 minute creative retreat?
4. Get inspired - read a book about or by a creative person you respect or admire. (an artist, writer, choreographer, composer, etc.)
5. Take a break - while you are out running errands, stop at a local gallery for 10 minutes or more to view their current exhibit.
6. Go to the library and look at art and photography books to stimulate creative energy and ideas. Or stay home and look at inspiring websites.
7. Take 5 minutes to dance and get your energy flowing. And if you can't find the space and time to dance alone, then dance with your family.
8. Draw to music for 5 or 10 minutes. Without thinking, allow the shapes and colors just develop with the movement of the music.
Just Create Clothing
Clothing that helps inspire self expression.
Just Create Maternity T-Shirt
Price: 27.99
Just Create Dark T-Shirt
Price: 22.99
Just Create Value T-shirt
Price: 12.99
Just Create Fitted T-Shirt
Price: 19.99
Just Create BBQ Apron
Price: 20.99
Creativity Sites
Read more about Creativity.
- Where Are You Most Creative?
- This article, posted at ProductiveFlourishing.com presents the idea of working where you're the most creative.
- Unleash Your Creativity
- Unleash Your Creativity - 7 Ways YOU Can Tap Into The Unstoppable Flow Of Your Inner Creativity Today. This is an article at EzineArticles.com
- The Creativity Portal
- Creativity project ideas, prompts and articles. Opportunities for submitting material to the site.
- Boosting Creativity
- Jeffrey Baumgartner offers a list of 10 steps to help boost creativity.
- Demystifying the Creative Process
- Creativity, can be broken into four distinct steps. Read more to learn about the creative process.
- The Top 10 Benefits to Creativity (Creativity: Why Bother?)
- Creativity may seem like a good idea, but why spend your valuable time and resources to develop it? Creativity: Why Bother shows you the value of living a creative life.
A Book to Stimulate Your Creativity
Inspiration, Encouragement and Ideas
52 Projects: Random Acts of Everyday Creativity (Perigee Book)
Amazon Price: (as of 12/29/2009)
In 52 Projects, Jeffrey Yamaguchi offers 52 simple and fun ideas designed to act as inspiration for the reader. It is filled with a diverse collection of creative projects...writing, painting, drawing, sculpting, dancing, cooking, photographing, music, and more.
Creative Alternatives
Flowing With Change
When I had a full time corporate job, I needed an outlet for my creativity. I was a painter with no time to paint. As a gift to myself, I would take off one day a year to paint on my birthday. But this just wasn't enough. So I bought a new camera with my Christmas bonus and on weekends I had fun going out on photo shoots. Unlike painting, which required set up and clean up time, I could just grab my camera and go out for an hour. And I must admit that it was highly fulfilling.The experience of embracing an alternative art form, not only added joy to my life, it has given rise to the photo mixed media work I create today. For me, like for so many others, it becomes painful to deny the creative and artistic self. I feel that it's my job, as the caretaker of my soul, to nourish and feed my creative passion. When I am not immersed in a new series of paintings - writing, cooking or dancing become my alternative outlets.
If life circumstances seem to make it difficult to pursue your art of choice, consider channeling your creative energies in a new way. The alternative may lead to delightful surprises.
Creativity on the Web
Here is a list of links to photos, artwork and ideas that I find particularly creative.
- Creative Photos by Chema Madoz
- These photos are wonderfully creative.
- Man Decorates Basement With $10 Worth of Sharpies
- When Charlie Kratzer started on the basement art project in his south Lexington home, he was surrounded by walls painted a classic cream. Ten dollars of Magic Marker and Sharpie later, the place was black and cream and drawn all over.
- Jen Stark Paper Sculpture
- Jen Stark creates colorful sculptural pieces with 30 to 80 layers of card stock and an x-acto knife.
"The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself."
-Alan Alda
The Creative Process
The gift is in the process. That is where joy resides.
Experience the Process
When it comes to artistic and creative endeavors, the focus is often misplaced. Focusing on the finished product or the end result, negates the true gifts of the creative process. It is in the process itself that all the gifts and benefits lie.When we can experience the present moment and let go of what we are trying to accomplish, we access our true nature. And that is the place that thrives through self expression. The gift is in the process. When we can tap into our inner flow of creativity we can come closer to experiencing life without the weight of the past and the concerns for the future.
