Even More of My Favorite Creativity Blogs

May 18, 2011 by 8 Comments


It’s that time of year again. Yes, the time time where I recommend my favorite creativity blogs to read. I hope you’ll check them out and grow to enjoy them as much as I do. Also, have a look at my lists from 2009 and 2010 for further inspiration.

The Artist’s Road
I am so glad I discovered this blog and even more so, it’s wonderfully creative author. Patrick delves deep into the creative experience and topics that other blogs just gloss over.

Cup of Creativi-Tea
Another kindred spirit I found this year is Thien-Kim or you can just call her Kim – I do! Her creativity blog covers everything from inspiration to food to crafts. Truly one of the most well-rounded blogs on creativity.

Creative Instigation
I am not sure why it took me this long to add Jan’s blog to this list, because it’s probably one of the first creative blogs I started reading. Jan’s brevity is something I really admire, as well as her creativity tips, which are inspired by everything and anything and are (in my opinion) pure genius.

Creative Liberty
The best part of Liz’s blog is her interviews with artists and creators, and I am not saying that just because I was once featured. Her interviews really give you an inside glimpse into the various creative processes out there.

The Creative Practice
Kira’s blog is relatively new to me, but her content is outstanding and worth checking out. She dives into expression and creativity with a sense of thoroughness like no one else.

  • What creativity blog(s) are you reading?
Filed Under: Creativity, Inspiration

What Gets Your Creative Juices Flowing?

May 4, 2011 by 7 Comments

Earlier this year, while flipping through my favorite magazine, Whole Living, this question leapt off the page. Immediately, I began thinking about it and how in my own life I get my creative juices flowing.

A couple of days later, while feeling very inspired, I sat down and wrote the above statement and emailed it off to the magazine never imagining that I would be chosen as the grand prize winner.

Actually, I let it go completely from my mind until just a couple of weeks ago, when I excitedly received the May issue that arrived on a particularly busy Saturday. It wasn’t until later in that day, when I opened the magazine to start casually reading it that I saw my entry had been chosen as this month’s winner.

  • What gets your creative juices flowing?
Filed Under: Creativity, Inspiration

Lessons From a Creative Genius

April 20, 2011 by 7 Comments

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to hear a real creative genius speak. Ann Hamilton has been one of my art heroes, since I attended graduate school and studied public art in the same city Ann had moved back to only years before.

Her large scale installations, with an amazing attention to detail, have fascinated me, so when I saw she would be speaking at the Cleveland Museum of Art, I cleared my schedule and made an intention to be there.

The trip and the experience were definitely worth the wait. Ann delighted the audience with a historical trajectory of her work and infused it with inspiring tidbits that I was able to capture in my small notebook. Here are a few of them, along with my interpretations:

“Work is created through acts of (our) attention.”
This pretty much sums up not only her work, but any work that we do as creators. It is truly the focus that we put into art that makes it come to life.

“Making (work) is falling open to possibilities.”
Another accurate assessment of the creative process. If it were not for the possibilities we would not be able to create anything. A nice reminder for all creatives.

“(You) need to be uncomfortable to make work.”
How many times have you waited for the right time to create or the perfect idea to fall from the sky? Probably always. And how often has it happened? Probably never. Work is hard and you need to be uncomfortable to find the friction to create.

“Follow your questions and trust the things you don’t know.”
None of us has all the answers and that is why questions are so important to the creative process. Start with your questions and see where they lead. You may be surprised by the result.

  • What lessons have you learned from a creative genius?

Image Source: the-colossus

Filed Under: Art, Artists, Inspiration

My Guest Post for Indie Biz Chicks

April 6, 2011 by 2 Comments

I was excited when Crissy Herron asked me to write a post on creative inspiration for her amazing site Indie Biz Chicks. The site provides useful information and tips on business, marketing and publicity for small women-owned businesses. It was a natural fit for me, so I jumped at the chance.

