Reflections on Perspective
This has turned out to be a fun month of creativity. I keyed into something that rarely occurs to me: to be playful. Again. Why does the act of being playful seem to mean that permission needs to be granted? I suppose its not bad that playfulness can be intentional, but I find it really interesting how I keep finding myself in this odd box of adulthood that seems to look at playfulness as frivolous and much less important than seriousness.
Permission - or at least a conscious prodding on my own part to 'allow' playfulness free reign - needs to be looked at. Permission to create wholly for creation sake - not a gift, product, or project - simply a process to innovate. Permission to use up art supplies, time, and energy for nothing other that using them. Take a journey without a destination in mind. "Don't waste fuel, resources, time..."
Kelly and Val talked about the excuse people often use - "I don't have time for that" as a message to the self that the thing you don't have time for isn't what you really want to do - and, so, therefore, don't do it. Find what you really want to do, they said - and I am very much loosely paraphrasing my own takeaway from that part of the conversation. And while what they shared may be true, I think that statement is also a voice in my own head that is putting a valuation on the thing/act/process being considered that also comes from the values that we have grown up with - the values that we have made implicit in our own lives. I may say I don't have time for something because I've been taught that that something is not 'worth' the currency that is my time. And while that might be true - I sure as heck better be clear on whether the worth is being determined by my inner creative soul - or by the voices of others that seem to live in my brain. Maybe it feels risky to try something new because I won't be good at it.
Something to think about.
So what is working me this month - Why is it an epiphany to make small projects that help me learn about design and color combinations? I'm coming away from this month's experiments mulling over how many different ways I can dive into my creative process.
Two things stand out and both have to do with Jean Wells:
- I watched Jean's seminar video in the color and design series - Dreaming in Color. This is an hour long video that reminded me that I. Can. Play. It also reminded me that there are tools to help me add layers to my creativity - a color vocabulary that I can use to help ask myself what else I might want to explore.
- I then went and bought her book Intuitive Design and found myself working through the first exercise.
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| Looking at lines in a photo that I love |
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| I printed the photo in greyscale - and then used tracing paper to copy over the lines. Then I picked a small part of the tracing to highlight with black ink |
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| I took that small part - and retraced it in a new pattern. Next will be to figure out what colors I want to use. |