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Club Creative Studio strives to Be Creative Everyday. Although there are times when distractions in the day prevent total focus, most days are productive work times that stretch into several hours of dedicated creative time. What do you do when your creative brain needs a break? Do the things that make you the version of YOU you want to be.
Sometimes it is most helpful for me to try to break up the day into mini-work sessions, to prevent burn-out. If there is a need for a “supply run”, I use that as a much-needed time to just chill from a project. Not to mention allowing for time to work in spurts, divides up your day so that you can do other things of importance. When I break up my creative work day, I am able to schedule in time to get away for a few miles of running. How about that for time management?
For the most part, I try to get a full day of creative work into each of my days, so that the weekends can be a choice work day or a day of inspiration and no hands-on work. My job doesn’t always mean that I am at the design table. Some days are spent in a library, at a craft store, on the computer, networking with like-minded people, in a museum, or just in an inspirational place to blog. No matter the place, I feel that I can be as productively creative as I wish with a little dedication and planning. A task for most people is not to be creative in the first place but, to have the desire to remain creative and not fear running out of the creative juice. Taking a break now and then gives back the full glass of creative juice.
Why are people creative in the first place? I think that although creativity can be obtained, it is a natural want and need for the art-minded folk. It is an inborn desire to outwardly express what is inside. There is a consistent drive to want to explore and experiment with new materials and techniques. A need to want to figure out what can be produced with ideas and prompts. It is a challenge to create something interesting and different and the thrill of completing something visually satisfying is worth the time invested in creation.
Taking breaks provide a chance to rest the mind from over-creativity (if there is such a thing). Recharging in any field can be an opportunity to step back and learn in a different way. Without getting too lazy, step away but, not too long. Take a break for a few minutes, hours, days or even a week. You may need a break to become even more productive. It may prove to be the time you may need to appreciate your past efforts and miss the inner drive that you have to get cranking once again with your creative thoughts. Only you know what type of break you need to be the best version of YOU.
Lately for me, there is a resurgence of a new regiment that will give me added energy and drive to make my creative hours even more clear and focused. I will write about that in another post. It is the added regiment of running. What do you do when you need a break from creative thinking or creative production? How does taking a break revive your creativity?
Don’t let your creativity escape you. Use it and create a pace for it so that is ever-lasting.
Inspiration comes in many forms. Today’s TNT (This-N-That) post, I hope that these choice quotes on creativity inspire you to be creative in your own way.
Recently, I incorporated a small collection of quotes that inspired me to be creative. They were applied to the canvas art project and will serve as a focal point within my creative work space. Maybe some of them will strike a cord with you and lend to a creative spark for the times you need to be inspired by a creative quote.
Make Art – Love What You Create – Make Work Into Play – Always Be Creating – Stop Trying To Fit In When You Were Born To Stand Out – Make It Work –
Got Art? – Be Yourself, Everyone Else Is Taken – Creative Minds Are Rarely Tidy – The Secret Of Life Is In Art – Be Creative – A Hunch Is Creativity Trying To
Tell You Something – Creativity Is the Power To Connect What Is Seemingly Unconnected – Create – Love It! – Find Something You Are Passionate About And
Keep Interested In It – Beauty In Everything – Create With Heart – Take Creative Brakes – You Are The Creator of Your Own Story – Creativity Is Intelligence
Having Fun – Keep Calm…Sparkle On! – Imagine – Branch Out! – Follow Your Dreams – Enlarge Vision – The Start of Something Different – Try New Things –
Proposed Creative Workflow: Does It Have Heart?
Yes ————> Make It
No ———–> Don’t Make It
Club Creative Studio shares information about CREATIVITY.
Today, is Two-Cent Tuesday and that means I blog about low-cost creativity. I’d like to share a suggestion that is also a “no-brainer” activity for the one that is somewhat crafty or artistic already. If you look upon your artistic time as a place to experience personal serenity or creative growth as a creative outlet for personal growth, take some of that time to consider sharing your passion for the arts.
There are opportunities for creative growth in sharing the passions for arts you have with others around you or in the community. There are opportunities for sharing your trials and errors by blogging about your experiences, teaching your craft, being an active participant in a formed group supporting the arts or allowing someone to work alongside of you while you physically create art. Help the visual learner experience creative growth from your artistic expressions.
Share the love, and reasons why you create. Pass the ideas of creativity along. Show someone else how your passion makes you feel. Pass on the creativity bug, and you may find that you grow in appreciation and idea-flow as well. Watching the wheels turn from other creative people is contagious and inspiring.
