Creative Re-Charging....

I've been going through a lot of practice of how to let go or relinquish the endless demands of my mental to-do list..... I've realized that it seems easier to succumb to the routine of crossing the items off the list than trying to re-evaluate the list's content in the first place, not to mention learning to give myself some 'room to breath' physically and emotionally.

Perhaps, unbeknownst to me, I've arranged for some creative waiting period and since in the meantime my to-do list is growing exponentially I'm trying to find my footing one day at a time by learning to let the present moment BE.... the way it is, not the way it allegedly is 'supposed to be.' And somehow, if I allow myself to acknowledge and appreciate the many little 'Now Moments' I've been actually blessed with, I am at awe and I feel very grateful.... I've engaged my creativity outside of my art making space in a very tangible and fun way, though I've been 'only' working on the same painting I'd started when my company had arrived 3 1/2 weeks ago. Let me share some fun adventures that's been nurturing my starving Creative Spirit so far..... we rummaged through a huge flea market and I bought a shopping bag full of loose pages from old books and an old atlas with beautiful maps and imagery ~ all for $2! (I incorporated some of these pages in my painting ~ see the picutres below). Past Friday I visited the Art Institute downtown Chicago on a free admission night and had a blast at the contemporary art exhibition hall! Another afternoon of rich stimulation of all senses took us to the Chinatown where we wondered through small shops stuffed to overflowing ~ floor to ceiling ~ with oriental goods, funny smelling foods, and good-luck charms....

I love the shot of a Chinatown alley...

My creative Self has also been nurtured at home where I would work on my painting while my friend would make another beautiful greeting card alongside her little daughter trying to mimic her mommy.... somehow we all created in unison bringing into visible a new creation from the depths of our imaginations.....

I love to work with my hands while listening and paying attention to what's going on within.... since the end of last week my mediums of choice, for the moment, have been pieces of crown moulding, baseboards, casings, and hardwood flooring.... and fun adventures with large amounts of latex paint thanks to 2'' brushes that are waaaay below art supplies' stores prices.....all this 'creative chaos' culminating in an Extreme Master Bedroom MakeOver.... I find this type of exerting physical creative activity rejuvenating and healing. What's more, it's a great way to shut the inner critic's voice up while your arm is tired from making wall acrobatics with a big paint roller.... it's so much the opposite when I paint at my art table using small, in comparison, tools and brushes.... when each stroke or color choice is being taken under debate. How can a room be completely painted in less than 24 hours and a 2'x2' painting has seen already over a dozen of work hours and is not even half-finish yet? I realize I'm trying to compare pears to apples, but I believe there's something to be learned from physically strenuous creative process when it comes to inner allowing and creative co-operation.

My company will be returning back home in two weeks.... in the meantime I'm seting my intention of stying more current with my posts.

P.S.

I'm curious how is your summer flowing? Do you find your creativity following the changes of the season? Have you noticed that some periods of year are more creatively fertile for you then others?

Below are few snapshots of my painting titled: 'Fehu' ~ I'll delve into my inspiration in creating this piece once it'll be finished.

Creativity As A Spiritual Practice....

I think the above title may quiet possibly become a subject matter of my Master Thesis, somehow I feel, not only a very palpable attraction to it, but Life in general may be sending me many 'practical references' or 'source materials,' if you will.... In fact I had a meeting two weeks ago in which I was discussing my Mandala Workshop and out of the proverbial 'blue' I declared: I want to do a free public talk titled: Creativity As A Spiritual Practice.... I still have no idea where did the idea come from, most likely from that old, familiar place of Not-Knowing, to which I connect to whenever I put a brush to the canvas or let my fingers hit the keyboard....

The reason I decided to discuss this particular subject today lays in an e-mail my girlfriend forwarded to me. It came from a creativity coach who specializes in writing for publication, or at least that's my impression. For a long while I've been having a mental dialog with creativity coaching community, particularly when I check out new articles at Creativity-Portal.com. Part of me feels that voicing my opinions may seem just a tiny bit.... well, not supportive, or perhaps creatively thwarting.... But it is only at the first glance. Let me elaborate....

I sincerely believe that creativity coaches make great contribution to one's birth of his/her own Creative-Authentic Self ~ connecting to and trusting one's authentic, inner voice and FOLLOWING it, regardless of any bullying, critical, or harassing voices to the contrary. However, in the process of unearthing and embracing our True Self with an assistance of a creativity coach, or even a therapist, the opposite happens..... we replace our inner dialog that consisted of many self-limiting or internally oppressive messages that had made the free-flow of creative self-expression virtually impossible for us, with, yet another, outer voice - one of our coach - that we adapted in place of our very own, once again. Granted, as adults, we consciously invite a nurturing and supporting narrative, but in the process we continue our dependence on someone else's approval, opinion, standard.... you name it. In other words, our inner story continues along the same script, we are only introduced to new characters portraying the same, old and familiar archetypes.

So, what is one to do when a creative block seems to take a permanent place in one's life and coaching may feel like a 'right choice' in assisting you to move back into the Flow perhaps for the very first time in your life? Of course dealing out any advice at this point would make me sound like a new disguise for the same, old dynamic that perpetuates one's outer-oriented search. What I know for sure form my own experience is this..... It is one of the thoughest, most arduous, often frantically frustrating, yet UNBELIEVABLY rewarding task of growing up, by growing DOWN, within.... regardless of your chronological age. Creative self-expression is a natural state of Being for every human being. Nobody needs to 'learn' how to be creative. You already ARE! Yes, you may want to expand your proficiency in certain channels of self-expression that you are naturally drawn to, but there IS NO school for creativity.... how can it possibly be? No ONE can bestow creativity upon you or take it away. Creative self-expression is governed by our exercise of free will to the extent of our willful cooperation with what is coming through, or conscious censorship and blocking of it. The only part of our own experience on a creative journey is our giving-into it, ALLOWING, being a witness, embracing our gifts with an awe and gratitude..... no more standing in its way ever again....

