What activates your creative energy? What deactivates it?
I don't think I can even list all the things that get me in the mood to create!! I am inspired always by beautiful things. Now wait, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so what can I possibly mean by that? I guess it's more complicated than simply "I am inspired by beauty".
Remember how I said I have a natural talent for seeing the possible? It goes along with that. I am inspired by blank canvasses. A raw, uncut piece of fabric. A huge open stretch of land that has nothing growing on it yet. Entire days where I have nothing that has to be done! (I can't wait for Wednesday, my day off this week!) A basket-full of balls and skeins of yarn that haven't been woven into anything yet.
Sunny days inspire my Earthiness and pull me out-of-doors into the sunshine to dig in the dirt, to design gardens of flowers and vegetables and fruits and to adore the beauty of Creation.
Stormy days bring out my 'hand-made' creativity. All things fine arts are produced on stormy days - new dresses, new crochet designs, new tales of haunted house, pirates, and best friends, new drawings and worst of all - encourage me to redecorate a room of the house. (This occasionally gets me into trouble.)
Days that are in between stormy and sunny make me want to play the piano for hours and sing. Cloudy days don't give a lot of leniency for sitting around, nor do they make me want to coax seedlings to grow taller, and so my heart begins to sing the blahs away.
BUT I begin to feel drained when the project has carried on for too long. This is my creative downfall and why I am so terrible at follow-through. I begin projects with gusto, anxious to bring the thoughts in my head into reality. Once they begin to take much longer than I originally planned - especially sewing projects if they must be ripped apart and resewn - I begin to lose my creative spark toward that project and it will become just another statistic in my pile of things unfinished. When something no longer stimulates my eye for the possible, I lose interest, and, often, move on to the next stimulus. This is something that makes me believe that I need a partner to work with - someone to hold my nose to the grindstone.
Deadlines are especially effective for me. If I promised to deliver something the next day, you can bet I will pull an all-niter to finish it!
Showing posts with label crafting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crafting. Show all posts
Monday, June 6, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Grand Re-Re-Opening
It's official! L.Peek Designs is re-opening tomorrow morning!
It's actually open right now, with one single listing - a pair of orange Baby Chucks. :) But tomorrow I will begin the relistings and while I will not be crocheting full time like I was prior to March 1st, I will be devoting a good portion of time to maintaining the shop.
I'm really excited about this. This is one of my true loves so it's going to be wonderful to get going again.
It's actually open right now, with one single listing - a pair of orange Baby Chucks. :) But tomorrow I will begin the relistings and while I will not be crocheting full time like I was prior to March 1st, I will be devoting a good portion of time to maintaining the shop.
I'm really excited about this. This is one of my true loves so it's going to be wonderful to get going again.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Creative Inventory Part 4
4 When and where do you create? When and where do you wish to create?
I actually do not have a specific time or place to work out my creative musings, and I am beginning to think that I might be more productive if I did. My work tends to travel around the house, depending on when and where I feel like coming to rest. That's the problem with knitting and crocheting I guess - it's portable. It may start life in the living room because I'm watching TV, but then I might migrate to the music room or the dining room or even the backyard. Maybe my 'where' is just simply 'Home'. My sewing room, our extra bedroom, used to be my 'place' but now it's become more of a storage closet in the last few months, housing anything that I can't find a place for in the rest of the house.
As for time, this is probably an issue that I need to resolve. I do not have good time management skills at all - not even remotely good ones. It might take me half an hour to get one room vacuumed because I will get distracted somewhere in the middle of it and start doing something else. I do not have a set time for creativity. Whenever I am not at work, not teaching piano lessons, not cleaning the house and not caring for my husband's needs. Sometimes I get an entire day to be creative. Sometimes I don't have a single moment's peace. Most of the time I am lucky to get half an hour before bed in the evening and it's when I'm tired, my thoughts are going into hibernation for the night and Alex is trying to force me into watching television with him becase that's how he winds down. I have never had a set time for creativity to flow.
Another problem I have with the 'time' aspect of creativity is simply that I don't really have the support. Now, before you think my husband is squelching my creativity, please understand that if he didn't keep me on track with things, I would be a complete mental case. I would be a hoarder, the city would forclose on my house, and I would probably never bathe. This is because if I don't have someone reminding me to care for things, one task at a time, I get into obsessive grooves that I don't come out of. I could literally spend an entire week doing a certain set of projects and never do anything else that week except pee. I often forget to eat during the day if I'm working on something. There could be a small list of chores and I will convince myself that they will take care of themselves because 'I'm busy creating something dammit all!' I do not have a healthy mental state when it comes to living life like a normal person should. When Alex comes home and sees that I've literally done nothing but sit on the couch all day with a crochet hook in hand, he gets annoyed and starts forcing me into finishing the tasks I should have worked on during the day. Now do I get upset and annoyed with this? Absolutely. But I need it. I am very co-dependent in these regards. Does my creativity suffer? I think so. I think my opportunities for inspiration are already few and far between, and when my husband comes home after a long day at work to find out that his wife has more or less failed to hold up her end of the bargain, he doesn't really feel like supporting my hare-brained ideas. He's also terribly practical to my terribly 'out-there' way of thinking. They do say opposites attract.
