Are you in love?

Are your creative pursuits something you do or are you in love with them? There’s a difference.

Think about how you feel when you love someone.

-You want to spend time with them.

-You enjoy talking with them.

-You love hearing about their past and learning what makes them who they are today.

-When you’re not with them, you think about them and look forward to seeing them again.

-You buy them gifts. In fact, you love spending money on them, sometimes buying foolish things like flowers.

-You don’t judge them, accepting them quirks and all.

Again, I ask, are you in love with your creative pursuits and projects? Review the list I provided above and see how this might apply to your relationship with your art, writing, cooking, woodworking, sewing, quilting, jewelry-making, etc.

I realize not everyone wants to be in love with their creative pursuits, that perhaps their creative outlets are casual hobbies, only engaged with occasionally. The idea of loving our creative pursuits is more directed to people whose creativity is a mandatory part of life. We can’t imagine life without our art.

Allowing ourselves to love our artistic endeavors opens doors to how we treat our path as well as how we treat ourselves. Instead of our art being something that lives on the sidelines of our life, it moves to center stage. When this happens, we are more receptive to our muse, see more options that are there for us, and are willing to take more risks to nurture and develop this prized relationship that is not gifted to everyone. Can you love your creative path?

Here's something a little different. Draw Your Own Mantra, Create Empowering Affirmation Art by Phe Johnson (Leaping Hare Press) invites us to create our own inspirational art. The book is written for beginners as well as for people experienced in drawing. We’re shown the basics of drawing flowers, plants, the sun, mountains, clouds and water. We’re even given the basics of printing words. If you would rather create your art digitally, there is an introduction to using Photoshop.

Find a saying you want to focus energy on and then imagine a piece of art to go with it. Use the ideas and direction in the book and soon you will have your own creation to inspire you. Some examples Johnson gives are: Slow Down, You’re Doing Great, I Believe in Myself, and Progress Not Perfection.

You are guided through how to create each of these and then encouraged to make similar ones you come up with yourself. Here’s one I created based on one of my favorite sayings.

Draw Your Own Mantra is not only a wonderful guidebook for creating an art project, it is also inspirational for positive focus in our daily lives.

Creating with joy, grace, and ease….

Krysta