Sustaining Creativity During Tough Times
Recently, I read an article over at Creativity Portal that really hit home with me.
In the less-than-desirable economic times we find ourselves in, there’s a lot of heartbreak and sorrow. Just about everyone has been affected — some more than others — faced with difficult circumstances and trying decisions.
My husband and I haven’t been immune to this wave of difficulty. In September, he was laid off from his job. With Mississippi unfortunately boasting the 3rd highest unemployment rate in the country, we had some decisions to make. First and foremost, I would search for a full-time job and leave my freelance work to an “extracurricular” activity. Second, we knew there wasn’t much opportunity where we were living at the time.
So, to cut this long drama to its somewhat shorter version….here we are in Nashville. Most of our belongings are spread between our parents houses back home and we are living out of extended stay hotel, searching for jobs. Thank the good Lord, Josh starts a new job in February, but things are harder than they’ve ever been — financially, emotionally and especially CREATIVELY.
I never imagined it would be this hard for me to get a job. I have a masters degree and some invaluable experience. It’s easy to get down on myself and when that happens almost every ounce of creativity seems to drain right out of my soul.
BUT,
I am working on that one. Helen Read’s article is a great reminder for me - and anyone else who’s struggling with difficult times.
AND,
Even in the InTown Suites there is inspiration and creativity to be found. Here’s a few things I’ve been doing to keep my creative spirit alive and as well as I can hope for at this point.
Mandala Coloring
The mandala is ancient religious symbol, usually a complex circular design, found across many different cultures. Coloring the various patterns is a soothing form of meditation.
Stress relief and inspiring art all in one. Perfect when you’re living in a hotel!
Playing Around in Photoshop and Illustrator
There are so many great tutorials and tips for both Adobe Creative Suite products. Since I do have my computer, it’s a great way to pass some time creatively.
Here’s some Illustrator and Photoshop links to keep you busy for months.
Reading
There is nothing in this world like curling up and losing yourself in a good book. Inspiration abound.
Leo at Zen Habits has a great post about the love of reading today.
Best of luck in all your creative endeavors!
Creative Conditions: My New Blog About Crafting
Over the past months, I’ve slowly but surely been building a new blog to focus on the crafty side of my creativity. My vision has always been that Unobstructed Creativity should be a blog with more of a focus on the writing, design and business side of the creative process. But, since a huge part of my life involves crafting, I needed a place to write about all the fun projects and creative thoughts that go along with my crafty ventures.
Enter Creative Conditions.
I’ve got lots of great things to share and will start posting regularly. That starts today with Six Secrets to Self-Taught Sewing Success.
Be sure and check it out, or subscribe to stay updated.
A Couple of Creative Thoughts, A Couple of Creative Links
If you’ve read my recent contribution to Blog Action Day, then you know that those life struggles we all encounter at some point have done a number on my motivation and creativity. I’ve started finding those much-needed sparks of inspiration in the littlest everyday things and occurrences — I am slowly but surely feeling like my old creative self.
It’s no secret how much I admire and adore Julia Cameron. She’s the one I turn to in times where I find myself less than inspired. Today, I picked up The Right to Write for a dose of creative reality and opened to the chapter entitled “Mood.” Perfect for someone recently limited by their bad moods.
Julia talks about the importance of writing, and doing it all the time, whether we find ourselves in the mood or not:
It takes it out of the realm of conjuring where we stand on the rock of isolation, begging the winds for inspiration, and it makes it something as doable as picking up a hammer and pounding a nail. Writing may be an art, but it is certainly a craft.
Sometimes the biggest mistake we make when looking for a spark of inspiration is ignoring our craft when we fail to locate that spark. Creativity - whatever your outlet - is something you have to work at, and work at consistently. Don’t let a bad mood keep you from honing your craft. Make it your next challenge — work through a sour attitude and create anyway. I promise you it’ll do wonders for your creative soul.
I’m working hard at reviving my own.
Lovely Links for Today
In the last few days, I’ve found two new blogs that I am LOVING. You need to check them out.
First, the Abundance Blog at Marelisa Online, and I was drawn there because of THIS incredible post: Creative Thinking Techniques. Seriously, read it. Reread it. Print it out, hang it on the fridge and practice it everyday. What inspiring ideas from Marelisa. You rock, girlie!
Second, Creative Every Day. I found Leah’s blog because she linked to a post here (Thanks, L!). I’m very intrigued by her Creative Every Day 2008 Challenge. She’s looking for suggestions on how to approach 2009, so drop her a line with your imaginative ideas.
Any great creativity blogs you are enjoying? Let me know about them in the comments. There’s always room in Google Reader for a new, inspiring blog.
Interview with Obama Logo Designer
If you liked my post about the creative nature of Obama’s campaign, be sure and check out this New York Times interview with designer responsible for the ‘O’ logo. Read it here.
The thing that struck me the most:
Q: What were you thinking when you conceived this idea?
A: When we received the assignment, we immediately read both of Senator Obama’s books. We were struck by the ideas of hope, change and a new perspective on red and blue (not red and blue states, but one country). There was also a strong sense, from the start, that his campaign represented something entirely new in American politics — “a new day,” so to speak.
Shows you how important that research step is in creating any kind of creative campaign.
Inspiration Explosion: 14 Rousing Resources For Your Creative Explorations
Writer. Designer. Crafter. Creator.
Whatever title you go by, if you’re in the business of creativity, then you know that sometimes creativity can be hard to come by. This often happens when you’re most in in need of it. Here’s a list of my favorite places to seek out inspiration. Have fun exploring…a lot of these resources will wrap you up in their imaginative, ingenious concepts for hours.
