I am so proud of myself! I had to share. This post wasn’t in this week’s plan, but I am on cloud 9!
Here’s the deal. I had my first painting class last night. I got on my blue Townie bike with my bubble gum pink fenders and white basket, and went up the road to the local art studio. Having no experience in painting, I sat myself down and decided to try something new.
A few years ago, I was talking with the father of the groom at a wedding we were shooting. He was a well known surgeon. He told me that everywhere he teaches himself a new form of art. That year, he was learning how to create oil paintings–the year before he was taking watercolor classes. He said that taking the time to learn a new discipline, a creative discipline, kept his mind alive in the operating room. Art played into his work much more than his colleagues would ever knowledge. And instead of his job becoming mundane with surgery after surgery, he was inspired from within his creative spirit. I never forgot this conversation.
At our last CONFIDENCE workshop in Seattle, I was telling the women to not think of themselves as just photographers but to think of themselves as artists. My reasoning was that as a photographer, you limit your modes of inspiration. In fact, let me ask you this. When you go looking for inspiration to your photography, do you unknowingly limit your search to photography websites, images and blogs? Or do you inspire your photographic self by way of doing things that don’t even involve holding a camera?
If you see yourself as an artist, everything is available to you for inspiration. If you only see yourself as a photographer, or only a writer, a painter, or even a surgeon, the world of inspiration starts to close in. Well Seattle Sistas, I took my own advice and signed myself up for a painting class.
If I only depend on my camera to inspire me, I feel pressure to perfect my photography and then that makes me tired. But what if painting could inspire my photography? What if working with the color wheel and taking in the various shade of green–what if those simple acts of focus ended up giving new inspiration to what I see through my camera?
I learned about the Alphabet of Drawing last night: the circle, line, curve and angle. I learned about timing myself as I draw something. Giving myself 60 seconds to complete a drawing b/c that forces the left side of my brain to give up. The left side of my brain tends to doubts my abilities–it’s so practical. But the right side of my brain believes I can draw any thing. Sixty seconds for a drawing isn’t enough oxygen for the left side of my brain. I was AMAZED at what came out of me.
When I rode home last night, everything around me had shifted. Instead of houses, I recognized circles, lines, curves and angles everywhere. I can’t wait to find out how this will affect my photography. That’s the great part about nurturing the artist within, when you feed one part of your creative self it spills over into every other part.
Now it’s your turn! Here is where the post gets even more fun! If your reading this today, take a moment and post ONE thing you could do to inspire your creative self and thus inspire your photography.
I’ll get the juices going with a handful, but please share your ideas! I need your help getting out of my box too! If 100 people posted their ideas, think of the resource we’d have here! Don’t be shy!
Here’s some of my ideas to help get you going.
Take Salsa Lessons
Scuba Diving Lessons
Knitting
Water Skiing
Cooking Class
Learning to Play the Guitar
a Writing Workshop
a Dance Workshop
Voice Lessons
…okay, now tell me what’s popping into your mind! Don’t edit, just tell me!
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Except for the reserved Running on Empty spot, our CONFIDENCE DC Photography Workshop for Women is SOLD OUT! YEAH!!! We’ll announce the next city soon! Stay tuned!
Learn a new language
Take a bath and draw with your kids’ bath crayons (it is amazing what you can make!)
A class in sculpture, clay or the like…
Take a room design class (stores like Pottery Barn offer these for free)
Go play with paint “chips” at Home Depot
Good for you! I’d love to take pottery classes. For now, I think it will have to wait until I have a bit more flexibility to have a scheduled class (I’m in the phase of life with very little ones), but when I can…I think it would be so fun!
Isn’t it wonderful to try something new and let it feed your creative spirit? Right now I’m working on learning another language – plus still trying to improve my technical skills with the camera. Next month I’m taking a week-long photography course in London, to force me to face my fears about some technical issues I haven’t quite grasped. I think constantly learning and “doing something different” are crucial elements of enjoying life.
last year i learned how to sew (not so good at it)! this year i took up gardening (success) – next year – spanish lessons!!!
I am taking cake decorating classes! So so fun!!
Beading
Knitting
Scrapbooking!
I love walking around the craft store to get new ideas.
I can so relate. I put off going back to school for years. I thought about graphic design. I always loved doing creative things on the computer but I drew the line there with the idea that “I cant draw”.
Finally last year I decided to step out of my comfort zone. I took a Photoshop class to get motivated. Then I took my first and dreaded drawing class. The first two weeks were a lot of panic attacks. But I stuck with it and I was surprised at the results. I can draw and knowing the techniques I think anyone could draw. By the end I actually look forward to my class. It was nice to get away from mommyhood for a few hours and focus on one project.
I took the summer off from school and I’ve found that actually miss it. I miss the creative outlet. I miss creating something with my own hands. I resorted to doing a photography scavenger hunt recently to feed my creative side. I didn’t take the most artistic photos but it was beneficial to be out there with my camera.
