[-warm-up, drawing-]

Here’s a creative warm-up exercise that uses categories.

Choose a category each day to draw in your journal. Divide your paper into 8 - 12 small sections. Decide on the length of time you want to devote to this. My suggestion is to start with no more than ten minutes. Quicker sketches will loosen you up. Later on, you may want to devote more time to the sketches.

Draw a version of your chosen category in each of the sections.

The idea is to warm-up your creative brain by doing quick, non-threatening, simple drawings. Doing a lot of drawings of one thing helps you explore your visual knowledge of that category. You will find that you’re going to learn a lot about yourself, your visual memory, your ability to express a simple thing quickly and you’ll find yourself being more observant of that category once you’ve done the exercise.

Here’s my “Fruit” category page:
As you see, this isn’t great art. They are quick simple, even iconic sketches. And yet, I found out a lot from doing them.

I found out quickly that to distinguish between a drawing of an apple, a peach, a plum and even a lemon is tricky, but can be done. I found out that though I have removed plenty of them, I couldn’t, when I started, remember what the stem of a pineapple looks like. I found out that in order to make a peach look like a peach, you have to turn your pencil on its side to get a softer edge. I remembered that the skin of a lemon is pitted and that’s a bit of a different pencil mark that the tiny seeds of a strawberry. I found out that in order to sketch a bunch of grapes, it’s easier (and more fun) to sketch the dark, negative spaces that just draw the overlapping grapes. I found that sometimes a fruit is best depicted by the drippy, wetness that ends up on the surface below it. I found out that it was hard for me to come up with twelve fruits and that I didn’t seem to have a clue what shape a fig is.

Try it. It’s fun and you’ll be amazed how much it will stretch you.

Here’s a list to get you going:

I threw in the last three to remind you that these don’t have to be solid objects. But stick with the simpler ones at first. See what happens. After doing these for a while, revisit a category so you can see how the first sketches compare with ones you do after sensitizing yourself to this process and to thinking visually.

And, let us know what you learned by doing this exercise!

[-journaling, c-mindfulness-]

Next time you are writing in your journal, switch the pen to your other hand and write.

I know. I know. You can’t write with your other hand. Never mind. Go on and do it anyway.

Writing with our non-dominant hand can have interesting results because it confuses our brain. Part of that protest you just put up about not wanting to write with the wrong hand was your brain’s way of keeping things predictable. That’s okay. That’s its job. Let’s face it: we function because our brains are in charge. Our brains do a phenomenal job of keeping the world understandable and keeping our bodies and behaviours in sync with that world. But the parts of our brain that are so effective at everyday life, may not be the parts that give us the best results when it comes to pure creativity.

Since creativity may be useless, nonsensical, playful, wordless, metaphorical, musical, messy, and so on, the practical brain that serves us so well, needs a little nudge to get out of the way while we create. Try writing with your ‘wrong’ hand to make this happen.

Why does this work? Our non-dominant hand is linked to the non-dominant hemisphere of our brain. Some studies indicate that one hemisphere is active when using the dominant hand but both hemispheres are activated when the non-dominant hand is used. Either way, many people find that they ‘think differently’ or that surprising things get written down when using the non-dominant hand.

I should caution you that therapists having used this technique have found that some people can access primitive and raw emotions, so I am not suggesting here that this be used as therapy. If you are interested in that, please be sure that you’re working with a trained professional first.

The use of this technique here is suggested as a warm-up to further creative activity. It’s suggested as a way to circumvent the linear part of our brain and get into the wordless, metaphorical, visual part.

There are other ways that one can use this technique. If you have an everyday situation that needs problem-solving, try writing about it with your non-dominant hand. See if you can come up with a more ‘creative’ solution than you’ve considered previously.

Another possibility is to use it when you want to remember or learn something new. I have a friend who wants to improve her vocabulary. While she’s having her coffee each morning she copies words from the dictionary using her ‘wrong’ hand. She swears that her memory for the words is more reliable now. She even reports beating her husband in SCRABBLE for the first time after doing this for a few weeks. Now that’s worth something! Remember…both sides of the brain being are being activated. She just might have something here.

Try it. Politely and gently—using bad handwriting—ask your everyday brain to step aside for awhile while creativity and new ways of thinking are explored.

See why R-mindfulness has changed to C-mindfulness here at The PCQ. Click on C-mindfulness in our topics to read about other ways of accessing your C-mind.

