Living A More Creative Life, Part 3

We've talked about ways to bring creativity into our daily life by taking the time to use more soulful objects in our activities.  Now let's look at ways to bring creativity into our lives and the lives of others around you on a broader scale.  What are ways that we can reach out beyond our own experiences and make a difference for those around us?  Studies have shown that one of the strongest things we can do to lift our own days is to make an effort to lift the days of others.  I find, as a teacher, that the creativity I watch in my students is contagious. Let's look at some ideas for how we can develop creatively contagious moments.

What is it that you enjoy doing?  It doesn't have to be obviously creative.  

Perhaps you are a seamstress, perhaps a cook.  Maybe you are an organizer or communication is your gift.  Maybe you are naturally inclined toward hospitality. How can these gifts be used in a more creative way?

I know of a woman that taught sewing classes to young girls.  She taught 4 at a time with 2 at the sewing machines and 2 sitting on the couch doing handwork.  The teacher would sit on the couch with the ones doing handwork.  As they stitched, she would talk with them about what it meant to grow up to be strong and gracious women.  She found a creative solution to her own need and changed the lives of her students at the same time.  

What if a gifted cook invited 3 or 4 different children (or maybe even adults) over to their kitchen once every couple of months for a cooking lesson?  Many young mothers are swamped and tired from working and don't have time to teach their children and maybe don't even have time to cook.  What a gift of creativity to teach them to make a great pie crust. They would never forget it.

What if a beautician invited young girls over for a day of spa treatments. We live in a time when young girls are struggling to understand what true beauty is.  The spa instructions could be laced with talk about true inner beauty that reaches out to others.

I have a friend who is a very organized person and she has a heart for homeless families.  Determined to find a way to help, she began working with the administration end of a ministry to homeless families.  She not only uses her organizational skills to help make the ministry function, she uses her creativity for 'outside the box' ideas that help the ministry to soar.  She is able to use her creativity to help the people she cares for.  That is creative thinking!

I have another friend who started a ministry in her church based on a creative way of using her gifts.  This woman is a shopper.  She can find a bargain!  And she can talk people into giving her an even better bargain like no one else I know.  A few years back this friend became aware of a need at the local women's shelter in the town where she lived.  The women were only allowed to stay for 30 days at the shelter.  Most of the time they had left home in a hurry and with only what they could carry.  So when the women who had sought refuge in the shelter had completed their time they had nothing to begin setting up a new home.  My friend began going regularly to garage sales and buying furniture and housewares.  She then got permission to store these things in an unused room at her church. She also discovered that if she explained her mission to the garage sale owners, that often they would simply donate their items.  Then as the time comes for each shelter guest, she is invited to the church to "shop" for items needed for her new household and for her children.  And its all free.

Creativity can enrich both our lives and the lives of those around us.  And really, what good is a gift if it can not bless those around us?

So I don't know what your gifts are.  They may not look like the examples I've given.  But maybe these ideas have sparked some thoughts for you.  I don't know what your creativity looks like.  But you can be sure, its there somewhere.  My challenge to you today is to dare to look for it.  Dare to give it some time to develop in you.  And then to dare to step out with creative action to enrich both your life and your world.

Next time we'll look at this more from the perspective of those already living their lives as artists.

Wind and Honey Creations
Creative Pencils - Online Drawing Lessons

Where Bloggers Create 2013

Come on in. I've been waiting for you and now I am so excited to have some friends over. You are just the one I have needed to give me some decorating advice.  I am participating in the Where Bloggers Create 2013 event sponsored by Karen Valentine of My Desert Cottage.  Five weeks ago we moved to another town and another home. My studio space here is very different than the one I had previously, including the fact that it is 30% smaller.

OK. I'm up for the challenge. The studio isn't completely unpacked or organized or decorated. But I was able to accomplish enough to get to share a bit with you here. There are just a few spots where I need the advice of a creative friend. That's where you come in. Like I said, I'm so glad you are here!

