[art, virtual worlds]

Winter Lights, an art and photography exhibit, has just opened in the Gallerie Octaviana. The show features work from Mad Swiss Cow, Marcel Moré, Sume, Marjie Kennedy, Pirate Johnny, Smiling da Vinci, and Nancy Waldman on the first floor of the expansive gallery space. Upstairs are two new installations of a Circleworks box and a hued light environment.

The owner and artistic curator of the gallery is Annie Octavia.

What you may now be realizing is that Annie and her gallery are located in the magical space of a virtual world called Second Life. Annie is the online avatar of Beth Felice. I interviewed Beth about Second Life, her gallery, the show, and some of the special kinds of creative works that are all the rage in this Other (S)P(l)ace.

Here’s the interview along with shots and videos from the gallery, the installation.

1. For those people who have never even heard of Second Life… can you give us a brief overview of what it is and how it works?

Second life is an example of a MUVE, multi-user virtual environment, a fancified way of saying 3D web browsing. Does it look like a video game, yes. Is there any “game” objective, not really. Who is there? Currently a vibrant world community of about 7 million, including over 350 colleges and universities, NASA, CDC, libraries, museums, both with counterparts in the physical world and those that exist only in second life (sl).

For a presentation I gave in November at the Federation of State Humanities Councils I created a wiki at http://virtualplace.missourihumanities.org/secondlife. You’ll find a nice assortment of articles, factoids and links there.

2. How long have you been involved in SL? How long have you had the Gallerie Octaviana?

I stumbled into SL Labor day weekend 2006. At that time there were about 400,000 users. There was a release of virtual land (512 square feet is included with each paid account) in December of 06 and I staked a claim then, and built the first gallery.

3. Have you had other exhibits?

Yes, I’ve quite enjoyed bringing flickr friends into SL, and hopefully vice versa.

4. Is exhibiting art in SL a good way to get publicity for one’s work?

I’m not sure if you are talking about a subjective or a metric here. In a way, there is a large community of eyeballs, a very organized art community, and the ability to have things on display 24/7. That being said, the most traffic is generated by real time events, openings, artist discussions, etc. I am most interested in this idea of immersion, of being able to walk the representation of self through the art. I am very interested in this intersection of photorealism and illustrative style, and using some of the fantastical qualities, the “magic” not possible in the physical world.

As an aside, I have read that up to 10% (and many believe this number might be higher) of the Sl community is physically challenged in some way. There are some pretty amazing stories about the communities of stroke survivors, wheelchair bound, autistic, and people living with chronic diseases like cystic fibrosis rejoicing in the ability to be “just another” person…or just another person that can fly.

I’m still stuck on the concept of publicity for one’s work. I’m not sure. I think the most interesting work might be that which combines sound, movement, scripting, graphic, and interpretation. And it might exist specifically in a place like SL. Am not sure that work ports straight across from a gallery wall around the corner, into the virtual gallery.

5. I think it’s fairly easy to conceptualize how you put images onto the “walls” of your gallery, but you also have moving 3-d sculptures. Those are a little tougher for me to imagine creating. Tell us about those.

I made a little video, creating an object, and assigning properties and “textures” (graphics). SL Prim-er for Practically Creative Quarter folks

[readers: be sure to check out this primer on prims.
it’s well done and totally intriguing.
also you’ll see the pcq home page on the gallery wall!]

6. Tell us about your alter ego, Annie Octavia. How is she like you? How is she different? Did you have an idea of who you would be on SL or did it evolve out of the experience of being there?

There seems to be an ongoing discussion between immersionists and augmentationists in virtual worlds. Some people want to explore parts of their personality they might not commit to IRL (in real life) and some people see the avatar as an extension of self, trying to make it as close to reality as possible. I remember one of the first librarian meetings I went to, one fellow had made himself into a two story tall dust ball.