1. Colour Lovers
Careful before you click on this link. Make sure you’ve got an extra hour or two lying around because I promise it’s almost impossible to pull yourself away from this one once you get involved.
Colour Lovers allows you to create colors, palettes and patterns so seamlessly and easily. My favorite feature is the ability to create a color palette based on a photo or image from the web. Just enter the url of the image you want to dissect and the colourlovers site extracts the different hues for you use in creating your palette.
After you’ve created a color palette, you can then apply it to one of 112 customizable patterns. I’ve already lost you for the rest of this post, haven’t I? I know, it’s pretty freakin’ cool. You can also download the palettes and patterns you create in a number of different file formats, including Photoshop and Illustrator.
Check out some of my own creations.
2. Visual Thesaurus
A thesaurus can be a writer’s best friend or worst enemy, acting as either a great source for inspiration, or a crutch holding you back from your full potential. So, how do you utilize this reference tool for your benefit? Simple. Don’t look to your thesaurus for the answers; look for a little boost to push you closer to the answers.
The approach Visual Thesaurus takes to language “encourages exploration and learning.” Right away, that means your less likely to find the “answers” there, only new questions to lead you toward a variety of answers. Test it out. You’ll get lost in language like you never have before.
3. Polyvore
Inspiration boards are a great way to showcase images, words and works that help fuel your creative expeditions. Polyvore is a great site that makes it ridiculously simple to gather any web images you like and turn them into a creative collage for inspiration.
Drag and drop. That’s really all there is to it. Wanna make it even easier? Add Polyvore’s Clipper to your Bookmarks Toolbar, and you can quickly import images from any site you visit.
4. Language Is A Virus
This one is full of plenty of prompts and boosts for any time you find yourself “blocked.”
You’ll find links to all sorts of fun word generators. One of my favorites is the title-o-matic. Whatever title pops up, I like to try and apply it to an experience or event in my own life. It’s a neat way to find a new approach to an old story.
5. Idee Inc.’s Multicolr Search Lab
This is one of two flickr related sites I’ve got on this list. And, really, I could add a lot more.
Prepare to be blown away. This site lets you search millions of flickr images by COLOR. Yep, just click on the desired colors in the palette on the right, and it will bring up all the images that contain that combination. Endless possibilities….
6. IncSpring
Let me start this one with a disclaimer: I don’t necessarily agree with the premise behind this site, however it’s filled with great designs and branding ideas that can light a fire under your own ideas.
Basically, the site is a place for designers to sell their unused designs and brands to entrepreneurs who are willing to buy them. Meh, still not so sure about that concept, but the site is filled with creative solutions. The designs are arranged by industry, which makes it easy to search for something specific if that’s what you’ve got in mind.
7. Wordle
As a writer, and a lover of words, this website is one of my favorite. Wordle is a place to create beautiful word clouds with any text you provide. You customize everything the way you want it: layout, font and color.
Here’s one I created using an old post about creativity.
8. Big Huge Labs
This is the other flickr-related link I mentioned. Big Huge Labs is a great collection of “flickr toys” that you can use with your own flickr images.
Add a matte or frame to your image, turn a photo into desktop wallpaper, create a slideshow or make your image a header for your blog. You’ll find so many great ways to display your flickr images, and an even better way to spark a new appreciation for them.
9. Ultimate List of Blog Heading Titles and Templates
If you, or your blog, ever get stuck in a rut, this post by Jacob Cass of Just Creative Design is a great resource to have bookmarked.
Jacob provides a great list of title and heading formats that only require you to fill in the blank. I guarantee you’ll find inspiration for your own new post somewhere amidst J.C.’s post.
10. 50 Word Press Plug-ins for Bloggers
Another great resource for sparking some new ideas for your blog from Mashable.
A little bit different from most of the other links on this list, this post lists a ton of resources for managing and streamlining your blog. A lot of keeping up with a blog involves a string of tedious tasks. These resources make those tasks so much easier, leaving you with a lot more time to be INSPIRED and CREATE.
11. Quotes About Writing
When I find myself in not-so-great mood, not wanting to write, there is one source I can always count on to get me motivated: reading writing about writing. Mouthful, huh? Well more simply put, I turn to quotes about writing. I always find that one little spark to ignite the willingness and passion. This is the most extensive collection I’ve found on the web.
12. Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture
Hopefully, you’ve heard all about Randy Pausch and his last lecture at Carnegie Mellon University. If not, I suggest you immediately block off the next available one hour and 16 minutes that you have open in your schedule, and book a date to watch this video.
If Randy can’t inspire you, I’m not sure there’s much out there that can.
13. Getting Writing Done: A Guest Post on Copyblogger
I love reading Brian Clark’s posts. Even more than that, I love that he picks the most incredible guest bloggers who totally understand his style and write just as prlifically as he does. Jane Northcote’s post about getting down to act of writing is a perfect example.
Her 7 tips seem so simple. But, when we’re in a creative rut, that’s the one thing we need to be reminded of the most: the simplicity of writing. When you start to make things more complicated than they really are, refer back to Jane’s post to help keep things in perspective.
14. Jott
And last, but certainly not least, JOTT.
Sometimes the most frustrating thing about inspiration is that we can’t control when it comes to us. Often we are inspired and feeling our creative juices at the most inopportune time. Enter Jott. This incredible service allows you to send emails, record thoughts, make a list of to-dos and set reminders - all with a simple phone call. Technology is too cool sometimes.