If you are busy being creative in your space anyway, just invite someone to explore your supplies alongside of you. Having creative company gives you someone to get instant feed-back from if you are sharing questions and experiences. Creating along side someone, gives you on-the-spot ideas that turn into motivation and courage to try something new in technique.
You can be the model and mentor and not even realize it by merely allowing someone to work along side you. As an example of being a creative model, take into account the times that you sit near a child simply “playing” with clay. Perhaps the very young do not know how to make a “clay snake”. By offering a “copy-cat” situation, seeing becomes doing and thus, you have shared creativity.
By sharing time when you offer unstructured guidance, you give the gift of confidence to someone exploring their own creativity. How will you nurture creativity in others today?
As school days end with summer vacation near, the art classroom does not have to disappear until next year. Nurture creativity around you and encourage, inspire, prompt and challenge creativity to be explored in everyday life. Creativity is indeed contagious. Pass it on, and see how it spreads! Happy creating to you and yours!
For more creative prompts, please check out past blog posts. And follow the creativity on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ClubCreativeStudio Push the like button and you’ll see additional ideas on how creativity and the creative process is explored. I share creative creations at http://www.clubcreativestudio.com You will want to check that out, as the creative ideas are plenty! Have a great time as you are inspired or inspire others to Be Creative Everyday!
Club Creative Studio has pressing questions for you today: What is your recipe for making your concoction of creative juice? Do you have a secret combination of ingredients that jump-start your creative process? Is it just the right amount of mood, skill, talent and forces that come together for successful thinking? What is your secret weapon for creating the perfect storm of productivity? What makes a whirl-wind of constructive ideas flow for you?
Maybe one thing or a combination of several aspects make you more creative one day compared to the next. For me, creative times come naturally. It’s what I am interested in and have a passion about so it is second nature to want to be involved in the creative process in some form during my day. It is also a conscious personal and business mantra: Be Creative Every Day.
With that being said, I would like to share the characteristics that I have noticed that answer the questions of creativity for me. What can you add that also answers the general query: What makes your creativity flow?
C: Catching random thoughts and using them in an artful constructive way
R: Reaching beyond what is normal and reaching deeper than the surface to try something new
E: Experimenting with different combinations of materials
A: Acquiring new skills and allowing them to become second nature
T: Taking my time to create and express what I want and need to
I: Initial reactions gathered can be used for inspiration to jump-start creative thoughts
V: Variety is the spice of life, so taking breaks help me stretch my focus longer
I: Involve others and gain suggestions as insights for new prospectives
T: Tossing aside what I think will not work too quickly might save me time, but does not provide creative growth
Y: Yes, I did it! Take pride in originality and success of another creative mission accomplished!
Thank you for adding your comments, I’d love to hear about what is making your creative time bomb tick!
Sometimes it is a struggle to think creatively, find the time to be creative or have materials on hand to produce an item from your creativity. I get that. And it might sound familiar to you too. This is why today’s post from Club Creative Studio has a focus on You. The letter “Y” stands for you today, you and your creative process. When I say I am “Creative Everyday”, I really am. That is my daily process. It may not be in the same manner or with the same materials but, I do recognize that it takes effort sometimes to be productive from creative juices, and I strive to make sure that everyday I do something that I consider to be creative in my workspace: Club Creative Studio.
For those times that you think it is not possible to be creative or hard to get motivated, take to heart some of the considerations from the ideas of Gary Gonzales, in the Leadership Journal, as he writes about Real Ministry in a Complex World. Now I know his subject matter is not an art focus. But, when talking about creativity we can gain some insight to his words and thoughts about the creative process as a whole. He writes about your “creativity quotient” and how to raise the bar in creativity. He believes that a few good habits can improve the quality of your ideas.
“Someone once asked William Barclay how he had become such a prolific writer. The key, he said, is learning to apply the seat of your pants to the seat of your chair.
Creativity is far less subjective and ethereal than some make it sound. As much a function of our habits as our “genius” or inspiration, creativity takes discipline. Here are four ways to enhance your creativity.
Know your moods
Perhaps you’ve heard the old saying about diet: “Mornings are gold, lunch is bronze, and dinner is lead.” Well, the same applies to personal energy levels. A few months ago, a lay leader handed me a newspaper article outlining the body’s daily rhythms. It underscored how, for most people, mornings provide peak energy and concentration. Quick recall and analytical reasoning are strongest in the a.m.