There is actually a good deal of scholarly interest in these topics
virtualworldsconnect.com/
edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/06/07/virtual_identity
ibiblio.org/nmediac/winter2004/matusitz.html
gwynethllewelyn.net

Annie began as a representation of self. I’m not much of an actor. Recently a great friend started to explore the visual and creative aspects of costume. Remember, as everything in SL is user created, this includes hair, clothes, etc. A current favorite designer mixes traditional Japanese costuming with a distopian future and goth.

7. What else would you like people who haven’t experienced it to know about Second Life?

In a way it is a next iteration of the internet, and reminiscent of how you might describe what one could find “online” in the early ’90s. It is a communication tool, a collaboration application. It takes the more singular activity of person browsing web via computer to a social activity.

8. Anything else you’d like to say that I neglected to ask about?

Winter Lights is up through April. Anyone wanting a little help learning the SL environment, please feel free to email. The next project is a more intensive scripting project, coordinating events of sound and image with avatar movement through space, or interaction with other avatars. I also seem to be composing a lot these days, and that happens in a very NON networked world!

A Visit to Gallerie Octaviana

When Beth asked me to be in her show this time, I decided to go visit Gallerie Octaviana. I had never been on Second Life but had heard about it, so I was curious. It takes a little time—but not money—to get set up there. I would estimate that it took me between one and two hours to begin. This included time to register and decide on the basic parameters of my avatar (my name is *Aplomb Pomilio*—you can freely choose your first name but the last name must be taken from an extensive list). Then I went to the orientation island where I figured out how to navigate, use the map, chat and appearance interfaces and so on.

I then set out in the world to find the gallery. Even though I thought I had the parameters, I was not able to find it on my own. Second Life is big! I landed in some pretty amazing places though. Finally, I had to email Beth and ask her to contact me in SL. She pinpointed her spot and I was able to teleport there.

Walking through the gallery with Annie (dressed fabulously!) as my guide, is like being a character in a video game, I suppose, except better because you know no one’s going to shoot at you! I have to say it’s pretty amazing to see my photos and the PCQ home page up on a gallery wall in this other worldly place. Thanks Beth for a fascinating introduction to Second Life.

Here I am in some person’s clothing shop (sorry I am too disoriented in this foreign land to know where exactly I am):

I’m sorry I didn’t turn around to face the camera. I couldn’t figure out how to make that happen. The bird on my shoulder was given to me when I showed up on orientation island. It’s probably a sign of a real n%b*. Anyway, it was a stay-at-home adventure for sure. Cheers!

*Note from Beth:

The bird on your shoulder is not the sign of the n00b, just a gift from someone, who also was once new. In virtual and real world communities, people care about one another, and this just makes every day a complete wonder.

You can find all of Beth’s projects and websites at bfelice.jaiku.com :: Beth is also a member of our social network: Being Practically Creative Come on over and check it out.

February 08: Some of my thoughts and photos on further exploration of Second Life. And on the pleasures of playing dress-up!

Cooking is one of the few creative activities that I engage in pretty much everyday. However, I realized recently that somewhere along the line I stopped giving cooking the respect it deserves.

I have always enjoyed cooking but I guess my children—over time—with their penchant for the bland and the familiar, ate away at ( )the amount of creativity that I generally poured into daily meals. I remember my younger son exclaiming that a quickie “Sloppy Joe” dinner was “The best meal you’ve ever made, Mom!” That’s okay. As a busy mom, I’d take any compliment I could get.

But for years now, it’s ordinarily just my husband and myself and since we’re both adventurous eaters, I have free reign over what to cook. I’m not much of a planner. I work until my tummy tells me it’s time to eat, go downstairs, think about what I’m hungry for, see what’s available— sometimes pulling out three times as much as I’ll use—and start cooking. I rarely use a recipe for evening meals. The results are usually good and often delicious (my rule of thumb is Would I be happy if I’d paid for this at a restaurant? and often I can answer “Yes!” to that question)

However, I don’t usually think of it as part of my creative day.

