Tag: creativity

How to Be a Creative Adventurer

Last weekend, Mr. F and I took a little backpacking trip up into the Trinity Alps, a mountain range about two hours east of Eureka. As we were hiking, I got to thinking about the parallels between the creative process and adventuring. The act of being creative, whether as an artist, writer, musician or however you stretch those muscles, is a daring endeavor– you can plan and prepare, but the real joy is in the unknown path ahead.

Want to know how to be a creative adventurer? Here are a few simple steps to venture into the unknown!

1 | set some goals and make a plan. Think about where you’d like to end up and what you think you’ll need to achieve to get there. The trail might be smooth or you may end up doing some bush-whacking to find your way, or you may change course altogether, but setting out with a vision of the finish line will help keep you focused when you feel like giving up.

2 | find yourself a partner. Whether it’s a spouse, friend, or fellow creative, tell someone your plan. It’s never smart to go out into the wild on your own and having some company along the way will help to keep you on the right track and keep your perspective in check.

3 | work your plan, one step at a time. We all want to race to the finish line, to skip the grueling climb and reach the peak. Prepare to feel overwhelmed, discouraged, to want to turn around and head back down the mountain. But keep on keepin’ on and before you know it, you’ve turned the next corner.

4 | know when to veer off the plan and take a risk. Just because you have a plan doesn’t mean you must stick to it if things aren’t working. Maybe the path isn’t what you thought it would be or you just need to liven things up a little. Take a risk and you may find that you end up in a place even better than you imagined.

5 | let yourself take a break. If you’re finding yourself discouraged or disillusioned with where you’re going, give it a rest for a while. Do something else, something fun and completely different, then come back refreshed and rejuvenated.

6 | celebrate your successes! It’s easy to get so caught up into heading for the next goal that we forget to take the time to celebrate our achievements. Take a moment, a day, an evening, and dedicate it to treating yourself and reveling in a mission accomplished!

7 | evaluate & recalibrate Now that you’ve reached the pinnacle, look back at what you’ve done and how you got there. What would you change? How can you be better prepared for next time? Mr. F and I do this after each backpacking trip and we always find things we can improve for next time.. I mean, did we really need all this trail mix?

Once you can see objectively where you’ve been and how you’ve got there, you’ll have a clearer idea of where you’d like to go next. And a sense of assurance that you can do what it takes to get there.

Are you headed out on a creative adventure or find yourself in the midst of a journey? How’s your progress?

All images by Artsy Forager.

June 25, 2014
Finding My Own Artsy: Creativity Begets Creativity and Lessons in Destroying the Mediocre

I began 2014 determined to get back into an artistic practice. I feel like this part of my life is filled with so many starts and stops. It’s too easy to let it slide when other things come up. It’s too easy to choose watching BBC serials rather than sitting and drawing. So on January 1st, I started my #colorforaging2014 project, in which I’m exploring a different color in paint each day and posting my finds on Instagram. I hoped that this daily exercise would feed my desire to create and making it an Instagram project would help keep me accountable. And you know what? It has.

And it’s teaching me some things about myself as a person and artist ( I’m trying hard to accept that label ).

1 | I have to make time to do the things I want to do. If I don’t carve out specific time, I’ll always find other ways to distract myself, with previously mentioned serials, web surfing, work, etc. This Instagram project has forced me to spend at least a few minutes each day with my palette out and a brush in my hand. And those few minutes have made me ache for longer, more dedicated time– I’m usually doing my #colorforaging2014 project immediately after dinner cleanup, but rarely do much else creatively in the evening. So when Mr. F announced that he was planning to spend Sunday afternoon brewing beer, I announced that I was going to spend the afternoon painting.

2 | I need accountability. There was a reason for saying out loud to Mr. F that I was going to paint on Sunday. Because I knew he would remember and ask me why I wasn’t painting when I sat on the couch and watched back to back episodes of Doc Martin on Hulu. I have all these grand schemes and ideas in my head but if I don’t get them out and tell someone, much of the time, they never leave the comfort of my mind.

3 | I need deadlines. I am a procrastinator by nature. And a perfectionist. I think those two traits go hand in hand. I procrastinate because I’m afraid of my results being less than stellar. But I know that I need practice to improve and grow. But the perfectionist in me hates it when my efforts result in disappointing work. Such a vicious cycle! My niece Kendall told my sister-in-law ( after I’d already purchased & shipped her Christmas gift ) that she wanted a painting from me for Christmas. So I decided she will have one as a birthday gift in June! Deadline established. But her sister Samantha’s birthday is coming up on February 3rd, and how could I not give her one, too? Deadline established. I also signed up to be a Contributor for the February 2014 project for We Are the Contributors. Another deadline established.

4 | I need to seize moments of inspiration. Every day I see little moments of life that I want to sketch. My coffee cup and its shadow. The funky yellow chair in the living room. Mr. Forager’s profile. But often I see the inspiration, note it, then let it just slip by. No more! From now on, if I see beauty in a moment, I want to try to capture it. My sketchbook now lives on our coffee table instead of hidden in a bag. There is a felt pin with it always. Even if I’m just inspired to doodle, I need to do it. Because once I start, I don’t want to stop.