Conversely, the infamous “afternoon grog,” the inability to focus, hits from 1 to 3 p.m., with a short reprieve from 3 to 4 p.m., especially in recall.
By evening most people are downshifting, except for the late-night geniuses who hit their creative stride from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Knowing this, I safeguard morning hours for the challenges of praying, studying, writing, and creative thinking. I no longer feel guilty when my engines are revving low. I pace myself, husbanding my energy for creative times.
Learned how to improve energy and lessen the negative rhythms
Soon after moving to the Twin Cities from Southern California, I thought about joining a fitness club. But I wondered, With my mornings scheduled full with message preparation and my evenings already overflowing with meetings and programs, how can I realistically expect to add an exercise regimen?
But I had heard others describe how a workout increased their energy level, so I decided to experiment. I discovered that a sixty-minute workout during my lunch hour or after 3 p.m. worked wonders. Regular exercise dramatically increased my endurance, making my low periods less low-and I feel better about myself. As an added bonus, I find thinking and praying easier while on the Nordic Track or between weight-lifting sets.
While getting into shape, I learned another valuable lesson: If I work out on Friday, resting or going easy on Saturday, by Sunday morning I’m primed to preach. A one-day layoff between workouts enables my body to bounce back with renewed vigor. I can’t recall a time in my previous fifteen years of ministry when I’ve been so clear-headed-able to think creatively and spontaneously in the pulpit.
Write it down
Someone has said, “Opportunity is like a horse that gallops up and then pauses for a moment. If you don’t get on, before long you hear the clatter of hoofbeats dying away in the distance.”
Great ideas are just such opportunities.
Whenever you hear, see, or think a worthwhile thought, write it down before another moment passes. Experience has taught me to keep a pen and paper handy on my night stand. That’s also true of the ideas we learn from others. For several years I’ve kept a journal handy at my office. Whenever I come across a good quote, I immediately jot it down and document the source. Often, when I’m stymied while preparing sermons, I thumb through this journal to stimulate ideas.
Others’ ideas provoke my ideas. While paging through my journal recently, I ran across the statement, “Leaders are to be imitated, not gold-plated.” It triggered a thought: I’ve wanted to do a series on leadership for some time. Why not develop a series of seven messages on leadership principles using one-liners as memory hooks?
I’m now reading and gathering ideas, illustrations, and resources on that theme.
Let it simmer
Most creative ideas mature over time. So, whether I’m planning a sermon series, a special holiday service, or a seminar, I arrange my time to give it as much advance thought as possible. My mind works best when I’m not clawing for ideas at the last-minute.
I don’t get over structured too early. A good idea has a ripple effect, soon suggesting other ideas or applications. At first, all I want to do is grasp the big picture-even if only a piece of it.
Useful ideas sometimes come to me after months of simmering.
Several years ago, I heard the story of Larry Walters, a 33-year-old man who decided he wanted to see his neighborhood from a new perspective. He went down to the local army surplus store one morning and bought forty-five used weather balloons. That afternoon he strapped himself into a lawn chair, to which several of his friends tied the now helium-filled balloons. He took along a six-pack of beer, a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, and a bb gun, figuring he could shoot the balloons one at a time when he was ready to land.
Walters, who assumed the balloons would lift him about 100 feet in the air, was caught off guard when the chair soared more than 11,000 feet into the sky-smack into the middle of the air traffic pattern at Los Angeles International Airport. Too frightened to shoot any of the balloons, he stayed airborne for more than two hours, forcing the airport to shut down its runways for much of the afternoon, causing long delays in flights from across the country.
Soon after he was safely grounded and cited by the police, reporters asked him three questions:
“Were you scared?”
“Yes.”
“Would you do it again?”
“No.”
“Why did you do it?”
“Because,” he said, “you can’t just sit there.”
His answer caught my interest. I pondered that story and its implications for several months. Then, as I was preparing a sermon, “The Crisis Called Christmas,” my thoughts came together. I used the Walters story in the introduction to set the stage for the idea that each of the birth narratives called for a response-or a reaction-from its participants. When it comes to God’s intervention in our lives, we can’t just sit there.
Talk about it
Creativity is often synergistic, so I cultivate people in formal and informal settings who cultivate my ideas I never know when a brainstorm will strike-and quickly vanish!
Happily, I can relate to this writing and it gives me insight and information to use to step up and recognize my creative strengths and areas of weakness that can be improved upon. Did you find anything in his writings that might help you relate to being creative in your own life? I hope so. Thank you for stopping by the blog today. I hope your creativity grows.