Recently, I had a different kind of cooking that needed to be done. We—like many people this time of year—have a surplus of zucchini from our little garden. I don’t even particularly LIKE zucchini so I knew that I needed some creative ways of using up these mass quantities. I looked on the internet for zucchini breads and ran across a beautiful cooking blog called 101 Cookbooks by Heidi Swanson. There, I found a recipe for a zucchini bread with an ‘Indian’ twist. This looked perfect as I was having my book club over that weekend. Our book club does a pot luck dinner with food suggested by the book we’ve read and this time it was Indian.

I set to work making this and what I ended up with was not only a yummy dessert and a little less zucchini to deal with but also a renewed appreciation for cooking as both a creative outlet and catalyst.

Right from the start this zucchini bread recipe offered me two things: 1) the opportunity to bake—which I love but don’t allow myself the time to do and 2) a recipe to follow. Nothing earth-shattering there, but it dawned on me as I got into it that following a recipe was allowing me a mental escape. Follow the directions. Do this, then do this, then do that.

Relaxation was the first thing I noticed. I scooped and measured the dry ingredients, enjoying the gentle mess of flour as it sifted across the counter. I used my food processor with childlike glee to shred that huge zucchini in the photo in a just few seconds.

Then I noticed that the relaxation was overlaid with something else: stimulation. My sense of smell became activated in a major way by the ingredients. Lemon zest! Wow, what a virtual explosion of associations: summer and heat and childhood and so many others—all good! Then there were the more familiar but homey smells of pecans (being from Texas where pecans grow, I used them instead of walnuts), cinnamon and vanilla. My senses were further delighted by surprising ingredients such as crystallized ginger and curry powder. What yummy smells and sooo delicious.

By the time I popped the two pans in the oven, I was as relaxed, happy and energized as if I’d had a late-afternoon walk on the beach or a great yoga class. I felt raring to go! Ready to take on more baking (I used up more, though not all, of the zucchini on Heidi’s gorgeous chocolate zucchini cupcakes! which we are still enjoying around here) and more of anything creative I could get my hands on.

I would have come upstairs and written this post right then if I hadn’t had Book Club coming the next night!

What I realized—remembered—is that cooking, when we can relax into it involves the senses as few other activities do. Not only smell and—of course, taste—but touch and sometimes even hearing. And it’s one of those activities such as walking or riding a bike, driving or taking a shower that can put us into a C-mindful state. I’ve often worked through plot knots while cooking. The activity is absorbing enough that it distracts but it doesn’t require a great deal of concentration—sometimes none at all. Perfect for c-mind problem solving!

So here’s the reminder: We have to eat, so why not approach the occasional cooking *chore* as an opportunity to delight our senses, relax our minds and catalyze whatever we want to do with our excess creative energy.

bon appétit

“Mount Desert Dragons” acrylic on canvas 16″ x 20″ © 2007 Tyler Darvintyne; all rights reserved

It’s wonderful to think that The PCQ has enough history and pure BULK to it that I can be distracted for so many weeks and still have new and renewable readers drop by everyday. Welcome to you all!

Over the summer, I didn’t post as much as I expected but I knew that I was doing well and good by taking a break from what had been a months-long task of putting this zine and its archives into the new format. I needed to get outside, enjoy the too-short summer months, do some physical work and complete other tasks that had been put off too long. It was a great summer.

However, I didn’t expect September to be such a bust as far as posting! I was so inspired and had great ideas for several new articles and posts, but guess what? I didn’t have time.

“dark matter telescopic” 12 x 9 acrylic on canvas © 2007 Tyler Darvintyne; all rights reserved

A trip to see my son and granddaughter came up unexpectedly. My son had the opportunity to show his art work last weekend in Bar Harbor, Maine and he needed help—babysitting and otherwise. I’ve included in this post some samples of his art. I think of it as pure energy with a large dollop of joy. I love it!

“Skies of Van Gogh” acrylic on canvas; 11″ x 14″
by Tyler Darvintyne © 2007 all rights reserved

His first outing was exhausting work for all of us, but a big success. He not only sold quite a bit of art, he learned a massive amount about how to show and sell his work.

