Results tagged “creative”

I find myself so overwhelmed with the day to day sometimes that when I actually sit down to create (when I make the time...which I must make more of as well), I'm totally blocked.  Or even worse, totally indecisive.

Thankfully the web has become an incredible source for inspiration.  A couple of clicks and I have a new idea or two.  (The key is not to get too distracted of course.)

There are probably thousands of resources on the web about how to battle a creative block so I'm gonna go ahead an make a little list for you. Now you can skip the Googling and get to the creating. 

You're welcome. 

• Overcoming Creative Block by ISO50: A really incredible article ISO50 asks 25 different artists how they combat creative block. This is a must read.
• The Creative Drive by Design Informer: A great post for designers (and other artists alike) on how to stay inventive and deal with creative "burn out". 
  
• Six Ideas for Breaking a Creative Block by Jennifer Farley: Six very simple ideas to get your creative blood flowing and some great ideas in the comments as well.
  
• 10 Tips to Avoid a Creative Block by Inspired Magazine: 10 great tips from Jacques van Heerden's (freelance digital artist) point of view on how to avoid a dreaded block.
• Beat the Creative Block by NetMag: A long but well thought out article on what creative block is and how to combat it. Well worth the read. 
• 10 Ways to Beat the Hell Out of Creative Block by Outlaw Design Blog: Danny Outlaw lays it out plain and simple with these easy ways to beat a block.
  
• How Do you Beat Creative Block on Fuel Your Creativity: This site brings up the question and you'll find some great answers in the comments.  Check it out and add your own.
  

Halloween is just around the corner and why not celebrate with a little old school shadow puppet theater!  You know I love to find unique Etsy items and when I saw these, I knew they were in.  Creative, simple, fun and story inducing, these shadow puppets are a blast!  In fact, I'd probably end up using them as decoration as well.  You know, dump some rice in a bowl and arrange the sticks like a bouquet. 

Also, this is a nice tie in with my Imagination post.  What a fun way to remember what it's like to be a kid again.

It's not all Halloween in the Orange Moon Toy shop. Creators Meredith and Robin have also made some election puppets, dinosaur puppets, fairytale puppets and more!

It's no secret but it's also something you might not guess about me. I have an extremely deep love for the dark and bizarre side of art.  I always have.



Growing up I loved skimming through my parent's gigantic book of Edward Gorey drawings,  I read every single R.L. Stine book I could get my hands on and I've always had a serious penchant for real life ghost stories.

The image of the Skeksis in The Dark Crystal will be forever burned in my brain.  Also, the other Jim Henson creation, The Storyteller, that my brother was too afraid to watch? Well I nearly wept when I learned it was over after 9 episodes.

In my teenage years I loved watching 80s horror flicks like April Fools Day. 

In college I discovered movies like Dead Alive, writers like Richard Matheson, directors like Tim Burton and John Waters.  I know, you don't really think scary when you think John Waters, but show a group of friends Pink Flamingos for the first time and watch their expressions.  I'd say you hit the bizarre/disgust nail on the head. 

Now at 30,  I continue to feed my love for the uniquely creepy with shows like Dexter, Rob Zombie flix and the stories of Lemony Snicket. 

I love anything out of the ordinary.  Anything willing to push you into that uncomfortable zone.  Horror, fantasy and the just plain strange all come from one place that I try to find every single day, the imagination.  That and a willingness to put something out there that will make others recoil in fear and/or disdain, is key to this particular form of creative vision.

I have never had the cajones to express myself this way to the public.  To show a darker side.  A bizarre side.  An entirely made up side.  It's not that I mind if someone looks at me with a 'poo-poo' stare, lord knows I've seen my fair share of those. And it's not that I'm offended easily, because I'm not.  It's that I'm letting my own inhibitions hold me back.

Now that's a scary thought.

I guess it's time to dig deeper. Unearth the imaginary grave, if you will.

Lately I've been a little more Daft and a little less Art.  This is fine but I'd really like to try and even out the roller coaster. 

