Sketching and Doodling

Keeping free and easy in your creativeness is probably the most important issue to overcome and maintain. This is what I have learned myself, yet again, just recently. Yes, I say again, because we are constantly on a learning curve all through our lives. The difference is that we are usually at a different place when we come up against the same issue. You could visualise this as a spiral. We often go full circle with things, but we’re probably the next level up, even if we’re at the same issue.

It is well recognised that we can get bogged down by pressures and restrictions, (external and internal). We can be working on a particular theme or project and lose ourselves in it so far that we’ve forgotten how easy it used to be to create the way we used to outside of that particular project.

Enter the doodling and sketching exercise. At first it may seem trifling and irritating. It may be hard to loosen up. In fact it is hard to loosen up – I found this really hard, and in the first sitting I was a disaster. Why? Because I was trying too hard! The only way I could overcome it was to remove myself from the studio and sit in front on the tv.

So, here is the method:

1. Step outside of your studio or usual creative space.
2. Find somewhere else to set up with paper and pens (or whatever) as a temporary space
3. Put on the tv, the hifi, your ipod, or the radio…
4. Take 3 deep, slow breaths. Relax your shoulders.
5. Clear your mind of its clutter.
6. Get ready to doodle, or sketch.
7. If you need a subject, find some household, fridge, larder, objects, or some photos of something you like such as leaves, flowers, trees, landscapes.
8. Don’t think too much as you sketch. Let your eye guide the hand, with light concentration. Try to keep the style simple and free. It doesn’t have to be strictly representational – you can just fill in areas of colour, or just simple shapes.
9. Enjoy the process. Don’t produce anything for anyone else to see – this is your personal exercise.
10. Remember that if it doesn’t work, put it to one side and come back to it, or start again.

When you have finished your session, however long it takes, put it all to one side and leave it for at least half and hour. When you return to it, look at it objectively, if you can. Can you still see restrictions or barriers to the freedom you’re trying to achieve? If so, can you solve it?

I’d love to hear about your experiences – feel free to share. You may have a different way of loosening up, if so, let me know. I also welcome suggestions for issues to tackle in this blog - keeping creative is a universal subject and there’s so much to explore!

Thanks

Debs

above sketches:

top - "coastal cornfield" ©2008 Deborah Eileen Burrow

bottom -" across the reeds" ©2008 Deborah Eileen Burrow

both of these sketches are for sale at etsy.com

Setting the Inner Creative Child Free

Inside all of us is a creative child. Its that child we remember who dabbled in the sand and rock pools on the beach, drew crayons marks on the walls, pressed flowers and leaves, built hideouts in the woods and generally explored and experimented.

Over time that child gets a bit quashed and re-shaped into adulthood. If we are lucky we may go to college or university and re-learn, re-discover and encourage the creative child to create new things within a structured and well researched course. Hopefully the child remains part of our move into the professional world of creating and making a living from it, or just keeping the creativity as a hobby and finding a lot of pleasure in it.

Some of us will identify with the above. Others will identify with a different scenario – that of being someone who has lived a life without creativity since they were young. They may feel either that they have had no opportunity to express their creativity, or they feel that they are not creative at all.

Here is the truth – we are ALL creative in one way or another. Whether we express this through cooking, baking, home making, decorating, gardening, building, landscaping, sewing, writing letters, organising an office, the list goes on. The fact is that everyday living is creative – we have to use that part of our brain to function on a daily basis.

Here comes the fun part! I would like to invite you to do something different today, tomorrow and for the rest of your life. What is it that burns a hole in you? Is it writing, painting, dress making, interior design, pottery, drawing, photography…? Something will be desperate to be expressed. To start your personal creativity desire journey, indulge yourself in fifteen minutes a day of something you love. Don’t set yourself restrictions, just let that inner creative child free and express your heart out. Even dancing is creative!!

Even we seasoned artists can benefit from this freeing up of ourselves. When I started the journey I allowed myself to play with clay – it was liberating and really inspiring. I set aside all my long-held beliefs in not being able to do something, and the fear of being laughed or sneered at. It changed my life, and even though I didn’t carry on with ceramics, it had an impact on my painting. Through lots of self-indulging I found my true self and now I am proud to be who I am. Now I constantly remind people that creativity is a part of everyone’s life, not just mine.

Celebrate one of your deepest instinctual drives and please help others to do the same. You may be the one key to enriching another’s life by reminding them who they are.

Above painting, "Furrows" © 2008 Deborah Eileen Burrow

Lateral Thinking to Earn Cash

How many times have you sighed with despair at your bank statement because not enough money is coming in from your main creative job? How many times have you also had little wacky ideas that you have brushed aside as, “silly” or, “too distracting”?