I also got to spend almost 10 days with my granddaughter, Acadia, also known as “Cadi.” She’s 27 months old. What an age! I kept thinking, No wonder Tyler is so creative these days, he’s got Cadi around to inspire him everyday. But of course, we all know that it’s not that simple. Children are exhausting and Tyler is raising her all by himself with no family nearby to give him any relief. I think the explosion of creativity is as much about needing to do something other than parenting as much as anything else.

“Land Ho” acrylic on canvas 9″x12″ © 2007 Tyler Darvintyne all rights reserved

Whatever the reason, it’s certainly working for him. Here’s the artist, Darvintyne with a few of his paintings:

And finally, though I don’t post too many purely personal items here, I can’t resist another image, this one of Cadi. Long-time readers will remember her newborn to infant photos from the original PCQ subscriber’s page. She’s still the best!

aka “GRANCY”

For more of Darvintyne’s work go to: quintessential abstractions- http://tylermetzger.wordpress.com

[-writing, exercise-]

Writing takes activity. You have to write the words down on the page. Everyone knows that. But what’s going on inside as you make that effort to put a story together? Think about the issue of control and how it does or doesn’t work for you. We tend to think of energy, activity, the doing part of it as the most important. But consider another viewpoint. Here’s what Brenda Ueland says about it:

Willing is doing something you know already, something you have been told by somebody else; there is no new imaginative understanding in it. And presently your soul gets frightfully sterile and dry because you are so quick, snappy and efficient about doing one thing after another that you have not time for your own ideas to come in and develop and gently shine.

In this spirit, here’s a daydreaming exercise to foster the idea of letting go so that you can dream something up rather than just jotting something down.

Sit in front of your computer. Look at the keyboard for a few moments. Put your fingers on the keys and type a sentence. Type ANYTHING.
For example:

your thoughts:
• I am typing a sentence.
• This is a stupid exercise.
• I hate this.
• What am I doing this for?

whatever comes into your head, no matter how weird:

• Dogs with feathers would create nests in their sleep.
• Wallpaper hides cracks and peels when it’s old.
• My teeth might crumble before I die.

the most random nonsense you can come up with:
• Jumbled crossover blinks always allay floods.
• Accessing liverwurst can be the answer to pink socks.
• Everyone jousts because the ghostly phone didn’t ring.

Now here’s the hard part. As soon as you’ve put the period on your sentence, delete it.

As fast as you can, type something else.

Delete that.

Keep doing it for at least ten minutes, more if you can tolerate it.

Now begin your writing for the day.

This exercise does three important things:

1. It loosens your mind by making flighty associations and spurring imaginative juxtapositions on the page
2. It clears the mind of the top layer of dry, tired dirt so that the underlying fertile soil is available to you
3. It provides practice in letting go of words.
   This is a valuable lesson for a writer because we all tend to love what comes out of us. Our words are our babies and we don’t like to make them disappear once they are on the paper. But we have to know how as well as when to delete. This will help.

[-r-mindfulness, exercise-]

by Nancy Waldman

Before beginning your creative work for the day, try this as a warm-up. It is an excellent way to access your R-mind and to lift your awareness from everyday mode into a heightened realm.

This warm-up is a drawing exercise but it’s not just for visual artists. It will help no matter what kind of creative endeavor follows.

Pick an object to draw. It can be anything, simple or complicated but, especially if you are new to this, choose a small object that can be brought to your drawing table so that you can focus on it easily.

Try to set aside ten to twenty minutes of uninterrupted time. Set a timer if you have one. Because you know there’s a set limit, this will help you to ‘forget’ the passage of time as you work. This will enhance the experience.

Using paper and pencil (it doesn’t have to be a pencil, but I enjoy the resistance that graphite on paper gives) you are going to draw the object. But this is no ordinary drawing. A contour drawing is one where your eyes never leave the object you are drawing and your pencil never leaves the paper once you’ve begun.