BTW, my husband is an AMAZING guitarist, so if I have portrayed him as not being a creative type, it's incorrect. His musical genius surpasses most - he just channels it differently. He has logic and practicality to his advantage. I..... do not.
Since I will begin a lighter work schedule next week, I am going to start establishing my creative times and getting the routine into a set schedule. I am hoping to establish 3 times per week where I can simply sit down and produce ideas and work on projects. I have to work this out with Alex, but I think in the long run it will be a great advantage to both of us.
And as for the migrating projects, I don't think that's likely to die as quickly as it should, but we DID start cleaning out the sewing room again.
I actually do not have a specific time or place to work out my creative musings, and I am beginning to think that I might be more productive if I did. My work tends to travel around the house, depending on when and where I feel like coming to rest. That's the problem with knitting and crocheting I guess - it's portable. It may start life in the living room because I'm watching TV, but then I might migrate to the music room or the dining room or even the backyard. Maybe my 'where' is just simply 'Home'. My sewing room, our extra bedroom, used to be my 'place' but now it's become more of a storage closet in the last few months, housing anything that I can't find a place for in the rest of the house.
As for time, this is probably an issue that I need to resolve. I do not have good time management skills at all - not even remotely good ones. It might take me half an hour to get one room vacuumed because I will get distracted somewhere in the middle of it and start doing something else. I do not have a set time for creativity. Whenever I am not at work, not teaching piano lessons, not cleaning the house and not caring for my husband's needs. Sometimes I get an entire day to be creative. Sometimes I don't have a single moment's peace. Most of the time I am lucky to get half an hour before bed in the evening and it's when I'm tired, my thoughts are going into hibernation for the night and Alex is trying to force me into watching television with him becase that's how he winds down. I have never had a set time for creativity to flow.
Another problem I have with the 'time' aspect of creativity is simply that I don't really have the support. Now, before you think my husband is squelching my creativity, please understand that if he didn't keep me on track with things, I would be a complete mental case. I would be a hoarder, the city would forclose on my house, and I would probably never bathe. This is because if I don't have someone reminding me to care for things, one task at a time, I get into obsessive grooves that I don't come out of. I could literally spend an entire week doing a certain set of projects and never do anything else that week except pee. I often forget to eat during the day if I'm working on something. There could be a small list of chores and I will convince myself that they will take care of themselves because 'I'm busy creating something dammit all!' I do not have a healthy mental state when it comes to living life like a normal person should. When Alex comes home and sees that I've literally done nothing but sit on the couch all day with a crochet hook in hand, he gets annoyed and starts forcing me into finishing the tasks I should have worked on during the day. Now do I get upset and annoyed with this? Absolutely. But I need it. I am very co-dependent in these regards. Does my creativity suffer? I think so. I think my opportunities for inspiration are already few and far between, and when my husband comes home after a long day at work to find out that his wife has more or less failed to hold up her end of the bargain, he doesn't really feel like supporting my hare-brained ideas. He's also terribly practical to my terribly 'out-there' way of thinking. They do say opposites attract.
BTW, my husband is an AMAZING guitarist, so if I have portrayed him as not being a creative type, it's incorrect. His musical genius surpasses most - he just channels it differently. He has logic and practicality to his advantage. I..... do not.
Since I will begin a lighter work schedule next week, I am going to start establishing my creative times and getting the routine into a set schedule. I am hoping to establish 3 times per week where I can simply sit down and produce ideas and work on projects. I have to work this out with Alex, but I think in the long run it will be a great advantage to both of us.
And as for the migrating projects, I don't think that's likely to die as quickly as it should, but we DID start cleaning out the sewing room again.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Creative Inventory Q&A
Earlier today I posted 9 questions from the book The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women: A Portable Mentor
. The purpose of the questions were to take an inventory on your creativity and begin to acknowledge your creative side. I journalled my answers to these questions and want to share them. I am hoping that some of my fellow creative friends will also desire to share some of their thoughts on these questions as well.
Q: When did your creative awakening (or reawakening) occur?
