pondering creativity, process, and making art
Little 1: That’s nice. But it would be better if they weren’t dead.
Me: It’s what’s in front of me right now.
It is Good Friday in the Christian world. Things die today. And as is said in one of my favorite musicals, The Fantasticks, “… we must all die a bit before we grow again.”
Happy holiday weekend! Wow! Easter and Passover all rolled into one. Bring out the matzo bunnies!
When I was a kid, I was obsessed with finding the golden egg at the annual Easter Egg Hunt, for the sole reason of winning the real live bunny they awarded the winner! I never did.
I’m clearly a grown up now because I’ll take the Lindt chocolate bunnies over the real live bunny any day! Unless the bunny poops chocolate. Then maybe.
It’s with delight and honor that I’m introducing my bunny birthday collection, inspired by the talented ceramic artist, Alisha Katz Hastings-Kimball of Songbird Studios. You’ll be hearing more about her soon. ;P For now, know that she is the creator of the bunny cake toppers and magic spoons!
A few years ago, I got to attend the inaugural COCABiz Spark conference. The keynote was Kevin Carroll, “Katalyst” play advocate, author of The Rules of the Red Rubber Ball.
He set the stage well for the importance of play in the workplace. During that 1.5 day conference, I got to learn negotiating skills in a dulcimer jam session and leadership through Argentine tango! Not only was it really fun and playful but I learned real, applicable skills—ones that I’ve used on a regular basis since then.
Why the chairs? Well, last week, thanks to the universe, the university and Chris, I had the pleasure of yet another workshop at COCA. It was reminder of some things that Kevin said in his talk—how play facilitates teamwork, encourages risktaking, innovative problem-solving, and ignites creativity. This time, we worked with Robert Morgan, Senior Lecturer in Scenic Design. We designed chairs.
Our team really does design things together but all digital things and I learned so much about our internal processes specifically because we were working in a physical, non-work-related, low-risk environment. It was that freaky yet cool world’s colliding kinda thing to be coloring with my colleagues. Going along with what I said in my chapter 11 post, I find that opportunities to get out of my head yield so much. It was great validation for “the power of play.”
So hat tip to the Digital Communications Team. My #48dayscreative piece for today… CHAIRS!
I love my job. I think I’ve mentioned that before. I have an almost irrational appreciation for all the things my job affords me… perhaps most significantly, right now, my job gives me freedom. I know, that sounds counter-intuitive. I spent ten years in the trenches of the entrepreneurial world where freedom from the 9-5 was glorified ad nauseum. But I have to say, I love the container of my 9-5. I really like being part of something bigger than myself, with an established history and footprint. And as an artist, I reeeeeeally like that my job gives me the luxury of unhooking my art from my financial “value.”
I underlined more things in this chapter than any other, I think. Chapter 11 might be worth the price of the book, people!
Creativity is a spiritual practice. It is not something that can be perfected, finished and set aside.
So just when you think you’re there, “there” disappears. I love that. The interminable “Now what?” Apparently, that’s normal! 🙂
I especially love the tasks that are assigned in this chapter. Julia talks about the importance of sports in a creative life. I’m not very sporty myself but I think the point she makes is really about how important it is to stay connected to our physical bodies! l don’t know about you but I spend an awful lot of time in my head. And it may seem like an appropriate way to be creative–thinking up new ideas and all. But as was the point of Chapter 7, it’s not so much about thinking something up as tapping into the river of things wanting to be created. And the truth is, after being involved in the development of Hopeful World’s Emotional Wisdom class, I can’t ignore my body wisdom! I find that gardening, dancing, yoga, baking, even just walking to work… usually gives me a shot of oxytocin, and some valuable insight.
So… staying connected to your body, nurturing your inner child, protecting your artist from the oogy boogey critics, building an artist’s altar… interestingly, these tasks seem to focus on staying connected to the things that feed your artist. This is how we stay autonomous.
There are some great check-in’s in this chapter too: look back on Chapter 4’s Honest Changes section and take an inventory of what has changed for you and in you since then.
Honestly, there are so many gems in here I might devote some extra posts to some of the activities for this chapter. Stay tuned…
Week 1: Recovering a Sense of Safety
Week 2: Recovering a Sense of Identity
Week 3: Recovering a Sense of Power
Week 4: Recovering a Sense of Integrity
Week 5: Recovering a Sense of Possibility
Week 6: Recovering a Sense of Abundance
Week 7: Recovering a Sense of Connection
Week 8: Recovering a Sense of Strength
Week 9: Recovering a Sense of Compassion
Week 10: Recovering a Sense of Self-Protection
Week 11: Recovering a Sense of Autonomy
Week 12: Recovering a Sense of Faith
I’m obsessed with the word SWEET! This was just pure fun. #48dayscreative
I’m finding that so much of this journey is discovering where you want to go—what you really and truly want to create. It sounds so trite on this side of that little piece of insight. But it’s so not plain when you start out. And how can it be?! We ask our kids at various times, what do you want to be when you grow up? And they answer astronauts and ballerinas and veterinarians but they have no idea what that really means other than the images they see in slick movie and TV shows. How are they supposed to know that getting to the moon requires all sorts of MATH?!!