The end result will not look like the object you’ve chosen. This is okay because the purpose of this contour drawing is not to have a representation of that object; it is instead to focus on the edges, the lines, the boundaries, the negative space, the contours of the object in a new way. Here is a contour drawing I did of my hand.

The first thing you probably notice is that it doesn’t look like a hand. Good. It’s not supposed to. Now, notice the very specific quality of the line. In contour drawings, you are focused only on *seeing* and moving the pencil as you move the eye. Usually, there is another step between putting what we see on paper. Normally, you would look at the object, then look at the paper, decide on the placement of the line and begin to draw. By that time, though, the specific quality of what you’ve seen has already become somewhat diluted.

In a contour drawing, because the usual connection between what is being seen and what is going down on the paper is removed, the lines show the specificity. They are usually quite beautiful and sensitive, but even that is not the purpose of doing the drawing.

The purpose is to get your brain away from its usual mind-set. After you do your drawing, ask yourself how it felt. Did you notice that you were a little irritated at first? Perhaps you felt frustrated or silly. All of these less than positive responses are quite normal ones, especially if you’ve never done a contour drawing before.

That’s your everyday mind rebelling against an exercise that is completely different. The goal here is to persist with the drawing long enough to pass through these objections and into another mode, a different way of thinking.

Once you’ve done the drawing, then start your day of novel writing or oil painting or composing or whatever your creative work happens to be. You’ll find yourself in a less mundane, more relaxed, focussed and flexibly creative state of mind.

[-essay, creative challenge-]

by Nancy S.M. Waldman

My grandmother, Polly Mahala Reed was a talented seamstress. When I think of the word “Alterations” I think of her.

She, like many of her generation, made most of her family’s clothes. My mother can describe in detail the colors and fabrics of the outfits she and her sister are wearing in the black and white photos from her childhood in the 1920’s and 30’s. But when I knew my grandmother, she was working as a seamstress in a smart little dress shop in San Diego. She did alterations.

Making clothes from scratch is a pretty great skill, but the idea of taking something ready-made and tailoring it to meet the needs of a particular body or taste, is even more amazing. Polly had to not only be able to envision what would work and how, but also have the technical skills to carry out those changes and have the finished product look better than new.

Altering anything can make it new again.

So here’s an Alterations Challenge!

Here are some functional items you could play with to transform into art:

* toothbrushes
* hair brushes
* broom
* pet toys
* plant pots
* old technology (be careful with the ‘innards’; many have toxic materials)
* any kind of recycling - plastic, cardboard, cans

We’re using the term “art” broadly to mean something that is fun, beautiful, wacky, decorative, playful, colorful, wonderful, unexpected, instructive, metaphorical - but NOT primarily functional.

Here’s a great example that was featured in the original PCQ:

Here’s another favourite of mine:

Clean out your make-up items that are not being used and make an assemblage out of them. Construct a shadow box or doll furniture (ok, so that’s slightly functional but we’ll count it as art) . Try playing cards, match boxes, pin cushions, ashtrays, magazines. See our Altered Books article for inspiration.

Here’s a sun-catcher I made from a used gelpen:

As for the other side of the challenge: use old, dusty, dog-eared, torn, faded, broken or “failed” art or photographs as the raw material for something beautifully useful, such as:

* jewelry
* containers (for cell phone, glasses, jewelry)
* frames
* pots
* waste baskets
* pillows
* lamps
* small furniture

Here’s a box I made out of a painting I did years ago:

This was a ready-made craft store box that I covered in old photographs and paper:

Use things you have around the house that would otherwise gather dust, or be thrown or given away.

How about broken glassware or dishes? They make great mosaics and jewelry.

Do you have old craft projects that will never get finished? Think about them in a new way. It’s great for dealing with that I-didn’t-finish-it guilt that can sap and sabotage our creative energy.

