From beginnings to creating daily
5 creative minutes
doing a little storytelling today.
*providing fair warning now…. be in your comfortable chair and have your coffee or wine ready. if you follow me, i usually keep things on the shorter side- trying to be mindful of your time (and sometimes all i need is a few quirky words with a pic to be honest) ….. but, i am sharing a little bit on my humble beginning and creating daily….
I believe that i have always been creative. i love the slightly off, a little weird and eclectic. have always loved the mix and match (and the stranger the better). my mom can tell you some stories about my clothing outfits…… (but we don’t have time for that today…)
And somewhere along the lines, i lost the confidence (probably somewhere between junior high and high school- yes i am showing my age just a bit there) to believe that I could be an artist.
skip forward to scrapbooking- i am talking mid-late 90’s….. i was married. had kiddos and that was the perfect storm to get me creating again.
i loved the paper and storytelling; but, that didn’t quite fit me if you know what i mean. i could definitely “put that on and wander around”….. and I did enjoy using the pictures and scrapbooking with friends; but somehow scrapbooking wasn’t exactly the right fit for me either.
when we moved to MN and I was closer to my mom and gramma again and we could take art classes. this is when i could feel the shift.
we took classes every summer in June in Watertown, SD.
at the time, Watertown (huge thanks to Jennifer Stone here for the work and organization! truly) brought in big names artist to teach. I took class upon class. listening. the foundations of art are the same….. but sometimes I would need to hear the concept several times AND by different people before the concept would really sink in or at the very least settle onto the top.
i remember the teachers talking about how they created every day.
which at the time, i thought this creating daily thing was a crazy idea. i can’t possibly do that. how do i even get to that point? i was much younger; and our kids were younger. so daily didn’t seem to quite fit in, especially working full time on top of all of it.
but time keeps going and life shifts; and to be honest- that is one of the things i have loved about finding a few minutes of time to create daily now.
i have realized that to create daily, didn’t have to mean all day. it didn’t even have to mean an hour. it could literally be a few minutes.
small steps forward, is still moving forward. (moving forward)
5 minutes could turn into 15 minute or longer when the flow is good and for the moment, the family is occupied. And this creative time- could really be whatever i needed it to look like. maybe it was paging through a new art magazine. or a grabbing a book. or slow stitching for a few minutes. or simply prepping my desk area for tomorrow- moving my stuff around and having out what i want to try.
i set myself up for success by having my art supplies out and ready. i understand that not everyone has this luxury. but it could also look like a small bag or baggie of supplies that could hold everything (or at least the favorites) and be pulled out for a few minutes tucked away in a purse or another larger bag; so that as i am waiting for kids to come out, or at an appointment, i have something to bide the time and be creative for a few minutes. squeezing this creative time in as life may allow. we are all at different stages. different places. but if you are a creative, you need these few minutes, just like i do.
and listening. internally as well as externally. you know we have that little whisper… lean in and let it speak.
watching. what catches your eye? and makes your heart happy? why? always ask why that draws your spirit in…..
know that we all start somewhere.
i certainly did.
and so i do keep that stack of crappy paintings. they can and will be painted over. i like the texture anyway.
and art journals are even easier…. that is simply paper. cut, glue, paint, rip, sprinkle until your heart is content- or at least that is what i did anyway. that was the safe space to play and try thing. does this product work with that one? what happens when i try this? or color combos (insert eye roll here, even after i had a great color wheel) and mixing paint uffda…..
mud. ok. next page in the journal….
i had to practice to get better- if only to see what i liked.
try it. is all i am saying.
make a mess. apply the paint with a credit card. scribble until the lead is gone and rips the paper. spill the ink.
turn the page and start again. date stuff, so you can look back. and see how far you have come.
this is what my creative life looks like.
mixing. matching. gluing. sewing. dribbling. spraying.
ripping and taping back together.
if you have made it to the bottom of this…. huge hug to you. i so appreciate you being here. and following this creative journey.
honestly. this creative journey started a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (star wars fan….) - but really, many years in the making. i just want to be transparent if you are just finding me now.
being creative does take time.
allow the journey to unfold as it needs to. play. results can be small, like i talked about earlier…. but small steps are still moving forward. allow grace. give time- however that may look.
if you have extra time, here is a glimpse back 5 years ago.
xo. kristin