How do we become more creative?

Do you doubt your creativity? Do you catch yourself saying, “I’m just not that creative?” Meanwhile, you turn out beautiful pieces of art that friends and family enjoy. Sometimes you even place or win in art shows. It seems to be a shared trait, this not recognizing our own creativity. I think it’s important to widen our view of creativity in our lives. Creativity is about a lot more than our artwork or other artistic pursuits. Creativity reaches into every aspect of our lives and the more we exercise our creative muscles, the more creative muscles we’ll have to exercise.

There’s a television show called Homestead Rescue. It’s about people who decide to live off the grid being self-sufficient, growing their own food, having livestock, their own water well and electricity. Many of the people who decide they want this lifestyle are in for a rude awakening. They find out this is much more difficult than they thought it would be and many of them have to give up or they call in the Raney family. Dad Marty along with daughter Misty and son Matt, visit some of the homesteaders to see if they can salvage the homesteaders’ dreams.

What I love most about the show is the amazing level of creativity the Raney family has. We’ll see what a disaster the people’s house is, perhaps with a foundation about to crumble and watch Marty come up with amazing solutions. Or daughter Misty helping people with green houses that are partially under the ground so they can have year-round crops. And then Matt who comes up with some out of the box ways to deal with predators like bears and wolves who come onto the homestead and eat chickens and other animals. Best of all, they try to use available resources that cost nothing or next to nothing. It is amazing to see what sorts of things are hidden away on the homesteads: old windows, doors, metal roofs, etc…

Why am I telling you this? Why does this matter?

First of all, watching these people enlist their creativity to fix ither peoples’ property is inspirational. What they do shows that when we open our minds to all solutions, the unthinkable becomes reality and usually at a very low cost.

Second, it shows how often we already have answers at our disposal. Maybe you already have a pencil or paper that will create the perfect picture. Maybe you don’t have to buy something new every time you approach a project.

Third, how can you unleash your creativity in other ways besides your art? Are there creative pathways you haven’t seen simply because your focus was too narrow? Allow yourself to be creative in all areas of life, not only in pursuing art and watch how much creativity flows into your world.

Here’s a way some folks used their creativity. Blue Star Crafts in Mexico created a mini art studio that can be worn on your wrist. It is about the size of an Apple Watch and there are three variations. One even has a place to hold water and paint! People’s creativity never ceases to amaze me.

Here’s a YouTube video by Leslie Stroz. She specializes in tiny paintings, so this product is perfect for her (and maybe you?).

Here’s the website where you can see the three choices the company offers.

https://www.bluestarcrafts.mx/products/5-color-mini-palette-watch

As most of you know, I fell in love with making watercolor art a little over a year ago. As I was learning, I used books and videos as well as online- courses to learn techniques. If this book had been available at the time, I would have used it and, of course, I still can and do.

Watercolor This Book - Learn to Watercolor by Lacey Walker (Walter Foster Publishing) not only gives the basics of watercolor, but also provides a watercolor pad with supplied outlines and complete instructions as to how to color the images. There’s no need to learn to draw before painting. The basics given cover everything from tools and papers, brushes, how to understand the relationships between brush, paint and water, as well as various techniques such as wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry, blooms, layering and so much more.

The images you can paint include mountains, flowers, peaches, sunsets, feathers, butterflies and more. Instructions for each painting are given although you are certainly free to use your own color choices and styles. If you’re thinking of getting involved with watercolor or even if you are already a painter, this book offers a lot of instruction as well as fun and satisfaction.

Creating with joy, grace, and ease….

Krysta