Colour and your creativity

Colour is obviously a very strong element of the visual sense we experience. Different colours have different associations and connections and trigger off a variety of feelings and responses.

Think of the word "red" for example. What are the first things that come to mind?

I first think of blood, stop, strawberry jam, wine, passion, anger. It's also the colour of the second hand on my clock, the cover of my diary, the colour pen I use to represent a point of action and colour of the "hang up" button on my phone...

Try yourself, take a few different colours and create a profile for each. Think about the dimensions of the colour, its texture, its temperature, the emotions it relates to, the objects that come to mind. Extend this maybe to considering its close relations and its opposites.

Think also about familiar objects in different colours to their usual ones. Think beyond the normal cliches of "red = hot" and "green = grass" for example. What reaction would it bring if there were purple oranges, pink grass or a bright green sun?

Create a collage of one single colour, focusing just on the colour and shade and not on the pictures or materials. You could cut up magazines and paste on a large board or alternatively find images on the internet and create a collage in Photoshop.

Another way to explore your relation with colours is to use different colour light bulbs in your study, office or studio. Try a green bulb for a few days, then a blue one, then red. Notice the different effect each has on your mood, outlook, attitude and productivity.

Maybe you'll find certain shades will help you be more creative, more relaxed, more energised and inspired. Maybe different creative projects would benefit by having different colours surrounding you?

As always, experiment freely and see what works for you and your creativity.

Creativity at Christmas

We did our main food shopping last night for Christmas and I was sad to hear the general level of frustration and resentment around about Christmas.

In every aisle, tired and angry looking couples lost in their own private bickering of whether to have a choice of five different deserts for Christmas lunch or six. Which of course, in a busy major supermarket, becomes rather less private.

There was one lady struggling round with a trolley overflowing with food and her young girl skipping beside. Obviously happily lost in her own world, the girl was singing to herself - "It's all in the mind...".

"Yeh if only Christmas was all in the mind." her mother mumbled bitterly...

Just from overhearing snippets of conversation, the main theme of people's frustrations seemed to be the pressure to conform to the whole season and what it entails.

Of dozens of snapshots of conversations, nearly all were variations on - "Of course we've got to, it's Christmas...".

As with much of life, a huge feeling of - "This is what we've got to do because it's what everyone does and if we don't we'll be seen as weird/ different/ stingy/ boring/ etc" - seems to pervade the population.

In a word - conformity. And being afraid of what will happen - or more often what other people will think - if we don't do the same as everyone else.

Creativity begins in the tiny everyday actions. Seeing things slightly differently. Wearing something you've never worn to work before. Reading a book plucked at random from a library bookshelf. Cooking a new recipe with at least two ingredients you've never heard of, let alone tasted...

From small beginnings, this creative attitude and outlook slowly seeps into all parts of our lives and we begin to experiment more with our creativity as our confidence and enjoyment grows...

So how can you start this over Christmas? Maybe this year you'll have goose instead of turkey. Pork and apricot stuffing instead of sage and onion.

Maybe you'll invite your neighbours - who you've only spoken to a handful of times this year over the fence - to pop over for a glass of wine and a mince pie.

Maybe you'll visit a relative you haven't seen for years.

Maybe you'll donate all the money you were going to spend on presents to a favourite charity. Or buy the presents, then donate them.

Maybe you'll go out for a walk or a movie after lunch on Christmas day instead of sleeping in front of the TV..?

Start with the little things, do something different and make YOUR Christmas a little more creative this year. You may find it becomes infectious...

Creativity with intention

I'm currently attending acting classes, the course this term is entitled "The Actor's Voice".

In last night's class, the word "intention" was used a number of times, and it's a word and an idea that's come up a lot for me recently from a number of different sources.

In the context of the acting class, the tutor asked us to "think about why you come to this class. What is your intention, what do you hope to get from it?"

When we have clear intentions, we are able to focus more clearly and move more easily towards them. Our internal forces seem to unite in a common direction and with a common purpose and we move forward more swiftly and smoothly.

We also become more attuned to the opportunities that arise for us and know which will take us in the direction we want to go.

Intentions can sometimes be very specific. For example "I want to write 3 chapters of my novel within the next month." Whilst others are more of a directional intention. For example in my acting class, my intention is to become more confident and expressive in using my voice.

There is not necessarily a definitive point I'm expecting to reach, but having that intention somewhere in my mind allows me to constantly be aware of this in the course of the classes and make the exercises more relevant and useful to me.

