I’m working on some artwork for my daughter. We’ve talked about decorating her Tae Kwon Do tote bag. I figured an iron-on decal would be easiest. Thinking about a t-shirt, too.
creative books on my nightstand
I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about creativity after my last post. I’ve also been spending time with some good books and I thought I’d share them with you. (all links go to amazon.com)
Jenny Doh’s Signature Styles: Some of my favorite artists are in here, as well as a few I’ve never heard of before. It doesn’t focus on their work as much as their own personal style. Although, they’ve each shared a pattern, too. I love reading about what inspires these women.
The Shutter Sisters’ Expressive Photography: I had to get this one via Interlibrary Loan and it was worth the wait. I like how each topic, whether it be portraits or nature, is broken down the same way: approach, perspective, composition, lighting, details and processing. I need to spend more time behind my camera lens.
Rashida Coleman-Hale’s Zakka Style: I’m a huge fan of linen and love pretty much anything zakka. This book contains patterns from 24 different artists. I don’t know if I’ll actually make any of them. I keep flipping through it like it’s a picture book. Coleman-Hale just happens to be featured in Signature Styles.
That’s what I’m reading these days. What about you? Share in the comments and have creative day!
how pinterest killed my creativity
I’ve been thinking a lot about inspiration lately, and how technology is kind of killing mine.
It started with browser bookmarks. I had a folder called inspiration that contained my favorite websites. Then RSS feeds came and I moved all of those bookmarks over for faster, easier access. Flickr was next; I searched and added all of my favorites and discovered some new ones, too. Then came Twitter, Facebook and Ravelry, and now there is Pinterest.
All of these ways to manage inspiration have left me very uninspired.
A few weeks ago I was helping my daughter research her next artist, Paula Scher. Our library only had one title that mentioned her: Inspirability. When I opened the book, I found one of my favorite inspirational pieces of all time: Michael Bierut’s “Design Counts.” postcard.* This card has literally sat on my desk or been pinned to my bulletin board for over 10 years.
I’ve been thinking a lot about that card and how it influences my work. Would it have had the same effect on me over the past 10 years if I had simply pinned it to an electronic bulletin board? I sat down and made a list of some of the things that inspired the designers in this book: music, art, photography, food, movies, books, history, fashion, architecture, details, curiosity, living. That last one got to me. Living.
Now there’s something to be said for having a resource to keep track of recipes I want to try or patterns I want to make. However, using it to manage things that inspire me was overwhelming. As a visual artist, it’s hard to pull myself away from the gorgeous photographs streaming down the page. And there’s a lot of beautiful work out there. I spent so much time glued to my screen that I stopped noticing the beauty around me. I spent so much time looking at everyone else’s work that I had little time left for my own.
I stopped living my life creatively.
So I did something drastic. I deleted almost a year’s worth of pins. Surprisingly, it wasn’t very hard. I deleted the app from my phone, too. I’ve been Pinterest-free for a few weeks and it feels good.
This is hard to admit and even harder to write about. I love how social media has brought the creative community together in so many different ways. I’m not deleting my accounts or anything — I’m not crazy! I am looking forward to rediscovering my creativity offline, however, and most importantly, sharing that here on the blog.
How has social media affected your creativity? How about your life in general? Feel free to discuss in the comments. I’m interested in your perspectives!
*For those who aren’t familiar with the 2000 presidential election chaos in Florida, the image is a “butterfly ballot” used by Palm Beach County. Almost 7,000 votes had to be discarded because this poorly designed ballot confused voters and caused many to punch the incorrect hole for their candidate or to vote for more than one candidate.
taking the next step
I’ve been thinking a lot about my little space on the Internet. A few years ago I spun my creative work off of my personal blog because they felt like two separate parts of me. Now they couldn’t be more intertwined.
This space isn’t going away. In fact, it will probably grow to include more aspects of my creative life. I don’t want it to become too cumbersome, but I need a place to document more of the whole me.
I wrote that back in June. Since then, I’ve been reading through my personal archives and realized there’s a lot of really great creative stuff over there.
I’ve decided to merge the two blogs back together. I plan on doing it chronologically, so you probably won’t notice. I thought you might want to take a look around before everything is whooshed over here.
I’m also planning to redesign this site. I’d love to have a menu at the top for different categories. My tutorial and pattern lists could use some organization and I’d like to share more photography and creative writing. The personal archives will be coming over, too. They are a huge part of me and I just can’t delete them.
Finally, I’d like to take a moment and thank you, dear readers, for visiting and commenting on what I’m doing. During the days/weeks/months where I thought I’d never be able to keep up my creativity, taking time to document things here has made such an impact. It may not have been much sometimes, but I never stopped making things.
Many of you have told me that I’ve inspired you to keep making things, too. Let’s promise to carve out a little bit of time everyday for our creative spirits, even if it’s only for five minutes. Reading through my archives made me realize those minutes really add up!
Let me know if there are any changes you’d like to see as I (slowly) rearrange the furniture around here.
gone fishin’
Not actual fishing, but I’m taking my knitting, so I’ll have sticks and string if the urge strikes.
I need to recharge my creative batteries. Get my creative juices flowing again. Reboot my personal hard drive. Can I use any more cliches?
I’ve been thinking a lot about my little space on the Internet. A few years ago I spun my creative work off of my personal blog because they felt like two separate parts of me. Now they couldn’t be more intertwined.
This space isn’t going away. In fact, it will probably grow to include more aspects of my creative life. I don’t want it to become too cumbersome, but I need a place to document more of the whole me.