I also loved that the tag line for Crissy’s site is:

“For Women Who’d Rather Work For Themselves, Than Work for the Man”

My post focuses on helping those of you who’ve been feeling that you need a way to re-invent yourself or your business, keeping in mind that Spring is the best time to make a fresh start!

5 Creative Tips For The Uninspired 
by Melanie Sklarz

We’ve all been there at one time or another. We found ourselves just stuck. It may have seemed like everyone else had already come up with all of the good ideas, and we had nothing. Or we had been working so hard on our passion that once we finished it, we didn’t know where to go next.

The best thing to do in a situation, like this when you feel stagnate, is to create movement, no matter how small, day every day. Movement increases the flow of energy around you and your ideas and before you know it, you’ll be inspired!

I’ve created 5 simple tips to try when you’re feeling oh-so uninspired.

Filed Under: Creativity, Inspiration

Inspired Conversations

March 30, 2011 by 1 Comment

When was the last time you had a REALLY inspired conversation? I mean the kind where you learn something new about yourself or gather interesting information from someone else.

Earlier this month, I had one of those kind of inspired conversations with @Cnvrgnc. Rasul and I bonded on Twitter over an article that I tweeted about creating a Rock ‘n’ Roll theme throughout the city of Cleveland. We played online tag for the next several months promising to schedule a phone conversation. Finally, our schedules cleared and for about an hour we chatted on the phone like creative kindred spirits.

From this experience – that left me creatively invigorated –  I developed some tips for inspired conversations:

1. Meet Offline. I am sure you know a lot of people online. I know I do! But how many of them can you you say have met in person or at least heard their voice? Meeting offline gives you a space to really explore the nuances of your conversation.

2. Ask Questions. Want to know more during your conversation? Just ask. Asking questions is the perfect path to new knowledge.

3. Connect. Look for places in the conversation to connect and bring in your personal experiences. In my case, I had lived for many years in Washington, DC, where Rasul currently lives and works. It turned out we had some common acquaintances and friends.

4. Continue Sharing. Not only is it important to share ideas and resources during your conversation, but also keep the dialogue going. After the conversation, send them interesting links or leads relevant to what you talked about.

Before long, not only will you have a new perspective, you may also have some new creative ideas or at least a new creative cohort to add to your circle.

  • Schedule an inspired conversation today.
Filed Under: Creativity, Ideas, Inspiration

Creative Dreamtime

March 14, 2011 by 3 Comments

In college, I took a 2D Design class. One of the required text books was on the philosophy of art. In that book, I remember a term taken from the Australian aboriginals that has always inspired me. It’s called dreamtime. The aboriginal people used it to describe their stories of creation, but I like using in conjunction with creativity.

For me, creative dreamtime does not just occur at night when you are sleeping. In fact, I like to use it before I drift into sleep and usually during the day when I am taking a nap. Oftentimes on the weekend, I will retreat to my cozy bed to work through an idea.

When I lay down, I start to meditate on my idea and the possible creative solutions for it. It is during this time of relaxation that I get some of my best and most creative ideas.

I also make a point to get up before I actually drift into the real dream land to jot those ideas down on a pad of paper in near my bed. I find that once I fall asleep, I have forgotten most of my ideas. And I am not usually a person, who can work ideas out in my dreams, so I found creative dreamtime works best for me.

  • When’s your creative dreamtime?
Filed Under: Creativity Techniques, Ideas, Inspiration

My Creative Birthday Wish

March 1, 2011 by 7 Comments

Today is my birthday. I am another year older, and hopefully another year wiser. This year is a milestone birthday for me (I am not telling which one!), so I thought I’d make a creative birthday wish for the year ahead.

For the next year, my wish is to fully embrace my creativity and all that goes with it. With that said, here are the ways I intend to use my creativity in the upcoming year.

  • I will create a community around creativity both locally and nationally. I will work to connect with my fellow creatives both online and in person. I will treasure the insights I gain from this community and give back all I can.
  • I will share my creativity with others. I will inspire them through my writing and offer them tips to help them be more creative in the upcoming year. I will let my light shine and let it lead the way for other aspiring creatives.
  • I will express myself through my creativity. I will use it to improve my well-being and create balance in my own life. I will even explore new mediums in this quest to express myself more fully.