I joke that I lost my way when I was around eight or nine and I realized that being a vet meant giving dogs shots and putting them down.
My new line of questioning is more along the lines of “What do you actually do… like describe your ideal day.” A lot of times people’s answers don’t necessarily match up with the fancy title they have as their “goal.”
I need quiet.
I need light.
I need a pretty space to work that I can call my own.
I love to do things with my hands.
I like the feeling of being connected to nature.
I love “parallel play” — working alongside others but working independently.
I want validation and appreciation.
I work best within a structure.
Occasional dance parties are good for my soul. 🙂
This list is a work in progress but it feels good being able to say these things… and even better realizing that this list very much reflects my current experience.
I can see the light the the end of the tunnel. Week 10. Can you believe it? Only 2 more to go. It’s weird to think about how much has changed, just since the beginning of the year. And yet, I am so impatient. I want “things” to happen faster! I think Oh my goodness, it’s already the end of March. The only thing that’s flying by is time. I want to be able to make more art and more listings and there never seems to be enough time. So there’s a part of me that’s saying Whew! Two more weeks and I’m done with AW but really, what does that mean? I’m still doing the morning pages and the artist’s dates… but I think I’m ready for a break in unearthing crap. Seriously. What’s come up for me recently is FEAR. I can see how much it drives my choices and my behavior and I know that I’m kinda afraid every week of what unconscious limiting belief I’m surely going to discover this week! So yeah, I’m ready for a break from THAT.
This week, Rediscovering Our Sense of Self-Protection… is about being totally honest about the things we do to keep ourselves blocked. Our addictions. You don’t have to have a substance abuse problem to be an addict. There are those of us who are addicted to food or controlling what we eat, exercise, work, approval, worrying… all sorts of things that keep us from looking at the real stuff — the stuff that makes us uncomfortable. I think those things I listed are especially challenging because they are not “poison” the way alcohol or drugs are. You can rationalize them to say they are good for you… like a low carb diet or exercise or fulfilling all your obligations or being a hard worker. But I think Julia’s point is that we still have to protect our art and our creativity from falling to the bottom of our list. If I’ve learned anything from this process it’s that we have to prioritize the things that bring us joy. Period. Otherwise, what’s the point.
So here we are in Week 10. What’s coming up for you? Have you kept up with your morning pages and artist’s dates? How do you feeeeel?
Week 1: Recovering a Sense of Safety
Week 2: Recovering a Sense of Identity
Week 3: Recovering a Sense of Power
Week 4: Recovering a Sense of Integrity
Week 5: Recovering a Sense of Possibility
Week 6: Recovering a Sense of Abundance
Week 7: Recovering a Sense of Connection
Week 8: Recovering a Sense of Strength
Week 9: Recovering a Sense of Compassion
Week 10: Recovering a Sense of Self-Protection
Week 11: Recovering a Sense of Autonomy
Week 12: Recovering a Sense of Faith
Keep going! Only 3 more chapters to go… which will mark the very first time I’ve made it all the way through The Artist’s Way. We can totally do this!
DON’T TURN BACK NOW! That’s the main gist of Chapter 9, actually. Julia shares lots of stories of people who consciously (or unconsciously) sabotage their creative lives. There are all sorts of ways that fear can start to undermine what we’re doing. It can present itself in different forms but when it comes down to it, it’s just plain ol’ fear. I’ve totally felt it… during Chapter 7, during Chapter 8 and now. This is the part where Coehlo’s “Beginner’s Luck” starts to run out and you are running and running and thinking omg, what was I thinking? There’s no end to this. I should just go back over there to my cozy little box and screw this Hero’s Journey nonsense! That’s for the movies! The real deal is way to hard, long, scary.
Stick with it.
Speaking of Hero’s Journey, there’s actually a part of that cycle that’s called Crossing the First Threshold. Perhaps this is it, the time when you meet some resistance that tests your commitment to the transformation you wished for. It’s when the universe tests you, saying Are you for real? If you’re for real, you’ll keep going.
Keep going!
I’m going to keep going. I hope you will to.
p.s. Wait. Where’s the compassion part? It’s in calling a spade a spade… you’re NOT lazy or unfocused or not committed or whatever judgements you are throwing at yourself right now about your artistic/creative life. You’re AFRAID! Call it what it is: FEAR. Name your fears, bring them into the light, love them and KEEP GOING! 😀 You’ve got this.
She says. To herself.
Week 1: Recovering a Sense of Safety
Week 2: Recovering a Sense of Identity
Week 3: Recovering a Sense of Power
Week 4: Recovering a Sense of Integrity
Week 5: Recovering a Sense of Possibility
Week 6: Recovering a Sense of Abundance
Week 7: Recovering a Sense of Connection
Week 8: Recovering a Sense of Strength
Week 9: Recovering a Sense of Compassion
Week 10: Recovering a Sense of Self-Protection
Week 11: Recovering a Sense of Autonomy
Week 12: Recovering a Sense of Faith
© Ria Sharon