I’ll be away at least a week — maybe two. Going to find some sand to dig my toes in, do some crosswords, and read a good book. Oh, and I’ve got my knitting, too. I promise I won’t use my Malabrigo to catch fish. You didn’t think I would, did you?
thinking about creativity
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about creativity. Isn’t it weird that when you have something on your mind, you start to see references to the same thing all over the place?
A few days ago I discovered Austin Kleon’s How to steal like an artist (and 9 other things nobody told me). It’s a list of things I’ve learned over the past 20 years living a professional creative life all summed up neatly in one blog post. How convenient! Here are my favorite quotes:
- We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.
- Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of previous ideas.
- …it’s in the act of making things that we figure out who we are.
- Ask any real artist, and they’ll tell you the truth: they don’t know where the good stuff comes from. They just show up to do their thing.
Every day. (Emphasis mine.)
Today I stumbled across a talk given by “Eat, Pray, Love” author Elizabeth Gilbert where she “muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses — and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person “being” a genius, all of us “have” a genius.”
Her advice to creatives echos the same sentiment as the last bullet point above.
…don’t be afraid. Don’t be daunted. Just do your job. Continue to show up for your piece of it, whatever that might be. If your job is to dance, do your dance. If the divine, cockeyed genius assigned to your case decides to let some sort of wonderment be glimpsed, for just one moment through your efforts, then “Ole!” And if not, do your dance anyhow. And “Ole!” to you, nonetheless. I believe this and I feel that we must teach it. “Ole!” to you, nonetheless, just for having the sheer human love and stubbornness to keep showing up.
Wow. Enough deep thoughts for today? Links found via Kirsty and Kate, respectively.
review: the creative life by julia cameron
I thought this book would a collection of essays like Po Bronson’s What Should I Do with My Life?. I was surprised to find it reads more like a diary. You won’t find chapters dedicated to specific people, but you’ll learn about them over dinner dates, vacations, piano lessons, musical readings, teaching classes and baking gingerbread cookies. People weave through the book just as they do through Cameron’s life.
Even though these artists don’t use the same tools as I do (most of them are in musical theater), our creative process is essentially the same. We all get blocks. We all feel vulnerable when sharing our craft. We all experience a euphoric high when we succeed.
You may remember me writing about The Artist’s Way awhile back. As much as I love that book, I’m surprised that I haven’t read more of her work. I just happened to stumble upon this at the library. It came at a good time in my life. I did a lot of thinking on vacation about my next steps. I’ve checked out The Vein of Gold: A Journey to Your Creative Heart and I’m about to embark on a creative quest. I’m excited!
my creative space
In my creative space today, and for the next few weeks, I’ll be writing — journaling actually — about where I want to be this time next year. My daughter is enrolled in some morning camps and I’ll be hanging out in the coffee shop nearby with a notebook and pen (and banana bread for breakfast!).
I can’t believe my “baby” will be entering kindergarten in the Fall of 2011, which is all day in Nebraska. (Do any school systems still do half-day kindergarten?) I don’t think I want to go back to a regular 9-5 job. I really enjoy being self-employed. I’m trying to decide whether I want to continue and expand my freelance business or take my eco-friendly crafting to the next level: write for publications, write a book, pattern design or wholesaling.
Tomorrow I’ll be back with a thrifty find and Friday I’ll have two washcloth stitch patterns to share.
You can see what everyone else is up to over at Kirsty’s blog.
retreat recap: contemplative knitting
Our Sunday class at retreat wasn’t really a class, but more of an exercise. Anne led us in a morning of meditation and contemplative knitting. I wasn’t sure how this was going to work for me. I’ve never been good at meditation. Things are always popping into my head — what’s for dinner, need to email that file, got to finish the laundry. When Anne suggested we try for 10 minutes I didn’t think I would make it, but she offered a tip that really worked for me. You pick a word — something with no emotional attachment — and when a random thought enters your mind, you say that word to bring yourself back to meditation. It worked. I was really surprised. I went the whole 10 minutes.
Then we tried contemplative knitting. It’s the same type of meditation, but this time with a few balls of yarn and needles in hand. We knit for 15 minutes: any amount of stitches, any stitch pattern. The key is to be aware of the yarn in your hands making each stitch. This time something amazing happened. The random thoughts that went through my mind were no longer about mundane things. They were creative ideas about patterns, designs, projects, color and texture. I still used my word to shake them away, but I was excited that they were there and that I remembered them afterward.
I’m so glad Anne came and shared this with us. I’m hoping to incorporate contemplative knitting into my daily life and creative process. Now I just need find a quiet time in which to practice it.
test driving curtain fabric
I haven’t been very successful at getting up early to have some creative time for myself. However, I am up early enough to know that my creative space is too warm for coffee and work in the morning. This big, beautiful window faces east. Not only does it heat things up, but it puts a glare on my laptop screen. Curtains are a must.
I love my view and was happy to find this nice muslin in my stash. I hung it up while my daughter was in school this morning and it immediately cooled the room down. You can’t see through it with the sun beaming, but after Noon, I had my view back! The big question comes tomorrow morning. Is it opaque enough to keep my creative space cool so I can enjoy my morning coffee while I work? I hope so!
stash: I bought a brand new bolt of this at a garage sale last year for a few bucks. It was still in the kraft paper wrapping! I have a feeling a few more rooms in my house will be getting curtains in the coming weeks.