I have a couple things on my inspiration list to try:
-take Me Ra’s photography workshop
-plant a vegetable garden, visit a community garden and talk to the gardeners for ideas (I just learned broccoli grows great where I live and its a great plant for kids to grow)
-join your kids for some sidewalk chalk art
-visit a local art fair
-build sandcastles with your kids at the beach
-rearrange a room in your house
-Clean and purge (there is something about cleaning and getting rid of stuff I’m not using that energizes me)
-Drive through the country and look for my future home
For some reason swimming jumps into my head. I think it’s the freedom your body has in the water to move so many different ways it can’t on land.
I also love to grab a pile of old magazines, scissors and glue and see what kind of collage will come out of the session–just for fun.
I was asked by one of my blog friends if it scares me to do anything crafty…since I try new things all the time. Short answer, “No”. The long answer is that I go into each new creative endeavor with the confidence that I can figure it out and learn how to do it. If and, inevitably when, it doesn’t turn out perfect…well, then I learned something new. I take that knowledge forward when I try to perfect a craft and work on new ones.
I need a constant unflow of creativity. I, too, have found my CPA job to be quite mundane after 12 years. I need my external hobbies to feed my brain and keep it lively. I design clothes and sew them, I am a photographer, I draw art and incorporate in my life in various ways (I put them on new tilework in our kitchen), I love to garden and to cook. In the end I want to show my children that they can do anything they put their minds toward, as long as they have the confidence to attempt it. Their results may not always be the most successful, but the joy of creating and learning is really the fun part. ๐
My family runs a paint your own pottery studio here in the small seaside village I live in over here in Northern Ireland and I have to say painting pottery makes me feel lovely and creative – especially when I do not feel it in my photography.
I am by no means artistic in what I paint as it can take me a while to figure out just what to do, but there is one thing that I painted a year ago that changed everything. It was a blank teddy bear mould which I painted on different squares of designs to make it look like patchwork, also with painted stitching. Now, everyone will tell you, when I painted things for display in the shop they would occasionally be ‘bumped into’ or accidently dropped, they were that bad lol! But I poured my heart into that one piece,because afterall the only person I wanted to please was myself and it’s the one piece of pottery that gets the most requests to be bought, even better is that Mum refuses to sell it =) In painting the patchwork bear I’ve now incorporated that same design onto other pieces – it’s the one thing that truly switches me off and makes me feel gloriously proud of myself. Another thing, and this may sound a bit weird but I have a disco mirror globe in my bedroom window – and when the light hits it around golden hour it creates golden spots of light – like stars – onto my ceiling and I can’t help but like down and get inspired. Jewellery making is also fab too!! =) Love this blog post today Me ra xo
Take a walk in a shallow stream…not along it’s banks…actually in it. Observe it’s shapes, colors, life and neverending flow. Listen quietly!
People watch…especially pay attention to the beauty and creativity in chilren…they are sure to inspire in words and actions.
Ask a child what they want to bake and help them make it happen…no matter how creative and crazy it my be.
Listen to new and different types of music.
Dance.
Forget lessons – just put on a tape, album, cd, the radio… and dance!!!
Or if you are so inclined, get out some wooden spoons and a pot or bucket and beat out a rhythm.
๐
I learned how to sew about a year ago. I see the world in a whole new way! There is something about seeing a bag, bib or a blanket and thinking “I can make that!” that is SO empowering.
As silly as it sounds, I sometimes find my creative (or not so creative side) playing with Play-Doh with the kids. I’ve loved it since I was a kid and now that I have kids it’s a good excuse to get into it again.
I also love dancing, even if my body doesn’t look or move the same as it did in highschool…the kids don’t seem to care!
I am starting a new journal! I read through a few of my scattered old ones and they are too personal, and angsty and embarassing. I thought, “I don’t want my kids reading these when they are older!”
So I got a brand-new journal and I’m going to write each entry as a letter to one of the kids. That way, I can be creative and thoughtful and tell them all the advice and little thoughts and inspirations I have all day. ALSO, it forces me to be positive – if I think a journal is just for me, then I tend to be really negative and whiney.
Maybe, one day these “letters” from my daily life will inspire my kids – or inspire ME as I go back to read them. Maybe they’ll get bound and published. HA! ๐ Either way, I’m excited for a fresh new project that isn’t going to cost me a lot of money or take up space in my ever-growing crafting closet.
I decided this summer to plant a garden and then try my hand at canning the items that I have
grown. My first plan was to make hot pepper jelly which is my absolute favorite thing to have on cream cheese, unfortunately, it’s not quite as easy I had thought. My garden space seemed so big when the plants were little, now they are out of hand, but so exciting. The tomatoes have overgrown the peppers, so I’ll have to go to a farmers market in order to make my jelly. I did make peach, apricot and rasberry jam last, it was so much fun and I was so proud of what I ended up with in the end. MeRa, I’ll bring you a jar when I come to the workshop.