A: I feel like I have always been creating. I can't think of a time when there was an awakening in my creativity. As a very little girl, I was very ill and almost never slept. I spent my long nights wide awake, telling myself stories. I was always making up my own little games and adventures. I loved to color and play with building blocks. I spent more hours at the piano than is probably healthy for a little girl. :)
My mom, Sally, and my aunt Twyla were both insanely creative people. They were the right women to have around when it came to encouraging creative growth. The two of them often had hare-brained schemes that involved large amounts of paint and fascinating tools and fabrics. I remember a time when they decided to have a craft show - during the 80's when everyone's style was 'country'. My grandpa built type-set boxes for them that they painted in a variety of colors and embellished with stencils. Then came the wooden knick-knacks, the geese, bunnies, sock monkeys, pillows and painted sweatshirts and t-shirts. If we wanted to paint murals on the walls, we could. I f we wanted to cut an entire ball of yarn into tiny pieces because we were pretending to cut hair (like Mommy in the beauty shop) we were allowed to. There was no such thing as 'no' when it came to nurturing ideas in our household, and if things got out of hand, there were always suggestions for something else to try instead. My mom's motto in life seemed to be "It's only...." For example - "It's only paint! Just paint over it!" or "It's only hair! It will grow back!"
Then there was my grandma Betty, who was determined to make sure all of her granddaughters knew how to crochet, sew, embroider and cook. It was she who taught her poor left-handed granddaughter, ME, how to do such things - not an easy task. And it's because of her that I have had success with my crocheted baby Chucks and other designs. It's because of her that I have cross-stitched amazing pieces of art that are framed on the walls of our house. It was her coaching that led me to become a concert pianist.
And thusly, I can't think of a time when I haven't been creating or at least writing down ideas. Most of my ideas were unmanageable - either physical impossibilities or simply out of reach for the time being and then forgotten about.
How about you?
. The purpose of the questions were to take an inventory on your creativity and begin to acknowledge your creative side. I journalled my answers to these questions and want to share them. I am hoping that some of my fellow creative friends will also desire to share some of their thoughts on these questions as well.Q: When did your creative awakening (or reawakening) occur?
A: I feel like I have always been creating. I can't think of a time when there was an awakening in my creativity. As a very little girl, I was very ill and almost never slept. I spent my long nights wide awake, telling myself stories. I was always making up my own little games and adventures. I loved to color and play with building blocks. I spent more hours at the piano than is probably healthy for a little girl. :)
My mom, Sally, and my aunt Twyla were both insanely creative people. They were the right women to have around when it came to encouraging creative growth. The two of them often had hare-brained schemes that involved large amounts of paint and fascinating tools and fabrics. I remember a time when they decided to have a craft show - during the 80's when everyone's style was 'country'. My grandpa built type-set boxes for them that they painted in a variety of colors and embellished with stencils. Then came the wooden knick-knacks, the geese, bunnies, sock monkeys, pillows and painted sweatshirts and t-shirts. If we wanted to paint murals on the walls, we could. I f we wanted to cut an entire ball of yarn into tiny pieces because we were pretending to cut hair (like Mommy in the beauty shop) we were allowed to. There was no such thing as 'no' when it came to nurturing ideas in our household, and if things got out of hand, there were always suggestions for something else to try instead. My mom's motto in life seemed to be "It's only...." For example - "It's only paint! Just paint over it!" or "It's only hair! It will grow back!"
Then there was my grandma Betty, who was determined to make sure all of her granddaughters knew how to crochet, sew, embroider and cook. It was she who taught her poor left-handed granddaughter, ME, how to do such things - not an easy task. And it's because of her that I have had success with my crocheted baby Chucks and other designs. It's because of her that I have cross-stitched amazing pieces of art that are framed on the walls of our house. It was her coaching that led me to become a concert pianist.
And thusly, I can't think of a time when I haven't been creating or at least writing down ideas. Most of my ideas were unmanageable - either physical impossibilities or simply out of reach for the time being and then forgotten about.
How about you?
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Off To A Pleasant Start
Not really - I have a strange ailment upon me that could be linked to anything. I had a migraine last night, sinus troubles, stomach-ache and intestinal discomfort this morning. Let's just give it a broad title and say that today I'm not feeling my usual chipper self. This also means the bathroom did not get finished yesterday. (I was also short a helper.) And so I plan to stay home today and crochet a few more pairs of baby Chucks,
try to get a couple more of my famous projects unleashed on the world, and practice my drawing skills.
But to start the day out, I have put together two Etsy Mini-Feeds for my readers to enjoy. One is from the list of things I have marked as favorites from other crafters and artists. The other is the list of things I have for sale in my shop right now. It's all baby Chucks - but hopefully only for the rest of this week. I have big plans in the works that include more baby items, and some wickedly awesome new blankets based off of old-school video game designs. It turns out that pixels really lend themselves well to crochet!
Support handmade!
try to get a couple more of my famous projects unleashed on the world, and practice my drawing skills.
But to start the day out, I have put together two Etsy Mini-Feeds for my readers to enjoy. One is from the list of things I have marked as favorites from other crafters and artists. The other is the list of things I have for sale in my shop right now. It's all baby Chucks - but hopefully only for the rest of this week. I have big plans in the works that include more baby items, and some wickedly awesome new blankets based off of old-school video game designs. It turns out that pixels really lend themselves well to crochet!
Support handmade!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)