Just One Tool - Filling the Creative Well - Blog Series

 

Limiting your tools or supplies can be one of the most liberating creative decisions. Today’s challenge is to use just one tool, medium, or material and explore everything it can do. I find it is a great way to really understand all the uses of that tool or supply, and it gives you more flexibility and variation in your work.

Check out the Video - if you find limiting yourself to just one to begin with difficult, just reduce the amount you would normally use.  In this video I use some paints and stencils to work on the page.

What you can try

• Pick one: a watercolor palette, a black marker, a needle and thread, a gel pen, a single color of paint. What happens when you stretch its use across the whole page or several? 

• With fewer choices, you are able to explore further. Try making different types of marks. Experiment with layering. Use the tool in unexpected ways maybe your pen mimics another supply, or your watercolor develops unusual texture when layered thickly. 

• This kind of exploration sharpens your understanding of your materials and deepens your relationship to them. You become more resourceful and imaginative. 

• You might also notice that limiting your choices frees your brain. Instead of worrying about all the variations of color in your acrylic set which can sometimes be 50+, you get to focus on how many different shades and variations you can get from one color.

Bonus idea: use the same tool each day for a week. Observe how your comfort grows. This practice helps you slow down and appreciate simplicity.

Takeaway Nuggets: 

1. Limiting tools can unlock deeper creativity.
2. Mastery comes from exploration

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Check out some of the free and paid resources below to enhance your creative journey 

Course Platform - there are a variety of FREE courses and resources for you to use in your creative practice.

FREE Tier - Patreon - I have a Free Tier on Patreon that has a selection of early release posts and monthly Digital Download Papers for you to use in your creative projects - Learn More Here

YouTube - Weekly Videos to encourage your creative practice, Slow stitching, art journaling and Artists chats - Learn More Here

Check out Filling the Creative Well which helps you establish your creative practice. In the course Filling the Creative Well, your journal is also a place to answer questions, encourage and motivate you, some days you need a reminder and so filling it with encouraging words so that you can come back to it, especially in those days where you are in a valley is really important. .