Creativity. We could all use more!
I’m sure you’ve had the experience before where you keep running into the same idea or meme over and over within a very short period of time. It happened to me recently, and what really struck me as funny about it was that the sources were so totally different from each other, even though they were all blogs. As you can no doubt tell from my title, the theme of all these blog posts was creativity.
Creating Passionate Users is my favorite geek blog. A few of the posts have very little to say to me, but most tend to hit me squarely between the eyes. Why? The broad theme of Kathy Sierra’s blog is to look at how the brain actually works and apply that knowledge to business and software issues. Oh, and to life issues too. I think more artists should subscribe to her blog and read it faithfully. Start with this post on Kathy’s thoughts on creativity: Don’t Wait for the Muse.
I found that I had to post a comment response to that particular post:
I don’t believe in “the muse”. I believe in filling the well regularly, cross-pollinating from different fields, directed daydreaming, mind-mapping, and just getting down to work. Once you get started, the ideas come. I wonder sometimes if I’m the only artist in the world who doesn’t believe I have a “muse”.
Well, that’s not completely true. I know quite a few artists who don’t wait around for some magical thing to happen before they get to work!
Very soon after that post was published, I began to run into creativity posts all over the place! Two others that I found particularly helpful were from a jewelry blog and a general arts blog. Home Jewelry Business Success Tips posted an article by Dvora Scheffler, titled How to Trigger Your Creative Inspiration. Dvora makes it pretty clear that she doesn’t think too much of sitting around and waiting either!
Finally, Dan at The Empty Easel also shared a post about Living Creatively Every Day. Dan talks about some ways to jog yourself out of your set patterns to allow yourself new ways to see the world.
Tags: Artist Dates, CreativityRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Creativity
1 opinion for Creativity. We could all use more!
Kathleen Mary
Jun 19, 2008 at 12:49 pm
I am naturally creative and come from a family of Italian craftsman from Southern Italy. My only true frustration is not coming up with ideas or inspiration - its time, skills and most of all, self confidence — belief in myself and what I can accomplish. I am finding that perfectionism - something I believed every creative person must have is really a massive block from achieving what is in my mind and heart to create.
Completely agree about creativity being work. Fill the mind up and then get ready to work, really work. Muse? I may talk about my muse but she/it/he isn’t going to do the work. I do it.
I am a Christian Gnostic so much my inspiration comes from what I believe & experience of the Divine ONE , God. I read a great deal when I have the time. I find mythology and spiritual & religious history gives me many images to work with creatively - almost like filling a tank up with gasoline. I work with what I call “Images” — perhaps archetypes is a better word when I write - I love the Tarot for this reason for it gives a framework to hang the universe upon, a warp and weft to the patterns of life.
For me, creativity is a spiritual exercise like praying and meditating. I believe that St. Paul got it right — fill your mind and heart with every good thing and only good will come from you. I do not mean that everything should be goodness and light because Gnosticism teaches that there must be balance between extreme forces, but that concentrating on what is good inspires the soul to seek the Divine ONE and in our creative ventures we become more and more like our Father/Mother creator - which is the whole point of both mysticism and spirituality, isn’t it?
I also believe that computers are going to be of massive importance to future creativity… I am now a rather older woman but I am endeavoring to continue my education in every field of knowledge and my home computer is really my window and chief tool to access knowledge, also the computer can be, itself, a wellspring of creative chance and challenge. Look at the Free program, Gimp, or the Operating system Unbuntu Hardy Heron if you don’t understand what I mean
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