What in your life do you have clear intentions for? What do you have a strong picture of in your head, about how you'd things to be?

What other things in your life are you unclear about? Areas where you have no clear intentions and maybe you feel you're simply drifting rather than working steadily towards a goal or in a particular direction?

What differences do you notice between the areas where you have a strong intention and those you don't?

Finally, how can you begin to define more specific intentions in those areas you're less clear about?

When's the last time you felt...

We're all capable of feeling a vast range and depth of emotions. Yet in our everyday lives we often find that very few become familiar to us. And the ones that do, are often not the ones on the "up" side of the scale.

Feelings such as boredom, frustration, disillusion and depression may seem to be the ones we experience time and time again.

But is this just a matter of perception?

Do we simply look for, and gather, the evidence in our emotions and experiences that we need to support our image we have of ourselves? And in the process train ourselves to play down or even ignore completely the most enjoyable and rewarding feelings and experiences we're a part of?

It's a big question!

To make a first step into exploring this a little more, take some time to sit down somewhere undisturbed and write your thoughts and memories on the following -

- The last time I felt euphoric was...

- The last time I felt terrified was...

- The last time I felt swept off my feet was...

- The last time I felt outside of myself was...

- The last time I felt like a child again was...

Try the same sentence with other emotions and feelings that come to you. Notice what you write and what you associate with certain words and feelings.

You may surprise yourself with what you're able to recall, and with what it reveals about yourself...

Asking the right questions...

Sometimes it's just about asking the right questions...

If you ask yourself the questions that you most need to ask - then trust yourself enough to believe that somewhere inside you, processes are taking place, cogs are whirring, ideas are bubbling and a sense of clarity is forming - you will be presented with the answers you need.

For example, if you find yourself stuck creatively, or don't know what project to do next or how you can best use your creativity, ask yourself this one simple question -

"What does my creative life need right now?"

Then just take the time to sit and let the answers come to you.

You may want to close your eyes and let your thoughts gather. You may want to take some pens and paper and brainstorm or mindmap the ideas that come to you. You may wish to draw diagrams or pictures. Or you may find another way that works even better for you.

Do it with a genuine openness and trust in yourself and see what happens.

Maybe this isn't the right question to ask at this time? Taking this idea to a wider scope, you could simply ask -

"What questions do I need to ask myself right now?"

If you're prepared to listen openly, there will always be something valuable to hear...

Throw a creative party!

If you have friends that are creative or at least that are open minded and willing to try new things, why not throw a creative party?

If a few of you already have a common interest in something like painting or singing or photography, you could use that as a starting point.

Invite a handful of people with the aim of creating something together. For example a collage on a theme such as a favourite place you've been together or a shared memory.

You could either all take a different role in creating the collage or divide it amongst you, each doing a section, then taping all the sections together to make the whole piece.

Or try something Warhol-ian. Take a single image and each produce a different version of it, then fix the versions together in a grid or line to have your own unique piece of art. Buy a frame and mount the resulting picture of your creative party.

There are hundreds of variations on this theme, be as imaginative as possible.

The key is to pick friends who are open to trying new things creatively and will get fully involved.

You could choose an activity that none of you have ever tried before. Or you could do something that one of you has a strong talent and interest in, so that person can act as a teacher to the others.

Be inventive and creative, and most of all enjoy your parties and have fun!

Catch the magic of an idea...

Increasingly over recent weeks I've come across the idea of less being more and what prevents someone from getting creative projects done is often not what we obviously think.

There's much made of creative blocks, writer's block being the most common example. But rather then stemming from sitting faced with a blank sheet of paper and terrified that an idea will never come, maybe a more common and more restrictive scenario than this is having TOO MUCH to work on.

I'm sure all of us have experienced an overload of ideas in some way, our heads in meltdown, new thoughts and variations bombarding us with such intensity that rather than note them down or try to develop them, we simply want to switch off, deflect them and give our little heads a break!

But then the paradox is that these could be the times when we are most richly creative - whether coming up with solutions for a particular issue or creating a new piece of work - and we may fear that switching off now will result in dozens of great ideas slipping through our grasp and being lost forever.

Different people deal with this ideas overload in different ways. An interesting method I've come across recently, and one that's beginning to be very useful for me, is to have a notepad always to hand, whether a paper one or a page in a word processor, just to jot ideas down when they come.

Then when that flash of inspiration comes, we can note it down then and there, then - and here's the crucial part - CLOSE the notebook and continuing doing whatever we were doing before. Then we build up a notebook full of powerful ideas that are there to be drawn upon when needed.