Part of what I want to do is display more of my 365 project.  That's what really got the whole ball rolling for Arts & Dafts. I used to display every single doodle. I probably won't do that any more but you can still see them in my flickr set.  Instead, I'll be showcasing the drawings I like best.

Another idea I'd like to incorporate is an Etsy day where I highlight a particular Etsy page that caught my eye.

Last, a little more discussion on the growth I'm going through and how this entire project has changed my life and state of mind.

Right now I'm in a writing phase. If you've been reading for a while, you know I go through what I call "creative phases". One week I'm all about drawing, the next it's photographs, then suddenly I get the urge to knit, etc. The difficulty with a writing phase is how high I set the bar. It's unlike any of the others. I feel the overwhelming desire to add wit to every day happenings, to tell the whole story but without overdoing it like I tend to do and most of all, catch the readers attention even when discussing the mundane. 

Writing, to me, has always been at the forefront of everything I do. It's the one and only thing that I can say I've been doing since I was a small child.  I still have a bunch of my old stories and I may share some here sometime.

So in this project of growth over the last 6 months, what have I learned about my writing?  That I am capable.  I can write something people want to read. I can do it without infusing my truckers mouth into every single sentence and by golly, I can be a little funny sometimes.

Confidence has been the number one lesson of this entire process. I have gained it, found new parts about myself that I appreciate and I have learned how very important it is.  It's slowly starting to bleed into how I think about everything from my appearance to how I deal with people who are trying to jerk me around.  Not long ago, I might sit back and say "Yes Sir" while thinking "fuck you sir" . Now, I'm no longer accepting of injustices in my daily life. 

Geez, that sounds so dramatic.

So, here's to yet another phase and hopefully a little more insight into the creative madness called my life.

Well it's over. Finally. I am now officially taking a 2 month break from "real life" to concentrate on...fake life?  We closed the show last night to a packed house and it was a great run but man are we thrilled it's done.

Now here I am, stuck in a rut. It's not the normal kind of rut, it's the kind where there are so many things swimming around in my head I'm not entirely sure what to concentrate on. I'm drawing every day and getting my photographic groove back and trying trying trying to come up with something to write (other than a blog that is). Now, I know I am capable of handling all this but I can't help but worry I've been off the radar for so long that I'm starting from scratch. I worked so hard from  January to the end of April and them WHAMMO, everything was set on hold while I ran that damn show.

I am thankful for it in a way because it opened up my eyes even wider to my goals. I genuinely want to spend every day writing, drawing, photo..ging? and all sorts of other creatively things.  Look, I'm even making up words! What a wild and crazy imagination I have!

I am surrounded by lists of ideas, dreams, hopes and groceries. Okay, that's a lie. I never make grocery lists. I'm one of those picky sales shoppers who wanders every aisle. This is reason #1 why the boy and I no longer go food shopping together. Yes, there are more reasons that involve unnecessary fighting over sales, generic v. name brand and "really? another frozen pizza?" but I digress.

So on to the next step in my life. We shall call it.....PHASE TWO! Muuuuhahahaha.

 

So it's no mystery, I have been in a sort of lull lately. It's not one of those lulls where I drop everything and say screw it, no no. It's more one of those "what is the next effing step?!!?" lulls.

Okay, "lull" just lost it's meaning.

I've reached a sort of cross roads. I need to dive head first into my writing, drawing, photography, etc and really commit to this whole project or consider my options with a full time job...or just keep doing what I'm doing.

What's my goal? To be creative full time. This is for sure. What's holding me back? The non-creative side of my brain. The side that says "Yes, but how will you pay the bills sweetie?". I hate that side. I have been slowly poisoning it with positive thoughts and pencil drawings, but the process is slow and excruciating. Also, I'm pretty sure anyone with a strong creative side knows that pushing positive thoughts on yourself is like trying to convince a parent that heroin is good for their baby.

I think that bizarre comparison just came from my "creative" side.

I am particularly lucky. After next week I will have almost 2 entire months to throw myself into my craft, whatever that is, full time. I have saved enough for the rent, now I just hope I saved just enough sanity (or is it insanity?) to actually create and come up with some good ideas.

Here's hoping!