Be aware of what’s around you, what you are throwing away or what is on the shelves of your closet or in your junk drawers. Raise your level of consciousness and take the time to experiment.

remember:

Alterations can make things New Again

© 2007 all rights reserved by the artist on all images

We have a lot of fun alterations on our site. check out these other PCQ articles and examples:
Baywhale
- How to Make a Photosandwich
Maureen Shaughnessy - altered photographs
- thoughts and images
- tutorial and images
Cynthia Korzekwa
- On Colour
- Art Begins at Home: recycled and reused items made into art
Karen Hatzigeorgiou
- Altered books / Found Poetry
coming soon:
Nancy Waldman
- Found Poetry
- Article about Norman Sherfield’s, “Six Pac”: Naturally Good

Or just click on the topic: Alterations.

Originally published in the January 2006 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly, theme: alterations
Altered slightly for re-publication in The Practically Creative Quarter

[-practices, tips-]

a Quick Creative Practice
~simple practices have profound impacts~

Need Inspiration? Learn something new

Choose either a fairly simple skill - for example, how to do stencilling or beginning knitting - or - choose a skill that will take time and effort and one that you have, therefore, been putting off your whole life - like playing an instrument or learning a language. Either way, you’ll reap unforeseen benefits far beyond what you’re learning.

Question: “Do you know how old I’ll be by the time I learn to play the piano?”

Answer: “The same age you’ll be if you don’t learn to play the piano.”

Start now. Your efforts will be rewarded.

Learning something new inspires because:

• * it ignites the mind, firing up sluggish brain cells
• * new skill sets have bearing on what we already know in ways we can’t predict - for example, working with sumptuous wool yarn might provide a new connection to painting or composing
• * it reminds us that we are creative beings capable of continual evolution.

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

[-practically mperfect-]

by Nancy S.M. Waldman

You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star.

Friedrich Nietzsche said that and I - with quite a bit of creative chaos in my life - completely understand what he means. Chaos - if we tone it down to a buzz of unrestrained energetic activity - can be an inspirational muse. However, chaos is hardly the only thing we need for creativity.

Creative chaos will not get a zine out - on time or otherwise. “Quarterly” doesn’t mean much to the chaos swirling in one’s soul. Chaos doesn’t know a single thing about html or how to put in a link that works. And chaos can’t write an essay for anything in the world.

Chaos does not keep up the blog entries.

Chaos cannot re-write a novel.

For those things and more, you need another “c” word; a word with a lot less magic, a lot less pizzazz, a lot less playfulness. You need consistency. This, folks, is the practical side of being practically creative. And it - or the want of it - comes up frequently for me.

Like all creatively conscious people, I adore those brilliant flashes of creativity when disparate ideas and materials come together in a new and exciting way. This stimulates and energizes and feeds on itself. So, if I occasionally feel those brilliant flashes, why worry about something as dull as consistency? Because not only does consistency accomplish tasks that chaotic creativity can’t, it also feels good to accomplish daily goals. Chaos cannot accomplish long-term, complicated projects. It takes consistency. It takes showing up for work, day after day.

For about a month after the first issue of the year came out, I was “showing up” to the Practically Creative blog most days. It was fun and creatively stimulating for me and, I believe, for others. I had plenty of gloriously creative raw material thanks to the Practically Creative flickr group. It didn’t take much time and I always felt better after doing them. It’s similar to the way I feel physically after exercising. Often I resist, but I always feel better when I do it. With the blog-roll I was on in February and early March, there was no reason for me to think that I couldn’t continue doing consistent daily blog entries forever. No reason except self-knowledge and experience. By now, I know myself pretty well.

Chaos and consistency don’t easily coexist. In my life and I think, the lives of many artistically creative people, chaos more often than not bests consistency in hand-to-hand, day-to-day combat. Even if we just call it moodiness, it’s enough to get us off track. So what can we do about it? We need both ‘creative chaos’ and consistency and they are close to being mutually exclusive!

We have to do what it says at the top of this article. We have to learn to accept our shortcomings. Consistency isn’t a parlour trick like a white rabbit conjured out of a hat. If it’s not in us as a natural attribute, then we have to practice acceptance, but we also have to foster more functional habits. It is a balancing act - think tightrope walker’s skill rather than a magician’s trick - to accept who we are. To embrace the strong parts of ourselves, those parts that are capable of giving “birth to a dancing star” while also repeatedly disciplining ourselves to show up so we can finish and bring our creative projects to the world.

