Try one or all of these creativity-enhancing suggestions.
1. Use all your senses when making art, writing poetry, dancing and so on
a. Think about not only the visual, but also what you may hear, taste, touch and smell while you are creating.
b. Consider adding as many of these elements as you can to the piece you are making.
2. Create metaphors; work with antonyms and synonyms; make the art piece smaller or larger. Shift from dark to light; color to black and white. Fine lines to thick lines and so on.
3. Journal every day.
a. Keep notes of new ideas
b. Use photography as way to record visual ideas, provocative people, places and things.
4. Explore other media, and think like a child…..play.
a. Try clay if you’re a painter
b. Learn printmaking if you’re a photographer
c. Weave if you’re a sculptor
d. Paint, if you draw
e. If you are a poet or a writer, use visuals for words.
f. If you dance, write poetry.
.
5. Use a mind map to link ideas and problem solve a current creative dilemma
6. Brainstorm to come up with more ideas.
7. Think of your current project and place it into the future.
*Let us know what you do to be more creative and post below.
Greetings Pam,
As I not only paint but also do photography and write, I have developed a means to assist my creativity that works for all three mediums.
When working on a painting that is developed over stage, I make use of an extensive collection of images collected from artist’s and photographer’s blogs and Tumbler sites of works I like, even if it is not related to my style. They are all added to a master folder and viewed using ‘Preview’ as a slideshow or manually advanced usually at high speed so that it is like flipping pages and only the essentials are observed and if an image captures my attention it is duplicated and placed into a project folder, when it is studied closely.
Because I use photography as my sketchbook, I have an extensive collection of images I refer to for color combinations and texture ideas for my abstracts. I also rely considerable on my notebooks, writing down all steps, thoughts and any technical notes. Since i also write down the following possible steps, I seem to solve a number of design and technical issues, working out any possible problems I might encounter.
Sometimes I am fortunate enough to dream of the days painting, reviewing the steps and possible seeing how the painting will unfold based on what I wrote in the journal.
The process for writing is similar to the approach of assisting me as with painting. I use not only a stack of books searching for words that will unleash what I am thinking, along to using the vast library of Netflix for films with scenery and exceptional cinematography for the emotional inspiration.
Concerning your list of seven, I really like number four. We need to be open to other materials and ideas in order to grow as a creative person as it is very easy to get stuck using a formula just because it worked.
Enjoy your extended weekend,
Egmont
Hello Egmont,
Your use of a master folder holding all your favorite images and then viewing them in ‘Preview’ is a great organizational idea. I’ll have to try that. Referring to photographs for color combinations and texture ideas is one way to spark abstracted pieces. Although I too, use photography to initially start a painting, I find the memory of being outdoors with the air, the smells and the sounds of nature enrich the feelings associated with the image. That sensory experience adds non visual elements (inspiration) to the piece I’m working on. Looks like you may be inspired by scenery and cinematography for emotional inspiration. Have you ever listened to music while painting?
Thanks for the ideas and feed back. Good information here! Pam
Yes, music is also an important element. In particular I like film scores, of course with no singing. This is followed by classical and even good old rock-and-roll.
Since we are no longer tied to CD’s or cassettes, I have a number of playlists designed for specific moods and types of paintings or art I might be working on to mirror the emotions or mental thoughts needed to keep things flowing.
I think that thinking and experiencing opposites is a great creative skill to expand and embrace all of life as you described in number four. Like reading a great book, it takes one into another dimension and asks us to discover through new eyes. It makes me think of books like ‘The Help’, ‘DaVinci Code,’Lovely Bones’, etc. What have you done recently to experience a ‘different’ view?
Take a look at this post, “Balance.” I started to see ways in which to approach creativity from a place of balance rather then imbalance. This is one way I started looking at things from another perspective….the opposite direction. It really does make a difference! Thanks for the message.
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