Thoughts On Being Creative

I've been thinking a lot about creativity. Probably because I've just crawled out of a creative black hole. Usually I don't worry too much about feeling blocked as I think it's like insomnia eventually you will fall asleep. So I figured this uncreative state would just pass as I went through my daily rituals and worked on current projects. However this time around my lack of creative thought was lasting much too long. I felt like all my receptors were coated in slime so nothing triggered an inspiring thought.

First I thought it was because I was sleep deprived. I remember when I was a new mom my creativity  suffered. Getting more sleep did help my overall well being but the numbness remained. I did continue to slog on with whatever was in the studio. After all the real thinking part of those projects was already done -now it was just doing the work. So at least being productive, although lacking omph.

The last time I was in such state was right after 9/11. I remembered feeling insignificant and helpless. I found comfort watching bumble bees buzzing around my garden and thinking that nature would prevail even if we humans were bent on killing each other. What broke me free last time was an illustration commission and a rush job from 1 of my regular clients. Maybe I wasn't significant but I was still needed in my small world. So I, and the world moved on.

Which brings me to my current state of unease. Since the election, I've felt that all I've taken for granted as life in a democratic society is under attack. Even common sense notions about protecting our planet because we live on it have been sacrificed in the name of greed and stupidity. My new routine includes contacting my congressman and senators about things I'm outraged over. It's the effects of all those NYC signs that say if you see something say something. There is no hiding from what is going on. No peace or comfort that nature will prevail.

Unfortunately, this time around there were no calls from dream clients or rush jobs to distract me.  This time around it was a string of small acts. Slogging forward on my current PB dummy revision. Even if it's going too s-l-o-w. Looking into yet another, as my hubby would say, harebrained scheme: opening an Etsy store. (I'll let you know when it's open). But the thing that really flipped my switch was submitting my picture book dummy out yet again. Which at first I thought was odd but I was still happy that something finally worked. Now, I don't think it's so odd. When you submit something you are saying you believe in your project/yourself. Whether the submission get's an acceptance or a rejection is a different story.

What do you do that helps to buoy your spirits and keeps you creative?

30 Picture Book Ideas in 30 Days!

Came across this neat exercise via twitter and Yup - I've signed up to do PiBoIdMo - which stands for Picture Book Idea Month. The concept is to come up with 30 PB ideas in 30 days during the month of November. I've decided to use portable, handy index cards. 1 idea per card. Small enough so I won't feel threatened but big enough to put more thoughts if needed. They can be filled out whenever/wherever my muse strikes.  Which I've discovered is not as easy to coax out. So what Have I discovered to date from this exercise.

• Nothing get's done no matter how small unless you make time for it.

• I need to be unplugged from my computer and all things E - clear my mind and be quiet. And only then will I get an inkling of any idea.

• It's not as easy as I thought it would be. I find that I'm flipping through my cards to make sure I'm not repeating myself.

• I seem to have an easier time with my concept ideas than pure fiction ideas. With the fiction I mostly just have a premise where with most of the concept ideas I have an actual beginning, middle and end.

• Some ideas are very promising and others are amazingly blah... but I'm not going to throw out any cards until after November 30th!

• It's a lot of fun putting down the ideas on index cards.

So far I'm on target with 12 ideas in 12 days. At anyrate I figure it'll put me in a good position to have a new book dummy for my CBIG Review 2011. Next year my goal is to have my dummy done in time without loosing any sleep over it!

Art/product

I don't know about you - but I need to create on a fairly regular basis or I get very cranky. Must have that creative fix or else. To make matters worse, lately the creative fix is getting less satisfying. I think the need to make a living with my art is making it all feel like product. Need to put the fun back in creating without loosing sight of my big goals.

Making art for art's sake is 1 way to go - but it still doesn't take the pressure away from the need to be art smart and make it all count. So I'm going to really lower the bar for myself. My goal will be to create "bad art" and lots of it! Take the stress out of creating: sub worthy, portfolio worthy, award winning, saleable, marketable, will they like it, etc. creations. It can be trash worthy. Maybe I'll post it or maybe I'll just toss it. Enjoying the process again is what's important.

Feeling totatlly in awe of the guys on http://pageadaysketches.blogspot.com/
If you're not familiar with this blog I reccomend taking a gander... and they call them mere sketches! Not too intimidating. Yes I know visiting this blog may be totally detrimental to my bad art goal.