artmilk...creativity

journal questions

§     what are you most passionate about (even a little bit)-passion can be a love or hate thing?

• what  fascinations of yours – (that is a love of something in particular- the colour pink, your dream world, particular relationships, objects, textures, materials, place) - don’t come into your work…yet?

• what is most  important in a creative work for you?

• what do you personally - not your mother, partner, your friend or your teacher- want from your creative work?

• is there a difference between these two things? – don’t  worry if there is, that’s alright too, just be aware of it

• how do you create? How do you go about working? What are your rhythms, habits etc. How do you start? How do you finish? Where are you blocked from being completely open and free in your creativity making

• what are your goals in your creative life, are you interested in financial goals or not?

• what do you hope or believe a creative life can do for you?

• what can creativity change for you, in your life? How are you going to be able to use it in your life?

• how can creativity help you grow or change? How open are you to changing ideas you already hold?

• do you have a definite style or approach re your creative work?

• do you integrate everything in your life into your expressions or only some things?

• do you have a particular fascination and understanding of certain expressive materials- ceramics, metal, wood, fabric, paint your body, voice?

• do you practice a creative discipline now  on a regular basis?

• how often do you create?

• do you prefer to work with others or alone?

• how important is innovation to you?

• are you a completely different person when you create? What is that like?

• does the creative process help to improve other aspects of your life, or does it make things difficult for you?

• do you need to be recognised for your creations. If so, by how many other people?  Is it by a certain range of people? Who is the audience you are making, painting for, acting singing, designing for? Be specific.

• do you now or have you previously considered creativity as an alien process to you?

• do you consider yourself talented, is talent necessary in creative expression? What do you think talent is?

§      what is most important to you in your creative life- what are your creative values? How do they differ from other peoples?

§         what artists, musicians etc. do you feel fascinated with? List who you like, and list why? Do you understand the meanings behind their work? What are those ideas?

§          what do you know or understand at present about your discipline area and what do you want to come to understand over the next while?

§          how much time do you wish to devote to developing your creative self?

creative attitudes...be!!!

                       

     

 

                                                          ....

Know yourself

Open mind

Sense of humour

Playful, fun – loving

Childlike

Hardworking

Environmentally aware

Socially aware

Artistically aware

Spiritually aware

Creative

Spontaneous

Intuitive

Original

Flexible, open to change

Non-judgmental

Patient

Adventuresome

Risk-taking, daring

Impulsive

Energetic

Curious

Loving

Honest

Integrity

where is the creative organ?

10 steps to boost creativity!

 

1.Look at art, all art, any art, art in galleries, museums, in books, on postcards in children’s drawings. Do It!!

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2.Listen to music. All sorts. Johann Sebastian Bach is good, music is especially good if you are also troubled by stress, headaches, mind jams or strange ‘sleeplessnesses’ in the middle of the night.

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3. Brainstorm. If properly carried out, brainstorming can help you not only come up with sacks full of new ideas, but can help you decide which is best.

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4. Always carry a small notebook and a pen or pencil around with you. That way, if you are struck by an idea, you can quickly note it down. Upon rereading your notes, you may discover about 90% of your ideas are daft. Don't worry, that's normal.

What's important are the 10% that are brilliant.

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5. If you're stuck for an idea, open a dictionary, randomly select a word and then try to formulate ideas incorporating this word. You'd be surprised how well this works. The concept is based on a simple but little known truth: freedom inhibits creativity. There are nothing like restrictions to get you thinking.

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6. Define your problem. Grab a sheet of paper, electronic notebook, computer or whatever you use to make notes, and define your problem in detail. You'll probably find ideas positively spewing out once you've done this.

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7. If you can't think, go for a walk. A change of atmosphere is good for you and gentle exercise helps shake up the brain cells.

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8. Don't watch TV. Experiments show that watching TV causes your brain to slowly trickle out your ears and/or nose. It's not pretty, but it happens.

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9. Don't do drugs. People on drugs think they are creative. To everyone else, they seem like people on drugs. Chocolate doesnt count!

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10. Read as much as you can about everything possible. Books exercise your brain, provide inspiration and fill you with information that allows you to make creative connections easily.

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11.Excercise your brain. Brains, like bodies, need exercise to keep fit. If you don't exercise your brain, it will get flabby and useless. Exercise your brain by reading a lot (see above), talking to clever creative people- including yourself.

da da creativity

cowgirls highly creative with their ropes

are your creative energies in the freezer?

factors in a creative life

...

Arousal - the spectrum from drowsiness to manic anxiety, and how we have to manage this effectively
Challenge - has to match your level of ability
Communication - how you are able to contextualise your work
Confidence - the other factors enhance this
Constructs - and the need to be flexible
Emotions - a tacit response resource
Environment - does it help or hinder you?
Humour - can be inclusive (facilitating social cohesion), exclusive (aimed as an attack on certain people) or abstract (where social situations begin to generate creative potential)
Imagination - well documented basis for creativity
Incubation - immerse yourself in all the information, then allow the subconscious to work for you.
Knowledge management
Moods - you have to learn to control them
Motivation - see above
Nutrition - we cannot be 'academic' and ignore these important, holistic facts; cognition can be influenced by the this
Play - great tool for concept building; simulations
Sleep - as with nutrition
Stimulation - we need it; can intellectual or environmental
Stress - enough to dynamise us; not so much that we begin to suffer
Support - can be knowledge, financial or social
Recognise thinking styles - what works best; being flexible

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to ones courage

Anais Nin

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In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity

Albert Einstein

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Anxiety is a fuel. We can use it to write with, paint with work with

Julia Cameron

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If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track, which has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living

Joseph Campbell

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what is it?

"You have to start with an unreasonable dream." 

Ed Kienholz (sculptor)

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It's been a big dream of mine to develope and create 

creativity resources that are...

*creative in their delivery

*available to all

*not associated with a grading as in a 'tertiary education' 

 frame work 

*that is up to date with the latest thinking and this 

 includes the experience of creators.

I believe that creativity is a vital important aspect of 

thinking and experienceing ourselves and life...

so this is just one of many resources I offer through 

artmilk  www.artmilk.com.au