I’m going to suggest you recall these little ideas and put them into perspective - then a little time spent on thinking of things you haven’t thought about before.

The most effective way to do this is with a kind of mind map – this can be fun and most revealing!

Start with a small circle in the centre of a piece of A4 paper. In the centre of this circle write, “Ways to Earn Cash around {my Creative Job}”. Then proceed with adding arms that hold ideas, which then split again into related ideas and so on.

It’s a brain drain first, then the details can be added on further stems.

To find an online resource to further help you with this, try Tony Buzan's site.

Brighten up your page with colours and symbols too :)
To help convince you, I already know of people who do reviews, make key rings, small prints, CD covers, teach, coach, and take photos, to supplement their professional artist’s income. I can also vouch for the unexpected joy and satisfaction that is possible by spending a bit of time away from the easel / computer/ sewing machine / craft table etc. Sometimes we get too close to our work, and this is ideal to make you take a break, but still earn some money.

Let your brain run away with you and get creative with new ideas. When you have written it down, get researching on the net for what you might need. For example, you may be surprised to know that you can make 100 fridge magnets for £39 (sterling). Selling them at £2 for example would be a profit of £160. At your exhibition, local craft shop, online shop etc. selling these could quickly earn you extra income. Another much more lucrative example would be giving demonstrations or running workshops – you can earn several hundred pounds a day! We all have skills we should make the most of besides our creative job.

Good luck and I wish you all the best with your ideas.

Above photograph and contents © 2008 Deborah Eileen Burrow

Today We Make The Clock Redundant

Wouldn’t that just be bliss?

But I hear your resistance already and I understand completely!

How can you possibly have a day without a clock when everything you do revolves around schedules and deadlines?

Well here’s a step by step way of achieving it – I promise you won’t regret it. The aim is to reset yourself back to your basic creative state – and it really works!

1. Look through your diary and identify a day where you have no commitments. Mark it in NOW as a “clockless day”.
2. The night before your clockless day, go around removing clocks from sight from your space.
3. Allow yourself to wake up naturally and gently.
4. Throughout the day, give yourself as long as you need to complete tasks.
5. Eat when you’re hungry and rest when you’re tired.
6. At the end of the day, reflect on how liberating it has been to take all the time you wanted and how you listened to your body’s natural rhythms.
7. Make a date to have a clockless day again!

Remember the only limits are the ones we set ourselves...

On a personal note this week, I have had a rollercoaster of one! I confess that even though I'm a Life Coach, I am just human and I find it difficult to coach myself. So I have to read my own blogs and personal journals to remind myself how to cope! There you are, you are not alone and I am not invincible.
I feel like this One YellowLeaf painting sometimes - isolated and just floating with a loss of purpose. But trust me when I say that with some of the coaching tips I have given you on this site, the very least you can glean is that off-days are transitory and the universe always rewards a forward vision. So make that clock redundant today and feel the benefit of "you" time - you, and I, deserve it.

Have a good week,
Debs

painting above right, "One Yellow Leaf" © 2008 Deborah Eileen Burrow

Keeping a Dream Board

You may be new to the concept of keeping a Dream Board, but I can tell you its one of the most useful tools to keeping your career and life in focus and in balance.

Basically, it is a visual support for your goals, hopes and dreams. It is a notice board filled with representations - you can use magazine cuttings, drawings, postcards, writings, badges, stickers and anything else that helps you keep your dream in focus. You may have smaller dreams to complete which act as stepping stones to the final vision.

How do you start? Well, the most important thing is to know what your dream is. Spend a few minutes with your eyes closed and picture in your minds eye your perfect working day. Starting with getting out of bed in the morning through to getting back into bed again at night. In just a few minutes you will have a pretty good idea of what to put on your dream board. You will include your ideal home, workspace, job/occupation and the people around you. It should also include positive affirmations, and in the centre should be a photo of you when you are smiling!

I put together a Dream Board 10 years ago where I clearly visualised my desired house, studio, hours of work and the people sharing my life. I had achieved 90 percent of it within 6 years. So yes, it’s a long term dream to bring into focus, but without my dream board I would have lost heart, lost my way and probably sabotaged most of my dream. Each day was a step in the right direction and I was determined to get my heart’s desire! Now of course my dream board has been updated and I’m heading toward more happiness as a visual artist.

You can add things to the board over time. For example, a postcard of a fantastic holiday destination, adverts for successful events, and big ticks and smilies where you have achieved something significant. Everything is personal to you – these boards are not to impress others, or to feel ashamed of. Just keep your dream alive!

The only limitations are those which we set ourselves... :)