Today, I am featuring one of the people that have made it possible for me to live a courageous life. Her existence completely changed the course of my life. She has inspired me to push me past my preconceived limits – physical, psychological and creative – and has become a force of creativity in her own right.
She is my eldest child.
To look through the eyes of our children out into the world is a remarkable way to rekindle creativity. To listen to their perspective on things that I take for granted is like shining a light into a forgotten world. When I am stuck creatively, I turn to my children for their honest and fresh input.
Below you can find our conversation on creativity:
Me: Can you give me a brief bio?
Her: People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
(Cue me crying laughing.)
Me: How do you express creativity in different aspects of your life?
Her: I am starting to pay attention to the little things. For example, I like changing the way I dress to fit what I think my aesthetic may be. I am on a mission to search for my personal aesthetic. I run a tumblr blog and I post things that I can relate to, like what I think are beautiful and what makes me laugh.
Untitled 2015, black ink and watercolour
Me: What do you do when you are in a creative rut?
Her: It comes when I least expect it. But if I see a picture or someone doing something creative, I get artistically stimulated and I’ll want to do the same thing.
Me: Where do you get your creative inspiration?
Her: I am inspired by being at the art gallery all the time. I also get inspired during our youth council meetings at the gallery where we have discussions and arguments about global events, politics and feminism. Social media sites like tumblr and pinterest are good sources for finding different art techniques and media to try.
Untitled 2015, watercolour
Me: What is your earliest creative memory?
Her: Art journaling with you when I was four or five. I remember buying modge podge at “Loomis” and cutting stuff out of chickadee and home magazines.
(Cue heart melting.)
Me: Describe your creative process? Any successes or failures from your own perspective? Why did you see them as such?
Her: I’m still learning and trying new things. I usually experiment with new things and occasionally, it doesn’t look how I want it to look or when I look at it, it doesn’t make me feel what I wanted to feel. But I don’t consider that a failure. I see failure as something that doesn’t work out after many times of practicing and doing the same thing over and over again and you still don’t achieve the result you want.
Untitled 2015, blank ink and watercolour
Me: General thoughts on creativity?
Her: Creativity is how you see and perceive the world and turn it into something from your own imagination.
Untitled 2015, blank ink and watercolour
A heartfelt thanks to my daughter for her contribution today, for making me laugh, and for sharing her art!
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Today’s prompt is a family prompt created by my daughter.
This is something you can do with your whole family. Choose an abstract word like “love” or “courage” and do an art piece in your own medium or technique related to the word. Each person can interpret the word in any way they want. Put them all up on a blank wall.
As a warm-up, before attempting the prompt, you can do a drawing exercise with your family. We do this often in our house. One person is the “leader.” Everyone picks a corner of the room and grabs three coloured crayons, pencil crayons, markers, or pastels and a sketchbook or a piece of paper. You shouldn’t be able to see what another person is drawing. The leader calls out simple drawing instructions. Some sample call-outs:
– Draw three circles on the page. Pick one colour and they can be any size and anywhere on the page.
– Draw a heart.
– Use the three colours and draw 10 lines.
– Draw something that reminds you of spring. Use all colours.
These directions should leave room for imagination but enough specific instruction to make it fast. Once the leader calls out about 10 directions, it’s time for the reveal – this is my family’s favourite part. We show each other how we interpreted the call-outs and every picture is always so unique and beautiful. It is a fun family activity and can be done quickly.
Enjoy the process and each other. Play fun music, Take it outside. Be together today.
(And if you have been doing these prompts with the kids, you’re ahead of the game today…)
Let me end with this new quote that will stick with me for awhile:
“Creativity is how you see and perceive the world and turn it into something from your own imagination.” – my daughter, a 17 year old who is wise beyond her years
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You can leave a comment below or join my top secret life explorers group on Facebook if you want to share any discoveries or explorations. Friend me and I will send you an invite! You can share your thoughts or your creative expressions there. You can also post on Instagram using #may_BE2015
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