At the end of the day, nobody cares or gives a %^&&$%^ if you live your life by cultivating the beauty of your gifts that are yours to share. Through embracing and courageously expressing your Inner Gift you come to SEE your Self, to RE-MEMBER your SELF, and to let the world Know you through the beauty of your creative self-expression.

Nobody can tell you when you are ready to 'walk' creatively all by yourself, without any help, assistance, or mental-emotional props.... Only YOU can give your SELF a creative permission to live creatively.

Here's a fun and meaningful tool for your consideration ~ Creative License. Fill it out with your name and print it! I suggest more than one copy. Above all else, FRAME IT! And display it proudly ~ at your office, business, studio, hallway.... Use it as a re-minder of who you ~ at your Core. Perhaps most importantly, use it as a re-minder of your creative obligation to your Self and everyone your life touches. Here's the link: Creative License.

P.S.

Today I dropped off my collage series at the Learning Expo.... I'm grateful for how creatively explosive the last four months of my life have been. In the meantime I'm making a bit of progress on another 2'x2' wood panel and looking forward to participate in the Expo's workshop on Friday morning.

Be Still And..... Create!

I feel that for next five weeks I'll be more of an observer than an active participant of a creative process.... Let me explain. My company has arrived last week to spend their summer time with us ~ two adults and a four-year old. So far, right now is the first time I'm home by myself trying to decide how to spent an hour of 'distraction-free' time..... I go for writing because for me this is the fastest way to re-connect within, find my spiritual and emotional balance, perhaps typing or long hand writing brings my Truth up to the tangible surface of my awareness. Artmaking moves energy at much deeper level for me, yet it's not as time efficient as writing my soul out. So, I listen and write.

I'm an extrovert with a strong need for time alone.... I love people, but a small group is preferred over a larger one. There's something about feeling emotionally and spiritually lost, 'out of tune' internally, when I find myself in a larger group ~ maybe C. G. Jung would elaborate his theories here by saying..... personal unconscious gives into collective psyche/unconscious....? Whatever. This meandering point I'm trying to express is the fact I've learned about myself not so long ago, namely being a hostess is my 'blind spot' ~ there's a lot of skills I'm proficient in, but not this one. I loose myself in the endless role playing and striving to fulfill everyone's needs ~ there's a set limit for how long my psyche will tolerate it..... next thing I know I begin to withdraw in order to search for my Self. Perhaps this precarious expression 'role playing' is at the heart of this uncomfortable matter..... role playing and living authentically are mutually exclusive modes of Being.... Just try to imagine for a moment; play a role of being creative. To me it is a pure oxymoron partially because my creative self-expression had begun, unbeknownst to me, the moment I decided to put a long list of pre-assigned roles into my mental re-cycling bin. Shortly afterwords I 'stumbled upon' what I call a 'creative hotline' ~ Julia Cameron's 'Artist's Way'.... that was almost twelve years ago and though, I've connected many, many 'dots' along the way my personal journey, there are still patterns to emerge....

But let me get back to my main intention for this post.... Creative Self-Expression. I've been witnessing something mysterious and beautiful. Somehow the energy of my 'Creative Zone' (that's 100% judgement FREE) has attracted my guests' attention..... I've shared all of my paper craft tools and materials at hand and all I can say is, that some kind of Creative Vortex has bursted open many channels of creative expression in everyone around! Today is a second day of over 5-hour long card-making sessions without any instructions or pointers whatsoever! The results are not only stunning design/composition~wise, but most importantly Creativity~Wise.

I truly believe that when we are in the presence of someone's creative self-expression reverence is in order.... it's so easy to stop this precious gift from flowing forth by offering either a so-called 'good' or 'bad' comment~remark.... one will injure our inner artist directly, the other will inflate the ego by handing it an 'exclusive authorship rights' to the artwork. At that moment a 'ready-made creative recipe' replaces fun, play, spontaneity, adventure, surprise, exploration, awe, letting our creativity happen and enliven us to the core of our being..... Both, 'positive' and 'negative' valuations of one's creative expression will shut down its uninterrupted flow abruptly.

As I've been practicing, what the Buddhists call 'being a compassionate observer,' by witnessing, one after another, a new greeting card being born, I realized that creativity is beyond, or rather completely outside of the borders, of one's age..... a four-year-old and a thirty-six-year-old, both tapping the Source of Beauty right in front of my eyes. Of course, any museum is a testament to time-lessness of art, but Art (with a capital A) seems soooooo beyond the reach of a 'mere mortal' ~ thus the origin of, a rather popular, misconception that timelessness of art is reserved for very, very few individuals, usually dead ones, who are proclaimed to be 'masters' or 'geniuses' by some deeply blocked, 'closet artists' masquerading as art critics or academicians..... I encourage each creative individual to write down her/his own Creative Credo that will become a rescue, a 'Creative 911 call' that you can read in times of self-doubt ~ when your journey is leading you through an unfamiliar territory and/or the critical voices are temporarily louder than the encouraging and nurturing ones....

I like to paraphrase an Old Testament quote 'Be Still And Know That I AM God' (Psalm 46:10) into: Be Still And Create..... At that moment any seeming 'creative block' becomes obsolete and yields to the flow of creativity....

Here's a sample of creative card-making by a math teacher with no, so called, 'art background'..... the only credentials that help us on our creative journey is Trust~Faith..... however your understand it. I deeply believe that the greatest lesson and mastery we will ever achieve/demonstrate is trusting and following this still, small voice within.....

How do you align yourself with your creative flow?