My name is Elizabeth Johnson and I am a pencil artist.  I specialize in animal portraiture and whimsical art.  I teach drawing online through a video format.  I teach a wide variety of drawing subjects, styles,  and pencils.   I love watching my students blossom and grow as artists.  You can see my work here and where my students learn here.

So, now that you know me a bit, let's get back to the studio.  

As I mentioned, this room is quite a big smaller than the large studio I had previously.  I was determined to be on top of things so I put quite a bit of thought into what furniture I would use and how it would be placed.  I looked around at my former studio and contemplated what I really needed in a studio.  I realized I did not need a large space but I did need multiple work stations.  I had a table, a desk, and a drafting table in my large room.  I often had to push an incomplete project aside to work on something that involved a deadline.  The problem was that once I'd pushed my project aside, it had lost its mojo and I often never got back to it for completion.  I decided I needed a place to keep my drawing projects clean and in progress.  That was easy -- my drafting table.  I needed a place for a very special big drawing project that I have started.  This would need to be separate from my drafting table project.

I needed a place to keep crafts in progress.  A place to keep my journals and supplies.  I needed a place for my computer and a place for recording the workshops I teach.  Wow!  That's a lot to ask of a very small room.  The more I thought about this, the more I realized work space was more important than floor space.  I didn't need to dance in this room.  I needed to work.  

I began at the beginning - with the drafting table.  There is no room for it so it sits in the middle of the room.  It is on wheels so if it gets in the way, I'll have to roll it out of the way.  Remember I've only been here 5 weeks and have spent most of those days unpacking boxes.  So, this is a theory.  I'll let you know how it works out in a couple of months.

We took the closet doors off so I could utilize all of the wall space for my desks.  We have two old oak teacher's desks.  They are both 5 ft. wide.  The darker one was in my previous studio and the lighter one was in my husband's home office.   I will store my computer and record workshops on the darker desk.  The TV is for monitoring the filming.   And I will be crafty at the lighter desk.  Do you think I should paint the desks or leave them the colors they are?  Or maybe just paint the lighter one?

When I was pondering the number of work stations I needed, the thought crossed my mind that it would be grand to have a place to keep my sewing machine.  Now, I am NOT a seamstress.  But I do pretend that I know what I'm doing every now and then.  Dragging the machine out of the closet is kind of a hassle, though.  I was quite sure that the sewing machine was one station over the line for this little room.  So, I put that idea aside. 

But look here!  I am SO EXCITED!!!   My sewing machine fits right here on the stand for a typewriter.  And it even fits when you put the stand back inside the cabinet and close the door.  How cool is that?!!  It can be ready to use and easy to get out and then be tucked away and out of sight in a jiffy.  I LOVE it!

I've used some vintage suitcases and a breadbox to hold the crafting supplies that are nice to have handy and some miscellaneous ephemera.   And some things are out just because their presence makes me feel more creative.  

Here is one of those projects where I need your advice.  I think I want to paint this wardrobe.  And I don't love those curtains.  I've thought about purchasing punched tin to replace the curtains.  But I thought I'd see what creative ideas you have.  I can't wait to hear them.  And if I paint the wardrobe, what color should it be?

OK.  So, we've moved along now and we have turned the corner to the wall opposite of the 2 large desks.  These desks both lived the lives of vanities in the previous house.  They both had mirrors.  The darker one is where I will work on my other drawing project.  I'm thinking about painting this one.   Behind it is the white iron headboard I used in my other studio as an inspiration board.  It works so well for this.  Pictures stay up with a magnet and it takes up very little room against the wall.

The painting above this desk (aka vanity) is a self portrait of my daughter.  When we were moving we found this painting in her stash of work from college.  I had never seen it and she was getting ready to throw it away!!  I snatched it from her and claimed it as my own. 

The wooden file cabinet is genuinely old and was a $10 find at a thrift store when we were on vacation.  At the time, we were driving a Buick.  Not exactly a truck for hauling stuff.  But I tended to use it that way.  Haha!   My husband said, "You'll never get it in the car.  It'll never fit."  I said, "Watch me!!"   You couldn't have slid a piece of paper between the cabinet and the doors on both sides in the back seat.  But we got it home.  : )  He really should know better by now!