Making "Mistakes"
Mistakes can be gifts during the process.
Often during the creative process, people fear the mistakes. I say embrace them. Many of my most successful paintings got to that point because of a "mistake" I made in the process. It was in the undoing of that so called "mistake" that I was able to achieve something greater than I might have. Each "error" is a learning experience and an opportunity for growth.So embrace the idea of making a mistake and become open to the gifts that they offer.
Journaling
Each page of a journal becomes an invitation to create, to flow, and to make that page your own.
Creative Journals
It's hard for me to imagine that there was once a time when I filled notebooks with my writing and I kept only drawings in my sketchbooks. A college friend with a real creative spark, changed all that. She gave me my first artist journal. It was a black, hard covered artist sketchbook filled with wonderfully clean white pages. Here was an opportunity for me to combine both my writing and artwork in one place. What a gift! I have had one ever since.It is always exciting to start a fresh new journal. I write, I draw, I think out loud. It is a place to plan my creative projects, birth a new series of paintings, work through emotional issues, brainstorm ideas, doodle, flow, record. It is a dear friend, a confidant, a safe haven, a place to be silly. It gives me permission to try things, explore anything, and layout the building blocks to any real creative endeavor.
Creative Journaling Books
Here are three books on the subject of Artist's Journals, each from a different perspective:
Artists' Journals and Sketchbooks: Exploring and Creating Personal Pages
This is written from an artistic perspective.
Amazon Price: $14.95 (as of 12/29/2009)
The Creative Journal: The Art of Finding Yourself
This is written from an art therapy perspective. It focuses on how a journal can provide personal insight and understanding with over 50 exercises.
Amazon Price: $10.19 (as of 12/29/2009)
How to Make a Journal of Your Life
And this book is an encouraging, "you can do it", book on how to start and keep a creative journal. It provides ideas on what you can include in a journal.
Amazon Price: $9.99 (as of 12/29/2009)
More Books on Creative Journaling
Kids Art Journals
Kids can keep an art journal too! It's a place where they can doodle, scribble, express themselves in writing or drawing. It can be a place where they paste photos or magazine and newspaper clippings.And the summer is the perfect time to start one. Kids tend to have more time during the summer months without any homework.
The art journal can be brought on vacations, in the car, plane, bus or train. They may prefer to use a store bought journal that matches their individual needs and preferences, or make one themselves.
I found an article online that provides additional information about Kids Art Journals. It is written by Gladys Jimenez and titled Art Journals. You will need to scroll down to read the article.
Ideas For Homemade Journals
Totally Cool Journals, Notebooks & Diaries
Amazon Price: (as of 12/29/2009)
Check Out These Journals
Journals Available Through WendyArts.com
"The Apartment" Journal
Price: 12.97
"Flowering Buddha" Journal
Price: 12.97
"River Rows" Journal
Price: 12.97
River Rows Journal
Price: 12.97
Journaling Links
- 100 Benefits of Journaling
- This page provides many of the benefits to journaling; with a focus on stress reduction, personal growth, healing, problem solving and more.
- Journaling Techniques » Creative Journal and Creative Writing
- This site provides encouragement and ideas for writers. "A Creative Journal is Great Practice for Creative Writing."
- Creative Journaling Topic Ideas: Themes for Journal Entries | Suite101.com
- If you are keeping a journal and are having trouble finding ways to fill up those blank pages, try a few of these topic ideas for your journal.
- How To Collage in Your Personal Art Journal, by Aisling D'Art
- Some basic ideas on how to start a visual journal, by
Aisling D'Art, artist and teacher of personal art journaling. - Journal-Keeping: A Place For Healing, Self-Discovery, And Creative Flow
- A journal can be far more than a place to record daily events or idle thoughts. Used purposefully, it can be a catalyst for personal growth, problem solving, and a path to creativity.
- Artists Journals
- Tips and how-to information about creating and keeping an illustrated diary or
journal.
Great Books on Writing
A book can offer a whole lot of encouragement. Check these out.
Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within
Amazon Price: $10.08 (as of 12/29/2009)
The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life
Amazon Price: $9.86 (as of 12/29/2009)
Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on Creativity
Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 12/29/2009)
Writing as a Way of Healing: How Telling Our Stories Transforms Our Lives
Amazon Price: $10.88 (as of 12/29/2009)
One Year to a Writing Life: Twelve Lessons to Deepen Every Writer's Art and Craft
Amazon Price: $12.44 (as of 12/29/2009)
Doodling
Doodling takes you away from the task oriented world and transports you to the childlike realm of just being here now.
