Creative Life
Unfinished digital image collage using COMME des GARÇONS images as the background. These will almost disappear in the finished piece. If you are more digitally inclined you can still take time out to be creative and experiment.
It is amazing how many people do not include creativity in their life on a regular basis. During a recent conversation with friends I was the only one in the group with a job that involved creativity and the only one in the group who did creative things in my spare time!
I was shocked; perhaps without justification. I changed my lifestyle and career at the age of 27. Prior to that I too did nothing creative on any basis, never mind a regular one. Other than thinking, I did a lot of creative thinking but that was for strategies, processes, risk-analysis, deal negotiations etc…Not quiet the same thing!
They are naturally all creative and no doubt use creative thinking as they navigate their careers and lives but they do not physically have any creative outlet. Consider in our society, the vast majority, if not all, children in our culture do art and crafts from a very early age. Daubing paint on paper is one of the first things we do, most homes have some nondescript artwork pinned to the fridge or some such place; the creative offering of their young offspring or family member. Glue and various materials is another early introduction to creating an image on paper or even a paper plate. How many faces and sunflowers are made every year on a paper plate?
What was most concerning is that they each expressed a desire to do something creative, they simply do not factor it in!
Creativity; creating something from objects and materials is a remarkably freeing and inspirational thing to do with your mind and body. Often, it is while I am doing something creative that I get inspired to follow a thought or result in another direction, it can lead to all sorts of amazing experiences and outcomes.
Personally I actively seek creative opportunities, it is a very natural part of my daily life and I simply cannot imagine what I would be without it. I think if you do not currently do anything whatsoever that is creative (other than thinking) you may really love the process of just messing about with colour, objects, materials and ideas for a while on a regular basis. Set aside a time to do it, don’t just hope it will happen (when has that ever worked as a strategy?) and you may be pleasantly surprised by just how wonderful it is to relax your mind and body and let the creativity take you where it will.
It is not a matter of being the next Leonardo or Rubens, just using the resevwoir of creative instinct within for nothing other than enjoyment. It is a natural part of being human to generate new and unique things by combining instinct, imagination and materials. Decoration is a large part of our lives, whether is it a pattern scraped into wet clay or a mud hut or something that catches your eye in a store, a cushion cover or table you are likely to find you have an instinct for design and creativity; perhaps you have just not used it for so long you have forgotten it. But, it is just waiting, resting until you shed some light on that corner of your life again and it will come flooding back to you. Breathe, create and enjoy a step away from your usual practice to explore your creative!
