Creativity Provides

Week in Review: 1/8/16-1/14/16

From Lego.com: "The name 'LEGO' is an abbreviation of the two Danish words 'leg godt', meaning 'play well'."

So that's what's in a name (my teaser from last week), and I love it. 

Playing well insights this week:

-Deconstructing every day is interesting. A part of me just wants to get to building and not have to take anything apart (sometimes having to use the special instrument that helps pull bricks apart). A part of me thinks I should keep the previous day's creation as a base and build from it. It's interesting not keeping the creation. I think I like it. It makes me think of the people I heard about who make sand mandalas (or anything in the sand really). They know it is going to get washed away, and yet they invest time and energy anyways. The hardest one so far to take apart has been my garden in week one. I really liked that one. 


-I serendipitously came across some sound bites that resonated with me about this process:

1. Artist Flora Bowley said in her October Studio Diaries: "The action of painting itself often is where inspiration comes from." Wow. Yes. On the days when I have no idea where I am going and I just start and then I see something and go from there (which sometimes means backtracking), that describes exactly what was happening - the act of playing with LEGO blocks was helping give me ideas of what to create.

2. Flora also says in that Studio Diary, "It's just your first layer. Everything can be covered and changed." While she is talking about painting, I'm going to try and remember that when I sometimes just sit and stare at my bins of LEGO blocks. Just get started. You can change it. Just play and build and see what happens.

3. A final Flora saying from the same Studio Diary, "Letting go and playing are more important than what it looks like." Ahhhh. Such permission. So helpful as sometimes I build (like Day 14's creation), and I think, no one is going to get this or how it relates to the quote. So it's nice for me to remember that's not the point. 


-It's been interesting to see where my inspiration has come from, besides just the art jar quotes on creativity. Here are some of my inspiration co-sources:

1. I have been inspired by what I have already created. Day 12 was inspired by one of the very first paintings I did and it was on meditation/prayer. At the surface was all the chaotic waves of life and then below was different levels of ocean movement and at the bottom still deep layer I painted a white heart of peace, to remind myself that was always available to me even if things in life were stormy. So instead of doing a pink/red LEGO heart, I made mine white. 

2. I have been inspired by what I am currently into. Day 13 was inspired by the fact that I just started re-reading a childhood favorite - The Secret Garden. 

3. I have been inspired by things I love. Day 8 was inspired by a picture of me I found when I was taking Brené Brown's The Gifts of Imperfection E-Course. You were supposed to find a picture of your authentic self and she suggested looking at childhood photos. I found this picture of me laying in the grass as a young child, a look of joy on my face, the grass engulfing me, and I had one hand palm up and one hand face down (I tried to do that with the LEGO figure but not sure how well it worked out). Day 11, while I don't have a rooftop garden, super love and intrigued by them.

4. And finally, I have been inspired by others. Day 10 came about because I was informed by the woman who I basically credit for getting me back to my creative self through her inviting me into art and sharing with and encouraging me, that on LEGO creation Day 1 the quote I drew was by her mentor's mentor, and she wanted to share the creation/quote with them. What?! So I made that circle of influence for the quote (as best I could, two of the women have blonde hair and at the time I only had one blonde hairpiece so one got a hat).


-One final insight, which ties into my fears from last week about how am I going to create 358 more of these!?! Well, and unfortunately I don't remember where I heard this. Input is a big strength of mine (Gallup strength finder official), so I'm always taking in info from others whether from a podcast, book, site, magazine, etc, and sometimes I forget the source. Anyways, I heard that when you do something everyday your brain actually gets used to it and knowing that it is going to do it everyday, comes up with ideas and prepares for it. How sweet it that. So I'm trusting that everything is working in my brain and I'm going to be just fine and not run out of creations. But, you better stay tuned to find out :)

Until next week, I hope you find a way to play well, and I hope one of these creations and or quotes inspires you.

 Feel free to check out the slideshow below for this week's creations, and follow my on instagram to get the latest creations and musings.