I can certainly understand how making small collages can jump start one's creativity. While I have considered making a collage a day like Karen Stiehl Osborn, it was until my friend Jill suggested making 4" x 4" collages for a heArtist Trading Cards side trade that it all came together for me. Now I am addicted! Making them is also helping me use up "bits."
My friend Barbara and I joke often about our ever growing boxes of bits. This comes from a story I have told about helping a friend go through her mother's quilt supplies after she died. We came across a box labeled "bits too small to use." My friend lived in a small apartment with limited space and yet I watched her struggle to let go of that box. I do not want to become a person that cannot let things go. It has been a process for me. Last night at Hannah's opening at ClaySpace, there was a discussion about being able to let things go. Some people were good at it and others not so much. I remember a time when letting things go was tough for me too. There is a story, History Returned, in my book about a quilt returned to the place where it was made. Arline Crowley shared that she heard that when people get older, they want to simplify there lives. She didn't think it would ever happen to her, but it did. One of things that I struggle with is how to balance the need for simplicity with my need to have stuff around so I can create.
So the questions for today are: 1. Do you have a daily creative ritual and if so, what is it? 2. Is it easy for you to let things go?
I would love to have the time to do a creative ritual. I try sometimes but end up abandoning whatever the routine is because of activities from the other side of my brain (paperwork, computer work, work work). No it is not easy for me to let things go. I treasure things that remind me of the past. I would love to find the time to put them into creative use.
ReplyDeleteJanet, You know what helped me. While my oatmeal cooked (8 minutes), I made a card. I was creative and I had something useful. The time limit also helped me to not over think. Give yourself the gift of 15 minutes a day. You'll be amazed. Hugs, Karen
DeleteI don't really have a creative ritual...hmmmm, maybe I need to embrace one. The one thing I do regularly is doodle, especially when I am on the phone. I also doodle in the margins of my notepad in meetings, and the doodles often turn into designs I use in my artwork. And letting things go! wow, I am in a MAJOR life downsizing, so I have been forced to let a lot of stuff go, and am getting better at it. But prior to that...pretty much hoarded stuff that I might someday use in my art.
ReplyDeleteThankfully, it is getting easier and easier to let go of "things" -- people and memories are far more important. Memories, you ask? Ah - therein is a whole different issue. Weeding out the negatives that have haunted for so long, and sending them into the ash pit (literally - I write them down and then shred or otherwise destroy them - giving myself mental freedom) has given me the courage to tackle "stuff". Long process, no easy system - sending things back to their geographic home (museums, distant family, old family friends) has helped make a BIG dent. And shredding old papers is SUCH a high!
ReplyDeleteOh - daily creative ritual -- yes, mental if not physical. Absolutely essential.
Oh, dear - I'm responsible for an addiction! Thank goodness it's a positive one!
ReplyDelete