I made this relief painting to capture my memories of past silent nights. This required a journey back to my childhood. It required me to remember where it all happened and to imagine how it looked, felt, and influenced me. The tree, the star, and the songs are worked into this piece because they were the strongest memories of the beauty of my past Christmases. I am so glad I took this journey to the past. I have returned with peace, joy, and a sense of gratitude. How lucky I was to experience such joy. How lucky I am to recreate that joy through my “Epiphany Art” at Christmas. It lets me bring that joy into the present moment.
Tag: creative process
Journey Outside the Box
I made a sculpture titled “Outside the Box,” and it started with a small, wooden box. The pieces of curled paper that are spilling out of the box have words on them: misfit, outlier, dissenter, and deviant. They are words that express thoughts I had when I first considered “the outside.” I could have kept the box closed, folded all the simmering thoughts away, and locked the box tight. Instead, I let it open, and I let myself take a turn on my journey. I tried life outside of it.
The Time Has Come
I will not make traditional art on this blank canvas. The time has come for me to own my creative process. I will make something abstract and surreal. This journey on my canvas will likely lead to little approval, but at least I am satisfied.
The Power of Creative Process: Artistic Expression and Spiritual Connection
Creative process is my greatest tool for processing everything that life throws my way. I share it with others because it might throw them a lifeline, too. This blog is a place to consider the power of artistic expression. If you are an art maker, I urge you to dive deeper into your process. If you are hesitant and holding back from creating, let this be an encouragement to begin making art or returning to a past form of art making. One friend of mine finds peace in coloring books. It’s her way of finding meaning, and spiritual connection. It’s not complicated. It need not be complicated for you, either. What can be your unique creative process? How can it help you find joy, understanding, and respite? This blog is encouragement to explore the answers to these questions.
A Place to Stop and Create on Your Journey
This blog is an invitation to revamp your art making space. It’s an encouragement to create a welcoming place to stop and create on your journey. It’s a challenge to consider your own solutions. What will work best for you? This is a challenge to rework your space. Make it someplace where you can make more art more often on your journey!
Busy, and I Like It!
I hear music, look at a photograph, study a painting, or enjoy a performance, and I am moved and changed. The experience is spiritual and intense. Suddenly, everything is transformed. I see that there is the clean water that we drink, and it restores. I also see creative expression that quenches the thirst of our souls. Both refresh us. This blog explores creativity’s power to revitalize and reinvigorate us. I also encourages the “creatives” who release this power to the world.
Art Brings Me Hope on My Journey
How will you get through? What do you have on your journey that you can rely on? Consider the power of creative process to ground you and give you a way through these challenging times. How can art making help you make sense of things as you take the next step into tomorrow? How can creative process lead you on your journey and bring you hope despite uncertain times? I challenge you to find an answer to these questions and then share what you discover with others. Creative process is a gift that can be shared and encouraged. Find yourself an expressive voice and then help others find theirs. Let your art speak. This blog will help you get started on finding your own form of creative expression and helping others discover theirs.
Creative Process, Joy, and Peace
How do we find happiness? The proper frame of mind is often touted as the key. This can leave people feeling like a moral failure. The bills cannot get paid, the heat is turned off, or a loved one has just passed on. The idea of happiness can seem ludicrous to those in hard places on their journey. How do you find joy despite life’s challenges and struggles? Here are some thoughts for those of us who are trying to find peace amidst the storms.
Swirls or No Swirls?
I do fear that others will think I am self-aggrandizing, but I’m coming to see that this is not right thinking. Imagine if all artists hid their work so others wouldn’t think they were self-promoting. What a waste. The creative journey is meant to be seen. Everyone is part of the process. Art is much about the exchange between the creator and the responder. I’m ready to more bravely share my journey on canvas. Read this blog and then tell me: Swirls or No Swirls?
Take a Journey Back to Move Forward
My creative process eases the angst I would otherwise feel about the passing of time. It is a true friend on my journey. How can you take a journey back in your own unique way? How can creative process help you as you make sense of the past and move forward? Dive into trying something new or explore a present creative process more deeply. Here’s some encouragement to get you started!
Journey Down a New Road
Your journey can take an interesting turn. You can make something. It doesn’t have to look real and it doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else. Find your own way of sharing your story. I use birds, trees, swirls, apples, and objects to communicate through my work. What can you use to communicate your journey on canvas? Maybe this blog won’t compel you to share your journey here, but I hope it compels you to explore your options for sharing your own journey. May you find the freedom that I find when I create.
Grace Journey
I have walked in an emptiness, confusion, and disorientation for a long, long time: struggling to be at peace with all of this but returning to the same tumultuous place. I have finally crossed over from struggle to new peace. I can feel the line I have crossed over. I can feel the difference. I can feel the shift inside of me. I am so much less afraid of what’s different and so much less afraid of what’s different about me. I look back on this liminal space—this in-between space where I have tossed, turned and hovered for so long. With this retrospect, I now see its value. All those years of incubating have given me fresh eyes. They see something new and truer about you and me, and that is all together very different.