Creativity at Play

"The Creative Mind Plays with Objects it Loves"~ Carl Jung Given the fun and light-hearted experience of this year I thought this would be a great quote to pass onto any intrepid and curious creatives out there to inspire your own adventures and endeavours in creativity as it has inspired me. What I like best is that it hints that being creative is best as a "fun" "light-hearted" experience or exploration because the creative mind plays with what it loves; not studies, perfects, or beats oneself up over but rather plays with those things . It has served as a good reminder to me that my project (the Creative Challenge) is a fun thing, and therefore something not to take too seriously or beat myself up if things don't go exactly as planned because it's supposed to be fun and playful thing. Although it can be hard to remember in the midst of trying to figure things out, plan, fit everything in, get everything in on schedule and make it a huge ...

A Trip Down Memory Lane, Experiencing the Group of Seven first hand, and an aspiring artist's reward Written for: Wednesday March 29 With March being a great month of exploring the world of using pastels and experimenting I found it about time for a reward and burst of inspiration to help further explore this form of creativity and what better place to visit than the McMichael Art Gallery- home to the Group of Seven's artwork and much more. So with that decided I put the plan in motion to head back to there and revisit the gallery a second time. I looked forward to this trip after it being so long since the first time a second visit I'd hope would give me a greater chance to appreciate the artwork and doing it myself to appreciate the artist's styles and efforts.   Group of Seven The feeling of familiarity came almost instantly as we drove down the long driveway into the art gallery as if it were almost yesterday I was there. Now it wasn't just the b...

My Thoughts on Resources:  Here's an interesting tidbit, and perhaps this is just me thinking about it, but there seems to be a lot more options out there to find inspiration. You can look online if you're tech-savvy or at least familiar surfing the internet. Or go to the library to test out possible cookbooks/how to books on knitting before buying more books or if you don't have anymore room on your bookshelves for more inspiration. There also has come great inspiration through magazines , many that are filled as well with interesting articles, information, interviews and tips from the experts and most recently you can borrow back issues from the library these days so there's no need to worry about filing those either. Though,  if you are like me and find yourself with absolutely no room to store more magazines or books and can't quite find the time to borrow from the library Pinterest is full of inspiration too.  I won't blame you for preferring it as...

So I discovered that for a first attempt, perhaps my scarf isn't as bad as I thought. It may have a few mistakes here and there, with a valuable lesson that knitting is best when we are well rested or have the energy to focus our best but isn't that what this whole experience is about, learning. It's not about the scarf coming out perfectly, yes it would be nice but since there's much to learn this time around it's become more about practicing the technique of knitting and simply seeing this one through. Which is why I've called the first knitting project- a hefty two ball scarf- my "mulligan scarf". When I take on other projects I'll have it down pat and be more careful. For now I am learning: learning how to fix my "boo boos" as I refer to any mistakes made, when it's best to knit- during the early parts of my day- and when it's not such an opportune time- later at night. Which is equally important to curbing any possible mistak...

So it occurred to me just now that I've mentioned the "how" and "what" of the creative challenge but hadn't really explained the "why", which I'm realizing is the most important part of the whole thing. If there's no particularly compelling reason for me to do it for myself than is it still really worth. Also you may be wondering what spurred this sudden burst of "I'm going to take on something different throughout the year." Well my friends, I figured out it's actually pretty simple. I am doing this to help me stay positive, creative and inspired at times when I am frustrated and am feeling stuck, or bored or uninspired. This is a way for me to create my own source of JOY in life when it may be tricky to point to in other areas. It's also a way for me to stay inspired when the weeks are long, and I don't really feel like writing that much. I'll have several other outlets I can turn to, to keep the juices flo...