"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." - Vincent Van Gogh

Monday, November 12, 2012

Creativity Challenge Day 12

How are you all doing on your creativity challenge? I have a confession to make - I'm doing very poorly. It's amazing to me that as an artist, someone who enjoys creating with everything in me, I'm having a hard time carving out a little bit of time for creativity every day.

It's not that I'm not being productive - on the contrary, I'm using my time very well. It's not for lack of want, because I always WANT to make something out of nothing, to create beauty. I think it's because sometimes life gets in the way.

Maybe my use of "creative" is too narrow. After all, I am being creative every time I walk/run my multiple miles a day.  I'm always wondering if there is a better way to try to get in shape and how can I get the most out of my work out without placing myself in cardiac arrest.

This past week I spent a good deal of time reading and researching for a new business venture. It's been exhilarating - but has it been creative? No, I've been spending most of my week in the left side of my brain. Although some of my research has picked up that when you exercise recessive part of your brain, it actually develops your creativity more. I have a friend who is living on his left side right now that could probably argue against that but the proof will lie in the future.

It's hard to mix the left and right sides at the same time. This is why artists can be (not always) notoriously bad at business because they live in a world of ideas but can never bring them into fruition. Yes, that's me if I don't go over to the left side and channel "Barbara" which is my nice way of saying I try to thing "what would mom do" in this situation.

There are other interesting things that I am turning up on my research. Last night I accidently bought a book for my kindle. I hate when that happens! My thumb slipped so when I meant to push the thin box to move the curser down to "delete sample",  I pushed the "BUY" button! Being Dutch I then felt I must read the book to make it worth my while. Did you know that there is no such thing as a naturally talented person? According to this author and lots of research, they have decided that people actually develop skill through practice. Tiger Woods is a golf genius because his father trained him from early in his years. Even Mozart had great training and the help of his teacher who apparently "corrected" his earlier music. This is good news for those who feel "ungifted". The bad news is that according to the studies you have to get an early start on your passion - preferably in your toddler years. Hmmm.

Well, I must get back to that book. I promised myself that I would finish it before I could delve into the stuff that I really love. OUCH....that might just be my problem right there. Priorities! I'm making myself finish a book that I didn't even want to buy so that I can go spend some time being creativity! Do you do that too!?? Is creativity your reward for a day well done? If it is - maybe we can turn it around... I will finish my tedious work AFTER I spent an hour in the studio. Try it and let me know how it works out for you.

No comments:

Post a Comment