Creativity and Sharing

Week in Review: 1.29.16-2.4.16

Hey guess what? It's February! That means I've already done a month of LEGO creations! I know you want to see my LEGO calendar so here you go:

As you can see I started out doing simple drawings and words to remind me of the creation, and then this happened (from my instagram post on 1.14.16): "May have made an impulse buy at the art store today but I love stickers!! I've always liked LEGO blocks but The LEGO movie in large part prompted this experiment with building creativity so it's perfect. Now I will have fun treating myself by picking out a sticker each day to go on my LEGO calendar after I create. Yes, I have a LEGO calendar, does it help if they gave it to me for free (or because I spent money on a LEGO kit :)? All for the cause of creativity!"

Putting yourself out there.

I really thought about not sharing in any form that I was doing this building creativity experiment. For several reasons. I was worried I would feel pressure and not enjoy it. I was worried sharing would influence my ability to really let go and create as I would be worried what people were going to think of the creations. I was worried others would think I was ridiculous and frivolous for playing with LEGO blocks each day and was wasting my time. I was worried I would fail for whatever reason, get behind, not being able to come up with new ideas, and that I would be embarrassed as doing what I say I'm going to do is a big deal to me.
But as I said in the first week in review, I kept hearing I should create and share. I had been doing one of my art e-courses at the time called 100 Days of Creative Courage by Stephanie Levy (FYI she has a current hiatus on courses). She interviewed 100 artists/creatives and you get sent an email with an interview each day. I kept hearing the general theme that artists wished they had shared their work earlier but then it was on Day 99 that I fully committed to sharing this experiment (which was December 30, 2015 by the way). The interview was with Jenny Doh and she said, "Advice #1 is create, create, create. Advice #2 is to share, share, share. Create what you love and share what you create. And do this regularly and consistently. Before you know it, you'll become regarded an expert in the field of what you create." My personal note after this quote  is: Okay I'll share my legos (smily face).

And I am so thankful I have. If I hadn't let people know what I was doing I would have missed out. Here are some things I have been told about because I let people in to what I was doing, even without knowing how it would all turn out. Thank you to all who have seen something, thought of me, and took the time to send information to me or tell me. It means a lot.
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-Brickfest Live!!!! I had no clue it was happening and would have missed out on a lot of inspiration and fun. Check out pictures I took from the event here.
-LEGO ideas website. I'm not planning on submitting any ideas (hey maybe I should think big), but bookmarked it to be inspired and read their blog.
-Mini-figure with a disability released.
-Master Builders' job openings.
-Personally discovering the hash tag on instagram #365project (or for this year only #366project) and getting to see other people doing daily creative projects like photos or drawings.
-A couple came over to our house for dinner and their kids brought a container with LEGO blocks in it because they knew I was doing the LEGO project. I got to see a sweet girl's unique creation (that she made very quickly and intuitively by the way with none of the stress and thinking I can sometimes do).

A couple other insights into the creative process from this past week:

Connection:
On Day 29 I was thinking the creation just wouldn't connect at all to the quote as I did not have a real plan for the creation. I just went for it and let the creation lead me, at one point the pink arches had leave on them to make them more trees but I took that away. Anyways, I ended up having people doing yoga in the space and as I was going to post on Instagram I was still thinking no way this is going to make any since. And then after typing in the quote I realized the connection. So crazy how our brains are working on things and connections and inspirations even when we don't see the lines between the dots. 

​Day 29: "Some of us base our sense of self-worth on how well we respond to the needs of others. With practice however we can stop feeling guilty and begin to sense a kind of respect from the very people whose requests we have learned to decline...your artist time is as important as working-outside-the-home-time." -Janice Elsheimer

What's your practice to take care of yourself so when you do give it is out of fullness and love? Personally I like yoga and running as me time. I hope you will guard time to do something (or maybe nothing) that will nourish your soul and truly energize and comfort you. ​

Not Giving Up: 
On Day 33 I just did not have the right piece to do what I wanted to do (make it look like a slide). I tried everything in my connecting bin and was just about to give up after 20 minutes and then I found something that worked just right. It was a lesson that correlated with my actual life this past week. I was thinking I was going to have to tell you I was writing this blog on a library computer. That's right, my ancient obsolete back-up computer I was writing to you on last week had a hard drive death (it's second hard drive I might add). So I was officially out of computers as the other one was still in the shop. Not having what I thought were the right tools to do my work was incredibly frustrating to say the least. But I just took a forced break after being bummed and whining to everyone I know. And you know what, my current computer came back early (viola writing to you from it now) and had the least minor fix and I didn't lose any data. Patience, working with what you've got, being flexible when things don't go your way, sticking with the plan, all good lessons to learn. Being a master builder with blocks and in life doesn't come easy folks, but it's worth it.

​Day 33: "Begin with action, trusting God for the inspiration. Be courageous. Take heart that you are doing the work God created you to do." -Janice Elsheimer

As always, follow me on Instagram for the latest musings and daily creations. I'm including the musings along with the quotes here on the blog for you this week. I'd love to hear your thoughts on Instagram or please leave a comment here. How have you seen connection and serendipity by sharing what you are doing? What lessons have you learned this week? Keep creating and building what only you uniquely can. 

Day 30: "One reason artists become blocked is by using inertia to overcome fears of failure. One reason artists become blocked is by using inertia to avoid feeling like losers. This behavior is all about self-protection, about playing it safe. No matter what your talent, all you have to do to avoid rejection is to never produce anything that could be rejected." -Janice Elsheimer

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Day 31: "One of the keys to unlocking your creativity is action: simply doing the next thing that needs to be done." -Janice Elsheimer
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This quote fit exactly with the chapter I read in The Artist's Way this morning on using self-compassion to get past the artist block of fear. Also I got some new clear blocks today as I only had a handful of them and I think the idea of clear(ed) blocks goes well with this quote. From the book Getting Things Done I learned you should always write down the next specific action instead of broad general to-dos as you are more likely to act on it as there are no other steps for your brain to figure out.

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Day 32: "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven... for there is a time for every purpose and for every work." Ecclesiastes 3:1,17

A place I stayed in once had a piece of art up that said: Enjoy the Season. Embracing where we are or what is now can be so hard. That's why my word/phrase last year was Embrace the Present. I needed that reminder to not be time traveling forwards or backwards and be as present as I could be. As someone who likes things to be complete, I have to remind myself the fun is in the process and I don't want to be done with everything as quickly as possible. But that requires learning how to breathe and rest and relax during the process. Knowing I can come back to the mess. Still working on that.

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Day 34: "The point of my playing (or in our case doing art) is to present the message of the song (or the art), to wash the feet of the people or even God by faithfully playing (doing art) my best with the ability I've been given." -Michael Card 
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I had more time to do art because my main computer was in the repair shop and my backup really old computer's hard-drive died (for the second time so I knew what that click clicking sound was). It was a forced break and I took it as a sign to slow down (after some pity woes and feeling super bummed). As a surprise, my laptop was ready today and it wasn't a hard-drive error so I didn't lose anything and it was a manufacturer defect so it was a no cost repair. I no longer have a grey screen of death!
Glad I did art with the forced break but don't want to forget the lesson that not everything has to be done and just right to pause and go create and play. It's so hard for me to pause in the mess, but I know if I don't I won't make the time, because we are never all done. I hope you hit pause, not because of a grey screen, and do something that makes you smile.

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Day 35: "I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way should go." -Isaiah 48:17

Beyond thankful for that because anxiety and fear and perfectionism sometimes feel like my default when it comes to decisions. Could not move without God. Cheers to celebrating new directions.

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