Getting down on ourselves because we fail only gets in our way. The goal is not perfection. It is progress. Guilt and self-hatred come from that perfectionist thinking and will keep us from showing up tomorrow if we let it. Only a balance of self-awareness and the steady goal of making ourselves better at consistency will help us achieve a finished product.

Writer, Stephen Nachmanovitch said this about creativity:

The noun of self becomes a verb. This flashpoint of creation in the present moment is where work and play merge.

We will, more often than not, miss that brilliant flashpoint if we haven’t shown up for the work. That’s consistency. We have to work when we aren’t inspired. We have to work even when we feel uncreative. We have to do it when it isn’t intuitive. The experience of it being “play” instead of “work” will follow from that consistent effort.

Whether or not we finish our creative projects - whether, for instance, my novels get re-written or my blog gets an entry today - isn’t going to make a difference in anyone else’s life, but it will in our own. Even if consistency isn’t our strongest trait let’s vow to continue working on the habit of showing up everyday.

Maybe today there will be a brilliant flash and, just maybe, that star will dance.

Originally published in the July 2006 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly
© 2006 - 2007 all rights reserved

[-inspiration-]

Inspiration means to inhale, to breathe in. It was chosen as the theme of the first Practically Creative Quarterly because this project is the result of inspiration brought on by my recent exploration of webdesign.

Learning something new always energizes and leaves me with a delightful side effect: an urge to revisit and expand upon interests that have been dormant or languishing due to lack of inspiration. My abiding interests in art, writing and the creative process are refreshed by this new-to-me medium.

None of us would last long if we only breathed out. Remember that when your enthusiasm fades. Everything here is meant to help you discover or be reminded of how you get inspired. Reading and viewing what’s in this issue will renew, refresh and get you ready.

Breathe it in — and out.

Inspiration fills us. Exhalation is putting what we’ve created out into the world.

Art work: an artist trading card/painted photograph by Nancy Waldman
© 05-07

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

[-inspiration, practices-]

While we all love the feeling of being suddenly and unexpectedly filled with inspiration, people working in creative fields, can’t wait around for those moments. There’s too much work to be done. Luckily, there are ways of cultivating inspiration.

To grow inspiration you need to:

1. Clear a plot - make a special space where you will be able to create
2. Take out the rocks and pebbles - work at distancing yourself from people and situations who are obstacles to your creative growth
3. Bring in rich soil - learn as much as you can from as many sources as possible
4. Dig deep - fine art is particular to the individual; in order to be authentically creative you have to know and be willing to express your deepest self
5. Don’t overdo - constant struggle depletes; take time to refresh yourself
6. Plant high-quality seeds - use the best quality materials you can afford
7. Be patient - first efforts don’t result in masterpieces; take the time to master your craft and don’t expect too much too soon
8. Provide the best possible nourishment - take care of your physical body
9. Work at it daily - don’t wait until you find inspiration; do the work, and inspiration will find you
10. Pull weeds, not flowers -till the soil without disturbing new growth - revise, practice, edit, rework, undo, practice, turn it upside down or look at it in the mirror, practice, change your perspective while believing in the work you’ve done
11. Be patient and persistent - it takes time; keep at it
12. Water and fertilize - first and always, be kind to yourself
13. Don’t fret over what didn’t grow - learn from any “failures” and treat yourself with respect and dignity and move on
14. Enjoy what you’ve grown - whatever you’ve accomplished IS an accomplishment! Don’t minimize it once you’ve done it! Be pleased with your work!

Interested in metaphors and writing? Read this article: Metaphors: Creating Illusion
Interested in gardening? Try this one by Sherry Ramsey

Originally published in the April 2005 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly, theme: inspiration
© 2005 - 2007; all rights reserved