Creativity - 5 Minutes Every Day

Is Being Creative Every Day achievable?

When you look at the time that you have to be creative, what is it that you constantly find yourself saying.  My words would be I don't have enough time, or I want to create for a whole day, but I will never get a whole day so what is the point!.  When I started Caring for my mother who is living with Dementia I didn't think there was any chance of me finding the time to be creative, but I was wrong.  I realized that I needed to see my creativity from a different perspective. 

 It is important to keep creating every day, especially if you have limited time.  When you say 'oh I will do something tomorrow', it never comes  so you need to find ways to  create some quick activities that are your 'go to' ones, that enable you to spend some valuable creative time on yourself.

Those 5/10 minute slots that come up need to be looked at as valuable resources that can add to your health and well-being, and over time make up those hour slots that you want so badly - just broken up.  Think - if you took two 10 minute slots a day to be creative over 7 days that is 2.5 hours of creating!!  Think about the other things that you do with that time say when you are flicking the channels to find something to watch, why not have a art journal beside you to do some sketching, papers to create a collage - or sort through your collage papers - that's being creative, and you can do longer activities when you have more time.

What I have found is useful is to have a selection of activities that I can do, don't think about activities that you have to finish but ones that you can dip into when you get the chance.

Here are some of my 'go to' activities that I can do when time is limited.

You can also check out some of the videos below that may help spark your creativity and give you some ideas for what you can do with your limited time.

Creating with your Non-Dominant Hand

I always have an art journal handy, and I do a range of activities depending on the time - A great exercise is also to create with your non-dominant hand, doing everything with your non dominant hand gets you to just focus on play and will take your mind off things if only for a moment.  

If you need to break it down you might decide to create the background with the time just laying down colours, another activity might be creating a figure, finding words or encouraging phrases to add to the journal, and just spend 10 minutes at a time.

Creating a Mini Art Journal

Having a mini art journal means that you don't have to worry about filling a large page, but you can do a series of mini pages in 10 minutes, these really do lend themselves to working with limited time.

Doodling

Who doesn't like doodling, OK I guess there are a few, but this is also another great way to spend some time being creative.  In this Video I broke this activity down, I had spent the initial time creating the bird and using the bird to add some journalling.  I then added some paint and colours in my session of the video, and I still left room to be able to come back and do some more work.

I hope that you will have found some ideas to get you going on your creative journey, remember treat those minutes as precious and see how you can take a creative activity to fill them for nurturing yourself.

Check out some of the classes on CreativeLive they have a series of Free online and on air classes that will spark your creativity and give you even more tips to get going!  Let me know how you get on with your time

Stay blessed and be a blessing.

Creating in Faith - Pots of Clay

Pots made of clay don’t always look that spectacular until they have been through the glazing and firing process.  When they are first molded and shaped they are dull in colour, still quite fragile.  Each pot is made for a different purpose, some that are filled with water, others filled with wine, some go to be filled with compost to hold plants and there are still a variety of other uses, each with its own purpose and plan for its’ existence.

We too are like these pots of clay that God has formed, molded, pressed in at the sides and fashioned to be fit for a particular purpose, having then His love, grace and wisdom poured into us. We are not to be afraid of what God has called us to do as his children because the purpose he has instilled within us is to bring life, be a blessing, minister to others and show others his love and grace through our thoughts, words and actions.

Once the pots have been fired at exceedingly high temperatures and come out of the kiln they are ready to go and do what they have been called to do, and so must we whatever processes, experiences that we are going through it is to equip us, strengthen us, show us our purpose and beauty and, seeing the richness that lay within us all we have to – as the clay is molded let our lives be molded to his will.

What aspects of your life do you take for granted?  How can you shine a spotlight on those areas of your life that have been overlooked, - journal, write, create some art as your response.

Here are some of the links I mentioned.  My Cousins daughter Melissa's company called Grey Remedy check out her link HERE  You can also check her out on her Instagram Page

Part of Melissa's Range of potter

I love the Raku style of pottery and I have put together a Pinterest board for you to check out, there are some beautiful designs for you to appreciate.  I covered a workshop that artist Juliana Inniss did building coil pots below.  

She is part of a collective of Ceramic artists who exhibited together recently at the Form and Function exhibition below at the Argentina Embassy in Barbados, who have also by the way promised to host a monthly exhibition of local artists.

You can check out some of the sculptures I create HERE, I would love to see how I could incorporate the Raku effect, so a lot of experimenting is needed as my pieces are not fired in a kiln.  

Island Keeper - Mixed Media Art Sculpture, Manifesto Exhibition at Parliament

Disconnect - Mixed Media Art Sculpture, Manifesto Exhibition at Parliament

Amazon have a selection of books on Raku if you are interested in trying yourself  I have compiled list on my Amazon Storefront and check out some of the other books and resources available

Stay blessed and be a blessing!

100 Days of Pastels - Day 49 - 64

Welcome to blog today, I have officially passed the 50 pastels and as it stands today I am on painting number 65, so you are in for a treat today if you haven't managed to keep up on the daily posts.

As I look back I can definitely see my growth, and affection for working with pastels, it has become part of my routine now and it will be interesting to see how I feel at the 100 day mark.  Here is an overview of the first 50 pastels

Here are images 49 64

Day 49 - 56

Video 49

Day 57 - 64

Here is video 57

Check out some of the videos produced so far on the Video Playlist of the process on my YouTube channel which I hope will inspire and encourage you.  Remember to subscribe to the channel!

You can also check out my Pastel Ideas list on Amazon, with a range of pastels for you to choose from.

Creative Live are running some Free Live and On-air courses. They have over 1,500 curated classes in Photography & Video, Money & Life, Craft & Maker, Art & Design, and Music & Audio, there is something for everyone. You can watch on-air broadcasts for free or buy a class and own the content for life.  You can check out the courses HERE

Stay blessed and be a blessing!

50 Pastel Drawings in 50 Days!

Glad you could join me today, I have been busying getting on with the pastel paintings as part of the 100 Day Project as well as getting myself a bit more organised with all the other projects that I want to bring to fruition.

Here is a video of the first half of the series and me talking about the journey so far.

The Video

It has definitely amazed me how much time has passed, 50 days from the time I committed to doing a pastel painting each day and I have seen the growth in my confidence in using pastels, they are like old friends.  Honestly, they have been sitting in my supplies/studio space for the past 10 years.

But if you have been with me from the start of the Project you will have seen the images change.  I had decided to do faces to begin with as I felt that I had to have something that I was comfortable with and then branch out to a few land/seacapes.

The pastels took me out of my comfort zone and got me just playing with the supplies and not trying to create a specific image.

I already have my favorites and will go on to do other things with them.  A lot of people have been asking for prints, so I will be making them available.

I was also glad that I started to video the process, I really enjoyed watching them myself, and I have definitely come a long way in my application of pastels and what I go for in a finished piece.

If you want to look at some of the process videos that I have done so far on my playlist you can see them HERE

You will find resources for Pastels HERE

On to the next 50, I will be doing some more videos of the process and sharing with you the weekly images here on the blog.  Blessings for now.