5 | I need mini-projects to spur creativity. This truth applies to my blogging and freelance work as much as to my fledgling art practice. It’s so easy just to do what I’ve always done, but in order to grow and evolve, I need to challenge myself. The mini-projects I’ve done on Instagram get my wheels turning in so many ways. I find myself challenged to look at things differently, to come up with new angles on old ideas. Painting is my first love, but not every project has to involve paint. It’s about finding new ways of seeing. I want to learn to weave and throw pottery. I want to find new ways of approaching the world.

6 | I need to mess with the just OK. In some things, good enough is good enough. Like making the bed or doing laundry. It isn’t perfect but its done. This attitude doesn’t fit for an art practice that is about growing, learning and evolving. When in college, I was a pretty good artist. Then in the following years, I became an OK painter. Being OK is no longer OK with me. Now, I’m finding myself bored with the type of work I would have been happy with a few years ago. On Sunday, as I was working on a little 6×6 canvas ( which you’ll see when the WAC February project is revealed! ), I arrived at a point that was OK. Not bad, but not super fantastic. Not exciting. I hesitated. I wanted to do something bold to it, feeling like it needed a push. But I was afraid to screw up the OK. I hemmed and I hawed. I tried to visualize a bold change. Then I watched this Philip Guston video. He didn’t settle and neither should I. So I took the chance. And that one change prompted other changes. Until I was left with something I liked. Something I daresay I am proud of.

I feel like I’m making progress. Its slow, but building up a good habit always takes time and effort. How about you, Artsies? Do any of you struggle with some of these issues? How do you face them down?

All images by Artsy Forager.

January 14, 2014
Finding My Own Artsy

I hope you don’t mind if I get personal. Something has been missing from my life. I was seeing it every day from all points, sharing with you when I found it elsewhere, yet finding it lacking for myself. I’m talkin’ about the ARTSY. You see, once upon a time, I could paint. I could draw. And I loved it. But post-college, life happened, I got a string of “real jobs” ( art related, fortunately ) and in general, the busyness of life took over. Occasionally I would dust off my paints and brushes, but those creative rendezvous where growing fewer and farther in between.

You might think that the perfect opportunity to get back into it came when Mr. Forager & I began traveling. No longer would I have the constraints of working a 40+ hour work week, no longer would I be maintaining and upkeeping a house, we’d be far from family, so no excuse of making time for everyone but me. And I did think about it. But it scared the daylights out of me. That little voice inside ( you know, the nasty, mean one ) told me I’d waited too long. Any skill I’d cultivated and talent I’d had was gone. Who was I to try to be an artist? I worked with and personally knew so many phenomenally talented artists. I didn’t feel worthy of even trying to join their ranks. So I choose to stretch my creative muscles in a different direction– I wrote about those phenomenal talents here on the blog. All the while knowing something was missing.

Instead of cultivating my own creative spirit, I’d thrown all my energy into celebrating the creativity of others. Please don’t get me wrong, I adore creating, writing, and developing Artsy Forager! Yet I find myself feeling envious of all the artists I was discovering. HE has such a way with paint, SHE can draw like nobody’s business. I wanted to get back the artistic mojo I’d been missing. For Christmas 2011, Mr. Forager gave me a new set of acrylics and a full-size foldable easel. I’m ashamed to say I can count on two fingers the times I’ve used them. There always seemed to be a reason not to. But now we’ve been here in Joshua Tree for 4 months with 2 1/2 more to go. We’re in a house big enough for me to have room to paint. No more excuses.

So Sunday, while Mr. Forager was brewing beer, I got out my paints and brushes and set up my easel. Underpainting, done. Easy enough, just a wash of phthalo blue. There was a photograph I’d taken of rocks in water that I decided to use as my jumping off point. I sketched in the shadows and forms and started pushing in color and highlights. But it wasn’t working. At times it looked OK, I started to remember what I loved about the process, but then it all seemed to fall apart. I hated what I was doing. I didn’t find it at all creative or inspiring. Mr. F could tell it wasn’t going well. He lovingly reminded me that this was supposed to be fun. And correctly pointed out that maybe I was just trying too hard. I continued to stew and then just got mad. At myself. And with that, I did what most angry artists would do– I destroyed what I’d done with more paint. I slashed cadmium yellow and alizarin crimson all over the tight, controlled mess I’d already concocted. And I immediately felt better. And inspired.

I continued just freely pushing paint, slashing, spraying, muddying, wiping, taking a break and then doing it all again. Mr. F brought me a glass of Kona Koko Brown, one of the few beers I love, and I continued to play. I forgot that I was trying to make “art” and just enjoyed how the colors were working and what the paint was doing. I could see something emerging that made me happy. I was loving the way the colors were mixing, the way light was coming through. I had a breakthrough. You can see the results of my day below.

Kintla Lake ( detail ), acrylic on board, 12×16

Do I think this is the most fabulous inspiring painting I’ve ever seen? Not even close. But compared to where I began that day, I’m pretty happy. It feels good to have a visceral connection to paint again. I have a long way to go. But I’ve vowed to try to create something every day, whether it be just a sketch or a quick study in paint on paper. I’m even inspired to begin a series ( more on that later ). My creative muscles need exercise. I’m sharing this with you because I’m sure you’ve experienced something similar. And because I needed to tell someone. And I need accountability. So if you don’t mind, I’ll occasionally share a little of my own artistic journey. It will be nice to have some company.

All images by Artsy Forager.

February 13, 2013