I totally, 1005 agree! I studied art long before I started photography, and because of that I have a keep eye for composition and color. I still pursue many creative hobbies outside photography as well – pretty much, if it involved paper, yarn, or color, I do it! I’m actually working on paintings to decorate my children’s rooms right now. It’s so important to expand your thinking outside your “normal” range, and pursuing other artistic opportunities is great for that.
Unicycling–found an awesome one for $15 at a garage sale–set a goal to ride across the back yard by the end of summer. It’s just my kind of task-it takes determination and dedication and can be practiced just 10 minutes at a time, and my mind can wander!
Oh yeah and when my kids were in diapers, I’d try to copy my kids’ favorite characters on big sheets of paper. Okay, my favorite characters. Curious george standing on a ball, Snoopy “singing” on Schroeders piano…simple cartoons are easier to copy and your kids just look at you like you are AMAZING!!
I would love to learn how to do the following:
* swim
* draw and paint with watercolors
* speak spanish
* sculpt with clay
* play a guitar
* can vegetables
* follow around a great photographer for six months
* frame and matt pictures
Love your ideas Kimberlyn.
Some of mine are…
Party planning and crafting. Making things like invites, center peices, paper crafts etc… I love the creativity that runs out as i’m planning all the details. It also really helps me appreciate those little details both with my eyes and through the lens while shooting a reception or other party.
Graphic and Interior design both creating myself or just appreciating the work of others.
Renewing, taking something old and reinventing it with a new coat of paint or to serve a different purpose.
Reading outside of what I would normally choose to read.
Cooking
Sketching, I’ve always wished I could make beautiful sketches out of my thought’s and idea’s like fashion designers do. Unfortunately I am challenged in this area as I can’t draw worth **** pardon my french, but i’ve been doing it anyway and i’m actually starting to get better.
I recently started keeping a “joy” book it’s similar to a journal but less writing and more creative stuff like quotes, song lyrics, my sketches, idea’s, pictures, magazine cut outs, inspiration pages & little tidbit’s that make me happy. It has been both enjoyable to make and very rewarding to see a vision i made through my joy book come to life by actually completing the idea in the real world.
Traveling by myself helps me be alone with my thoughts and makes me feel empowered to know i’m capable of doing something all on my own big girl style!
A painting and a writing class would be fun too! I’d be chicken but they are definitely on my one day list
=) Love this post
hool-a-hoop!!
music, music, music!!!
I love it, it inspires me, bring emotions like pictures do…
i would love to play an instrument!
One thing I would love to do to stir up my creative juices is take a dance class. It is such a great way to express myself! I have been itching to take a ballroom dancing class and a belly dancing class. =)
I recently joined a networking group and for our 30-second commercial I was confident when I said out loud that I was a “photographic artist”. I never considered myself to be an artist considering I draw stick figures still, but I love that photography allows me the ability to express my artistic eye.
BTW – did I miss a post on the workshop images for the Seattle Sistas? =)
I am LOVING all these ideas! I’m going to bookmark this post so I can come back when I need some inspiration! You are all a wealth of ideas I never thought of!
And don’t worry, the Seattle Sistas post is in the works!
Skydiving
My first jump was at sunset all on my own, after watching my father jump first – his last jump had been 30 years earlier, when I landed he gave me his original jump wings
Excellent post. I bought a guitar 10 years ago with the plan to teach myself. I’m signing up for a class tomorrow ๐
Great post and responses!!!! Creative juices are flowing in me! Mine would be learn a new language and potter…These 2 items have always been something stored in the back of my mind! Thanks for bringing them to the front of my mind!
Michelle
Love all the ideas!
I was raised by generations of crafty women (in the best sense!) who would look at something (painting ceramics, sewing, making jewelry, etc.) and say “I can do that!” and the next thing you knew, they’d be off on another artsy tangent. And I have taken on that trait in spades ๐
On my list to try next:
-Embroidery
-Painting with Acrylics
-Sewing my own clothes
-Songwriting
-Ceramic modeling
The list is endless!
I beat box with my son! Haha, he is only two, so he doesn’t seem to care how terrible I am at it! It inspires me to be creative and hopefully pass on creativity…
I really LOVE the ideas of the positive journal or “joy book”! What a beautiful way to pass on our legacy and to have a tangible reminder of “the good things” on those not so good days.
You woman are inspiring me!
This one will make you smile… I have been starting to embroider lately (trying to be crafty and creative with Christmas gifts this year…) and found this wonderful website, sublimestitching. How about this pattern?! http://sublimestitching.com/stitchwars.html Totally makes me think of your family portrait! ๐
Seriously though, they have some really cute and modern patterns and it is an easy and affordable creative hobby to try out! http://sublimestitching.com/transferpreview.html
Thanks for the inspiration, as always!
Hi, thank you very much for your great post. You’ve helped me a lot.