[-crackles!, c-mindfulness-]

by Nancy Waldman

I am in the process of writing an article on using the non-dominant hand in journaling as a way to reach the R-mind. In doing so, I decided that my icon and ’short-hand’ talk of R-mindfulness, based on Betty Edwards work regarding the use of brain hemisphere dominance to teach art, is at the least out-of-date and at the most, offensive to the small percentage of left-sided creative brains out there. The good news is that those people don’t know they’re offended because most of us haven’t had our brains examined.

The traditionally-dubbed *creative side* of the brain is usually but not always the right side. The dominant hemisphere of a person’s brain is not necessarily the left side although research supports an estimate of left brain dominance in at least 70% of people. And in looking at this today, I’m reminded that ‘dominance’ isn’t always about language but frequently about motor skills. Handedness is one of the ways this has been studied and, researchers have found that not all left-handed people (approximately 15% of the population) are right brain dominant even in motor skills. This is an area of research that has no definitive answers but there are some studies that have suggested that the more firmly dominant the left-handedness is, the more likely that person is to be right brain dominant at least in terms of language.

Confused? Me too. Every time I wade into the marshy bog of *Creative Sides of the Brain* I feel that I’ll soon be up to my elbows in a thick peaty mush of ideas that do not have scientific studies to back them up. So why bother? Because it’s fascinating! Because we all have brains and because conventional wisdom is that we use a fraction of the power of the brain in our everyday life. Because the kinds of exercises that I’ve been calling “R-mindfulness” do work on some level for most people to trick the dominant, organizing, practical side of our brains into letting go for a while, so that we can put the non-verbal, metaphorical, visual sides at the forefront while we’re creating.

But because not everyone accesses the right side of the brain when they do my R-mindfulness exercises, my referring to the R-mind is—what shall I call it?—hemispherism? leftism?

Wikipedia in talking about the historical and cultural bigotry surrounding left-handedness (or just ‘left’) points out:

Even the word “ambidexterity” reflects the bias. Its intended meaning is, “skillful on both sides.” However, since it keeps the Latin root “dexter,” which means “right,” it ends up conveying the idea of being “right-handed at both sides.” This bias is also apparent in the lesser-known antonym “ambisinistrous,” which means “clumsy on both sides” and derives from the Latin root “sinister.”

So from now on, the articles about R-mindfulness will have to reflect my newly raised-consciousness about this. However, the phenomenon discussed in these articles is the same whatever side of the brain is less dominant. The point is to access the lesser used portions in tricky ways so as to circumvent the normal functions. It’s complicated so I have to call it something simple!

How about…full-mindfulness? F-mind? ooh. Not so good. The innocent letter “F” has an undeserved and much more negative bias even than left-handers. There’s mind-fully or, quite appropriate in a metaphorical sense, fully-mined. Well…that probably gets us off-track. Fully-mindful is too fully-mouthful. Whole-mind is used in other ways to teach reading and such. Non-dom, short for non-dominant? That’s a bit negative. Alternate-mind. Alternate-hemisphere? Alt-mind? That sounds like a keystroke shortcut. Oh, there you go: Alt-control! Hmmm. Alt-hemi? Demi-hemi? Semi-demi-hemi?

Okay. This is a total illustration of how my creativity works (or more specifically: does not work).

For now I will settle on C-mind—short for Creative Mind—until, unless, I can think of a better iconic term.

Any suggestions?

June 16: This article was withdrawn and re-written after its first posting, evidently to illustrate more fully my personal brain’s challenges.

For a brief description of what I’m talking about, here’s the first article I wrote about the R-mind.
Here’s another one called Changing States.
Click on C-mind tag to get a full-listing or go to our Topics list and click on C-mindfulness

[-journaling, nature, process-]