Seated sweetly on top is my Raggedy Ann and my father's Raggedy Ann book.  They are both a little worn from the years.  But are very special to me and have a place of importance in every studio I work in. 

The green vanity is my journaling station.  I've only had time to sit there one day to work so far.  But I'm really looking forward to have a place to begin a page and then leave it until my next chance to sit.  BTW, I got those way cool knobs on clearance at Anthropologie.  I was so excited.  I paid a song for them!

The inspiration board above it is the porcelain top to the Hoosier cabinet that was in my husband's great grandparent's home.  The rest of the cabinet was not salvageable.   Magnets stick to it and it works perfectly here. 

This is Lydia who does need floor space, but hopefully there is enough here for her.

Now for the window.  This is where I really  need your advice.  In my old studio, I used this baby gate against the wall to hold photos and images I needed to have up.  In this studio, I've decided to hang it in this little nook for the window.  I have a vintage wooden window hanging below it.  I have hung some crystal leaves and flowers from ribbons.  I have enough of these to fill it.  But I thought, perhaps, it needed something else for variety.  What do you think?  More crystal leaves and flowers or something else.  And if so, what else?  And should I cover those wires above it with ribbon or fabric or what? 

Here you can see the whole window.  The cat baskets are in the window seat.  Although they chose not to grace us with their presence today. 

Bo says Good Day from the back yard.

Some of you may remember from the last 2 years that I had a favorite stuffed rocking chair in my studio.  Well, no room for it in this one.  I've placed it in my bedroom.  This one takes less room in this space where every inch is of a premium.

I'm not thrilled with the curtains on the closets.  Maybe you have a better idea for that too.  

Well, this has been fun.  I've loved having you here and am so excited to hear your ideas to help make my new studio a more creative space.

Thank you for joining me for this party.  I'll be stopping by your studio too. 

Wind and Honey Creations

And This Is Why I Draw! or Harold! Where Can I Get One of Those Purple Crayons!?

There was a time in my young adult life when I thought if I set my mind to something that I could do it.  I decided when my children were very small that I was going to learn to sew.  My first project was to sew Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls for my kids!  And my second was to sew a patchwork quilt.  Ha!  How utterly naive I was.  That about ended my career as a seamstress.  I am reminded of this fact because I tried to sew a little something for a gift to a friend last week.  It was an extremely simple project - one that a child with just a tad of experience should have been able to do.  Well, mine did look like it was done by a child, but not one with experience.

And writing.  Well, let me just say that my college English professor had trouble hiding his smirk when I once mentioned that I might do some writing in my career.  I do have creative thoughts that do sometimes involve words.  But my ability to put them together in a grammatically correct fashion is challenged.  If you've been here on my blog very many times, you've probably already noticed that.




And so I draw.  I find that as I attempt to sew or write or even to do elaborate cooking, that the thought, if only I could just draw this, comes to mind often.  I remember the book from my childhood Harold and the Purple Crayon and I wonder where I could get myself one of those purple crayons. In this book, Harold had a magic purple crayon and everything he drew with it became real.  Just think, all the items I'd like to sew but can't, could be drawn.  Now, I'd probably want them to be a different color than purple.  But if I could find one of those magical crayons, I bet I could learn to love purple.  And then all those thoughts I have that I long to put into words, could just be drawn.


This dancing swan is an example of pages and pages of unwritten words poured into one drawing.  Hmmmm.  Maybe I should have drawn her in purple.

I did give the sewing project that I completed to my friend.  Well, I mailed it to her and it should arrive today.  I sent it with all its imperfections and 'do overs'.  I sent it because perfection should not exist between true friends.  I sent it because it was made with much love and prayers for her.  And I sent it because in spite of all its warts, it was still made well enough to serve its intended purpose.

But next time I feel a need to stitch something, I'll be looking for my purple crayons!


Wind and Honey Creations