This my birthday wish. Well, ok 3 birthday wishes for a more creative year ahead.

  • I hope you’ll join me!
Filed Under: Creativity, Inspiration

Creative Visioning

February 21, 2011 by 6 Comments

A big part of my creative process involves visioning. If you haven’t guessed already, I am a highly visual person. So it seems only natural that visioning would play a large role in my creative process. But not just my creative process for designing a collage, website or poster but also for creating my own life.

I’ve written about this before in Create a Visioning Collage to Inspire You, where I described the process for designing a visual collage for your dreams. But, I’ve never showed you one of my personal collages till now.

I started with an idea of what I wanted the coming year to look like based on the following quote:

“Kindness can make miracles happen!”

Then I followed the steps from the book Visioning: Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your Dreams to construct what this would look like visually. I found images, words, and colors to represent and reinforce the image I created in my mind of what my goals for this year would be.

I placed this collage on the inside of my planner and look at it every day, when I open my calendar to plan events and goals for the upcoming day to support my vision.

  • How do you use visioning in your creative process?
Filed Under: Creativity Techniques, Inspiration

Becoming a Life Change Artist

January 19, 2011 by 2 Comments

Are you planning to look for a new job, new career, or just a new perspective on life this year? Then Becoming a Life Change Artist: 7 Creative Skills to Reinvent Yourself at Any Stage of Life by Fred Mandell, Ph.D and Kathleen Jordan, Ph.D is the book for you!

Before I planned to interview Kathy Jordan for my Five {5} Creative Questions series, I won a copy of her book. I was so excited that I dove right into it and have admitted that I never wanted it to end. Yes, it was that good.

I also have to admit, that as a trained art historian and personal development enthusiast, this is the book I wish I would have written. It explores the creative process through the work and life of such artists as Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and Frida Kahlo. Using the creative process of artists and translating it to personal growth is genius.

Throughout Becoming a Life Change Artist, Mandell and Jordan, share accounts of people, just like you and I, who have overcome adversity to achieve their goals, whether it was going back to school, switching careers, or choosing to stay home and care for their children. Interspersed with this are the stories of successful artists and how they used the creative process to complete some of the finest paintings and sculptures in the canon of art history.

Not only will you learn about the creative process of artists, but you’ll also learn the specific skills involved to make your change real. And with plenty of exercises after each chapter to get you thinking, this book keeps you involved in your own creative process.

Finally, my favorite part of the book happens to fall at the end, in the appendix. There you’ll find some pretty amazing resources including the Creativity Calculator, where you can test your own creative skills and learn which part of your process could be improved. Plus, the Preparation Activities appendix provides a ready-made list of creativity-enhancing triggers.

It looks like Becoming a Life Change Artist will be my go-to creative companion for the next year, as I get ready for big changes in my own life.

  • How can you creatively reinvent you life?
Filed Under: Books, Creativity Techniques, Inspiration

New Year, New Creative Goals

January 10, 2011 by 2 Comments

As I looked at the list of my creative activities from  last year, I was startled and saddened how few there were. Yes, I started school, took a few art/jewelry classes, attended some exhibitions but none of those were planned, they just happened.

I have also mentioned in the past how much I dislike New Year’s resolutions, because, well I never have time to do them in the beginning of the year and then I just feel bad for the rest of the year because I don’t have any!

This year I’ve decided to be more intentional about my creative activities. That’s why I’ve chosen to focus on three specific creative goals. The activities for each goal are meant to not be spontaneous but involve planning and stretch my creativity in ways that may have scared me in the past.

Here they are:

  1. Learn the art of glass blowing by taking a class at the Glass Bubble Project.
  2. Try improv by taking a class at Something Dada.
  3. Write some poetry and have it critiqued during a workshop at the LIT.

As always, I’ll be blogging about my creative adventures during the year. I hope you’ll join me!

  • So what are YOUR creative goals for this year?
Filed Under: Creativity, Inspiration
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