For those of you who love to start the New Year with creative exercises, here is another favorite!

What is your color this year?

And to really get your creative juices flowing, eight of our CONFIDENCE Teachers are sharing their favorite color and/or word today for this month’s blog circle!

My color for the year is a deep crimson red.

Why?  I feel a pull to dig deeper into my creative well, to churn the passions that have sat idle, to discover more of who I am and my capacity to create, love and risk.  And for some reason, all these things make me think of a deep crimson red, like the one in this painting.

This is part of the painting I’ve been working on in my Beginning Drawing/Painting class.  What a stretching class it’s been!  We were asked to do an abstract painting and free to use whatever colors we wanted.  I stared at the blank canvas and felt completely overwhelmed.  I had instant empathy for all of you who stare at a blank page and have no idea what to write.

But as I let myself be messy and experiment, emotions and images began to surface in my mind.  In the full painting, there is a pregnant woman with a flowing dress and a door to enter a large tree.  But this is just a peek for now while I work to finish the piece.

The mint colored swing?  It symbolizes my fear of feeling out of control.  I get dizzy on swings and can’t ride escalators.  Yep, it’s embarassing but true.  That’s why I wanted to add a swing that looks like I’ve just leapt off.  Even though swinging high makes me feel a little seasick and out of control, I still pump my legs!  I want the perspective that comes from being up high, and I want to leap into my next chapter!  It’s also mint blue because there is a freshness to that color.  And even though there is a deep churning inside me, a desire to go deeper into who I am, there is also a lightness–a child-likeness.  It’s not all serious.  🙂

I was inspired by the mint color when Blaze and I walked the other morning.  The frost was still thick on the leaves underfoot.  And this beautiful mint color stood out to me.  It’s fascinating to see how our creative projects pull from many sources.

When you close your eyes and quiet yourself, what color comes to mind?  What color is churning inside you?  What emotions stir?  This is a fun way to exercise your creative juices because choosing a color is much more abstract than picking your word(s).  No right or wrong in these creative exercises ladies!

Follow our teacher’s blog circle by seeing what Tina Erdman’s color or word is this year!

Can I also say how much I LOVED hearing your words for the year too!  Here are a handful of words that many of you shared:

-Resolve

-Glow

-Love

-Manage

-Forward Motion

-Mirror

-Manifest

-Balance

-Faith and Strength

-Calm, and the list goes on and on!   THANK YOU for SHARING YOUR WORDS!  Not only was it fun to hear your words but inspiring to hear the reasoning behind your word choice.

Find out what color and/or words our CONFIDENCE Teachers are claiming for the New Year.  Starting with Tina!

xo,

m

-Did you miss the first Creative Exercise for the New Year?  If so, What is Your Word?