Benefits of Doodling
Doodling offers many benefits to the doodler. It is a wonderful tool for reducing stress. It offers the doodler an opportunity to shift focus and allow a flow of lines, curves, shapes and sometimes even color. It takes one away from the task oriented world and transports you on a journey of childlike unfoldment.Doodling is a non focused, sometimes non representational, creative process where you can get out of your head and allow the surprises and images to unfold. Meanwhile, doodling provides the space and time to totally be yourself, in the moment.
Recently, a study showed that people who doodle have better retention of information than those who do not doodle. To read more on the study Click Here.
Doodling to Music
Allow the music to influence your Doodles
Doodling to music allows you to focus on the music while your hand dances to the flow of the notes. The marker, pencil, pen or brush can take on a life of it's own, with your hand assisting in the process.Try listening to a different type of music each time you draw/doodle. And notice how the doodle relates to the mood of the specific piece of music. If you have more time, draw to a concerto or symphony.
And for a wonderful exercise in letting go, just throw away your doodle after it is completed.
Listening to music, while doodling, is a wonderful way to stimulate your creativity.
More on Doodling
Here are some Great Squidoo Pages on Doodling.
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Doodling 101
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Doodling is a fun, imaginative type of art! Many people will argue that doodling is not a form of art, but I think it is. You are creating something... therefore it's art! Doodling is probably the most fun type of drawing there is. You can let your...
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Doodle Art
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All about doodling as an art form. Doodling is generally seen as something everyone can do and therefore not really "art". The internet and scrapbooking have caused doodling to come into its own as a legitimate art form.
Abraham Maslow on Creativity
The key question isn't "What fosters creativity?" But it is why in God's name isn't everyone creative? Where was the human potential lost? How was it crippled? I think therefore a good question might be not why do people create? But why do people not create or innovate? We have got to abandon that sense of amazement in the face of creativity, as if it were a miracle if anybody created anything. -Abraham Maslow
Quotes on Creativity
- "A person might be able to play without being creative, but he sure can't be creative without playing."
-Kurt Hanks - "Creativity is about play and a kind of willingness to go with your intuition. It's crucial to an artist. If you know where you are going and what you are going to do, why do it?"
-Frank Gehry - "The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself."
-Alan Alda - Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.
-Franklin D. Roosevelt - Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.
-Arthur Koestler - Conditions for creativity are to be puzzled; to concentrate; to accept conflict and tension; to be born everyday; to feel a sense of self.
-Erich Fromm - The moment when you first wake up in the morning is the most wonderful of the twenty-four hours. No matter how weary or dreary you may feel, you possess the certainty that, during the day that lies before you, absolutely anything may happen. And the fact that it practically always doesn't, matters not a jot. The possibility is always there.
-Monica Baldwin
Share Your Thoughts
Thanks For Your Comments!
-
Reply
- Marelisa Marelisa Aug 16, 2009 @ 12:12 pm
- Hi Wendy: I like your mini-retreat ideas. Sometimes I'll go for a walk when I need to come up with ideas and I'll just wander into little shops with an open mind and take a look around. It's a great creativity break. :-)
In The Courage to Create
Rollo May stated:
"But if you do not express your own original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself. Also you will have betrayed our community in failing to make your contribution to the whole."
Creativity on Wikipedia
Start Reading About it Here...
Creativity is a mental and social process involving the discovery of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts. Creativity is fueled by the process of either conscious or unconscious insight. An alternative conception of creativeness (based on its etymology) is that it is simply the act of making something new.
From a sc...
Visit My Other Links
The Shared Easel Newsletter
- with more articles on creativity, book recommendations, kids art and more.
The Shared Easel Blog
- has been designed to display the Music In Art Series as it unfolds.
WendyArts.com
- where you can view the original artwork of Wendy Meg Siegel.
Southwest Art Lens
- a lens that focuses on my series of Southwest painting along with links and information on Southwest Art, Southwest museums and more.
Buddha Art Lens
- a lens that focuses on my Buddha painting series along with links and information on Buddhist Art, Mandalas and more.
by WendyArt
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