by Nancy S.M. Waldman

3/1 The crocuses are coming up. Is it early? Is the natural world around you different from the way it was when you were a child? Perhaps it has even changed since you were a young adult. It has for me and I know it is so for many people. Climate change is happening and now, with greater awareness of it, perhaps it is time for those of us who like to record our lives in our journals, to consider chronicling climate change. I have always noticed (and have sometimes written down) those normal firsts during the course of a year. April 29 - Peepers! NS 2006 The first time I see a robin, the first crocus or forsythia or lilac. When I first run into June bugs on the front door screen or hear the cicadas in the summer or the peepers in the spring. That these sightings may be occurring earlier or differently than they used to was not the reason I noted them. I think I was more moved by the solid evidence that these things were happening on the exact same date from year to year. April 17th, 1996 CT 1st forsythia sighting by 18th it is difficult to look without seeing one Tyler tells me many people believe them to be: “for Cynthias” If I did it for any other reason, it had to do with creative writing. When writing, it’s often useful to have at your fingertips real notations of when the Indian Hawthorne blooms in Texas or if it’s believable that the first snowfall of the year might be as late as January in Connecticut or if a character could be hearing the frogs at dusk in Nova Scotia in mid-April. May May 6th - first lilac blooming - CT 1998, CT VERY WET SPRING - Rain everyday for 14 or so also cool May 11 — NS 2006 Forsythias in bloom However, looking back at my nature journal now, I realize that there is benefit in the simple act of jotting down what is happening in the natural world. I only wish I had written more and started earlier in my life. If you plant a vegetable garden or have perennial beds, why not consider keeping a journal dedicated just to what happens there each year? August The Cicadas have come! CT, 1995 Wow… once again, 1996 Not only will you be more likely to improve your gardens by remembering through your journal what works and what doesn’t, you may also notice more readily the changes that are occurring in the weather. The first and last frost dates, the fact that certain crops used to die on the vine but now have time to ripen, the withering of other crops due to higher heat. July 11th 1998 My Birthday Took myself to Sherwood Is. St. Park Beach After sitting on the beach for an hour or so, I walked down one of the nature trails. Was followed—hovered over—by a red-winged blackbird. It flew back to its nest and another came up, chattering at me. Felt as if I had an escort. Then, on the way back, I saw 7 or 8 goldfinches! Only me on this trail despite hundreds of people only yards away. While it may be human nature to avoid awareness of unpleasant things—especially when we feel helpless to do anything about it—it is a natural reaction that, in this case, needs to be resisted. If we notice in our personal lives that things have changed, we may be more likely to change ourselves in the process. Decide—at the very least—to be aware of what is happening to our world and in order to facilitate your awareness and your memory: record it in your journal. CB 2003 ~The summer of baby owls~ Juveniles by the time we spotted them. For days and days there were hanging around the edges of the yard everywhere we looked. Saw the parents less often, but frequently. Screeching “hunger” calls sounded like a bobcat

The images you see here are simple notes from my nature journal. The notes I make are ordered only by month. Because I have moved around and travel frequently, I am always careful to note where I am and the year but otherwise, the placement is random. This provides a quixotic juxtaposition of the years of my life that I find pleasing. ***That sentence provided a place to use two fun *x* words that I also found pleasing. May 17 NS 2006 Earliest spring since I’ve lived here. We’ve had warm to hottish temperatures since last Friday (12th) - a little rain one night but other than that: SUN. All the trees have their leaves though. Unlike most years on June 1st when they POP out all at once, they are opening gradually. This is almost 2 weeks early. Cherry trees beginning to bloom. The journal was a gift from my mother and the pages of it are graced—that is the only fitting word for them—with illustrations by Marjorie Bastin. As you can see they are gentle, accessible and charming images of birds, eggs, nests, dandelions with Marjorie’s own nature notations. Simply beautiful. If you have the time and interest, consider illustrating your own nature journal. One of the most beautiful books that I’ve seen on the nature journal is A Trail Through Leaves - The Journal as a Path to Place, by Hannah Hinchman. June 2005 -9th- in Maine for Cadi’s birth the lilacs are in full bloom Happy Journaling!

[-fiber art, journals, art-]

second stage, my heart current
© 05 - 07 all rights reserved

Uploaded by arlee.

This work of fiber art by arlee is the second stage of her ongoing work on a fabric art journal she calls, My Heart Current.
About this arlee said that she’s trying new things such as:

foiling, the use of my own hand dyed fabrics, some rough edge applique and lots of spontaneity!

Journaling has undergone quite a transformation in the last few years. What used to be a simple pen and paper way to chronicle thoughts or life events has become an art form in and of itself. Now fiber artists are taking it further, making the whole journal a piece of art. These art journals can be made of paper or textiles or both.

Thanks arlee, for sharing your process and your finished products.
See more of arlee’s work and thoughts at Albedo Design

Here’s a collaborative blog: fabricartjournals.blogspot.com
All our Journaling posts.
Articles on Altered Books
- Karen Hatzigeorgiou
- Nancy’s first attempt is chronicled and illustrated

Originally published by permission of the artist in the original Practically Creative blog, February 2006; slightly edited for re-publication

[-process, journaling, found poetry-]

by Nancy Shepard Metzger Waldman

In the course of researching Altered Books for the January 2006 issue of The PCQ, I couldn’t resist tackling my first altered book. Here is the journal and some photos I made of the process and progress so far.

Take heart other beginners, from the lumpy pages and [way]less than professional results.
It’s a beginning!

ALTERED BOOK PROJECT

First Question—How can I mess with a book?
Tomes are SACRED, aren’t they?

So, I found a book in a give-away bag…Country Walks in Connecticut.

Since I live in Nova Scotia now, I’m unlikely to use it ever again. Plus, it’s well-used already. Dog-earred and warped, it also has a very ugly stain on the cover and through the first 7 pages or so.

It’ll do. It has some lovely maps and black and white photos.

MAKING IT MANAGEABLE

1st step - glue pages together … eeek… it’s not easy for me to get over the feeling that I shouldn’t be doing this. I have to think of it as recycling, renewing, making art out of what has become a book no one wants.

It takes me a couple of hours to glue the pages. I used white craft glue diluted with water. It’s lumpy … but it worked!

NOW WHAT?

Since the book is about trails through the woods, I decide to make the art about a trail through the book….

I jot down words from the page that I like or that seem to relate to each other. The last word on the page is “connects.” This makes me smile!

JASPER JOHNS: “Do something…. do something to that…”

I color the words I want to HIGHLIGHT in CRAYON (goldenrod)… I try covering up the words I don’t want. First I use some brown ink that I’ve had forever. I like that I’m using what’s here … it looks nice on the page but the print shows through. ENTER: “Acrylic Colored Gesso, Unbleached Titanium” That should cover up anything…

I took digital photos of the book so far… then began modifying the photo of the photo on the righthand page. Put in loads of color - played with Hue & Saturation, Brightness & Contrast, Tone Adjustments, and Negative.

Tried to print out on TRANSPARENCIES but my printer objected. Had to make do with card stock.
NEXT I …

until …. VOILA! here are the first two pages:

The found poem on the right hand page is:

It was fun but I haven’t gotten back to it since. I love looking at other artist’s altered books but it may just not be ‘my thing.’ How about you?

Have fun!

Here’s lots more articles on artistic Alterations.

Originally published in the January 2006 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly, theme: alterations

[-art, doodles, essay-]

What is a doodle? Read the rest of this entry »

[-quick tip-]

A Quick Creative Practice
~simple habits can have profound impacts~

Inspiration Log

Keep a journal or notebook log for your projects. Always write down a sentence or phrase about what inspired you to begin. Once you get in the middle of the work, it’s easy to go off on a tangent or get bogged down. It can be helpful to look back at that initial inspiration to either get back on track or make a decision about where you want to go that is different from your initial idea.

Originally published in the July 2005 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly, theme: space and spaces

[-gardening article-]

Planting a garden is work full of hope and joyful expectation. If it’s time to plant seedlings where you are, this article will inspire you and help you to enjoy the fruits of your labours.

by guest contributor, Sherry D. Ramsey

As gardeners, we all share some of the joys that growing things can bring: the thrill when that speck of green pokes up, signaling an awakened seed; that heady raw earth smell when the soil is turned for the first time in spring; the burgeoning splashes of color as the garden fulfills its springtime promise. Walking the garden, reveling in our successes, and fetching a breath of that intoxicating scent of flower and earth and sun make all our hard work worthwhile.

But there are other, out-of-the-ordinary ways to enjoy the garden that many of us miss in the practical rounds of weeding and watering, pruning and cultivating. Here are a few simple suggestions for delving deeper and discovering the heart and soul of your garden this summer.

• 1. Make a point of observing your garden at different times during the day.

The dew-spangled garden just at dawn (or at least early morning) is different from the sun-swollen mid-afternoon garden, and a distinct experience again in a cool, misty twilight. Nothing compares to the magic of the garden limned by the silvered fingers of a full moon.

• 2. Walk your garden in different weather situations.

Most of us enjoy the garden on a sunny afternoon, but don’t miss its wild, tossed beauty in a windstorm or the deepening greens and cool wet scents of the garden in the rain.

• 3. Don’t just stroll in your garden.

Grab a blanket, stool, or lawn chair and settle yourself close to a flower bed. Now watch the interplay of blossoms, insects, breezes and birds. Observe each petal and leaf in its unique relationship to the plant as a whole. How many color variations are there in a single bloom? A single leaf?

• 4. While you’re sitting there, close your eyes for a few minutes and listen.

The drone of nectar-laden bees, the rustle of foliage, the background of birdsong, the skittering of insects through the grass, maybe even the swift whir of a hummingbird– they’re all part of your garden, too.

• 5. Display a big spray of cut flowers in your garden–they’re not just for inside the house.

Cut flower bouquets allow you to bring together blooms that can’t grow together because of conflicting light, water and soil requirements. The resulting combinations can lend a whole new dimension of beauty to your garden, and a lovely focal point for a patio, deck or gazebo.

• 6. Sprinkle your garden with tiny lights at night, for just pennies.

Tea light candles set in empty glass jars (Mason jars are excellent) weave a flickering path of beauty through the nighttime garden. Watch how flower colors mute and blend by candlelight as the garden takes on an entirely new persona.

• 7. Finally, keep a journal of your garden.

Not just the prosaic facts on planting and blooming dates, plant performance and propagation notes. Weave in your thoughts and observations as you follow the suggestions in this article. How did the garden look in the rain or at dawn? What made it different by candle- or moonlight? How did it sound? Did you learn anything new from your observations? Don’t forget to note down how the garden looked on special days throughout the summer–birthdays, anniversaries, family visits, holidays. Your garden journal will make great winter reading when the garden is sleeping and you’re curled up in your living room, browsing through seed catalogs and dreaming of spring.

The great gift of a garden is that it delights all of our senses. With a little creative thinking, it can delight the spirit and soul as well.

© 2005 - 2007 Sherry D. Ramsey, all rights reserved

About the author:
Sherry writes speculative fiction. She’s published many short stories and her newest SF novel, “One’s Aspect to the Sun” was recently awarded second place in the 28th Annual Atlantic Writing Competition’s novel category, the H.R. (Bill) Percy Prize. She’s also the author of many essays and articles especially on the craft of writing. She is the publisher and editor of the highly successful Scriptorium Webzine for Writers. You can read all about Sherry at her author’s website www.sherrydramsey.com.

Be sure to read Sherry’s other works in The PCQ.
short story
- Accidents Happen
poetry
- UPLOAD
- I, Galaxy

Originally published in the April 2005 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly, theme: inspiration

[-journaling, art-]

Today the line between journal, sketchbook, memoir, altered books, scrapbooks, and assemblage has blurred. Maybe it’s time to expand your ideas and practices with regard to journaling and see what the possibilities are for you. Here are some thoughts from a favorite contributor, Cynthia Korzekwa and some pages from her books.

words and art by Cynthia Korzekwa

The Greeks invented the hypomnemata, a notebook used as a material support for memory. The Japanese invented Pillow Books, notebooks kept near the bed to write down observations and annotations. And who hasn’t, at one time or another, kept a diary, a record of personal activities, reflections, or feelings?

Journals, often, have been kept as a foundation for a book to be published and now artists take those published books and alter them. And what about scrapbooks and daybooks? All suggest that the inner self just has to come out and materialize itself.

The sketchbook, once point of departure, is now, often, arrival itself.

This is a cover and two pages from a notebook entitled:

THINKING ABOUT THINGS TO DO

When drawing calligraphic strokes, the inner energy passes through the hand to the brush and then onto the paper. This energy is manifested in the final work. I like writing my thoughts out by hand and not by typing them out onto the computer. Because I like the physical feel of writing. My thoughts are more easily synchronized with the pen as opposed to the keyboard. Does writing by hand as opposed to typing change the way our thoughts are processed?

I have many notebooks that I use to draft out my ideas. Once my ideas are articulated in this way, I transfer them to the computer. Then, once these thoughts are printed and archived, I physically obliterate the written words in my notebooks. The rapid and repetitive motion of my hand moving the pen is like a form of meditation and relaxes me.

Cynthia speaks for herself:
My name is cynthia korzekwa. I was born in Texas. My childhood was greatly influenced by our housekeeper. Her name was Fela. She was from Piedras Negras. I grew up speaking Spanish, eating bean tacos and listening to rancheras. Almost a Mexican. The first drawings I remember doing were done in my mother’s books. I did a series of scribbles in Webster’s dictionary. My mother wasn’t impressed. I think I got into trouble. But I kept drawing anyway. That is until I went to Catholic school. There they had rules about everything. Even about drawing. Stuff like: don’t draw to the margin of the page, don’t go out of the lines, don’t put pink next to red. All those rules made drawing a stress. Then I grew up and realized that those rules weren’t for me. They were for somebody else…..Some people were born to be foreigners. I’m one of them. I can’t be homogenized.
email: cynthiak at tin dot it
websites: cynthia korzekwa, art for housewives

You can see more of cynthia’s book work at: www.cynthiakorzekwa.org/books.htm

Cynthia’s other contributions to The PCQ:
Art Begins at Home
On Colour
See all of The PCQ’s articles on Journaling

Originally published in the January 2006 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly, theme: alterations