This can take some restraint! The natural urge is to follow the idea, flow with it and develop it instantly, dropping everything else in the meantime.

But if we lived like this we'd never get anything done, instead constantly being in that uniquely exciting first tiny steps stage of having an idea we've never had before, hurling our resources into it until another mind-blowing idea comes along 5 minutes later!

Sound familiar?

So try this technique and see what happens.

Catch the magic of a new idea in a notebook and keep in incubation until it's time to let it flourish and grow...

Empty and be full

Empty and be full
Bend and be straight
Have much and be confused
Have little and gain everything

Chinese Proverb

How to read gently...

Do you ever have books that you're so excited about and get so into that you end up racing through them just to get to the end and find out what happens?

There is then a certain pleasure and satisfaction in finishing and knowing how the story developed, but this conflicted often by a stronger feeling of disappointment.

Similar to coming to the end of great evening with a close friend or the end credits rolling on a fantastic film.

You wanted it to race through just to find out what happened next and yet at the same time, the closer you got to the inevitable end point, the more the sense of sadness and disappointment started to permeate into your thoughts.

So can we prevent this minor sense of loss?

Maybe we could simply replace the ending of one thing with the beginning of another. In the case of a book, just having the next novel waiting in line for us, reading to be our rebound fling when we're abruptly dumped by our current beau...

Or maybe we could just read more gently.

Savour every word, every line, every moment, with a lingering pleasure and enjoyment.

This won't prevent the inevitability of us reaching an end point someday but at least we'll feel we lived to the full, we enjoyed and experienced every paragraph as fully and vividly as we possibly could.

So try it for yourself.

Read gently...

The joy of dreams

How much can we learn from our dreams?

Of course there are many theories around dreams and dreaming and the whole concept of our dreams being a window to our subconscious thinking.

But of what use are they to us as creative people? How can we tap into the wondrous, often abstract collisions of images, sounds and ideas we experience?

Many great artists cite dreams as being absolutely key in providing inspiration for their work. Maybe for some it was just seeing something different or so removed from what they experience in their waking life that provided that inspirational spark, that catalyst for a new piece of work, or re-inspired and energised them in resuming a current piece.

How many have claimed to see visions in dreams that have led them to them otherwise seemingly unobtainable breakthroughs or insights?

When we recall some of the most memorable dreams we've had, it can provide us once again with an excitement and passion, a glimpse of what is possible in our imagination.

And if we can imagine something, literally if we can "make images" of something in our head, then surely we can go some way to re-creating this in our lives, whether for a particular piece of work, or for the way our lives are led in general.

One way we could begin to draw more from our dreams is to keep a type of Dream Journal next to our beds. Whenever you wake after a particularly dramatic, exciting or memorable dream, quickly jot down the main ideas in your Journal.

Some practice may be required before you're trained enough to write in the dark and to record the dreams in sufficient detail so you can remember and fill in the rest when you wake again. Persist with it though, and you may find you've unlocked one of the richest possible veins of inspiration and ideas you'll ever know...

When I grow up...

"Today class, I want to ask you all what you want to be when you grow up..." said Mrs Johnson.

"I wanna be a Cowboy!" said Eddie.

"I want to be rich and famous." said Chantelle.

"I'd like to be a Ballerina." said Hayley.

"I wanna be like my dad." said Joseph.

"I don't wanna grow up..." said Jack...

We've probably all got a bit of Jack's attitude in us, even as adults. So what are the advantages of us not wanting to grow up?

Or think about it this way - What strongly creative characteristics that you had as a child can you rediscover in yourself today..?

I'm with Jack...

"... the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!' ...."

from "On The Road" by Jack Kerouac,

Isn't there a part of this in all of us..?

Hot flash or slow burn?

One of the oldest questions and dilemmas for artists and creative people is the consistency of their output.

Is it better to maintain a steady output, write/ paint/ compose a little each day, even if it's just for ten or fifteen minutes?

By developing this habit we create an ever-open channel for our creativity to flow steadily through and it never becomes intimidating or disheartening if we create a little less some days because we know that the next day, or the day after that, we'll return with something amazing again.

Alternatively there's the inspiration of the muse, waiting for that elusive inspiration to strike and bless us with the ability for glorious fresh creative expression. And then disappear again for days, weeks or months on end...

The glamourised or romantic notions around being creative, and it being our sole purpose especially, suggests the "hot flash" approach just described is the ONLY way for the true creative. For a long time I agreed.

But look at any artist who has produced a consistent body of significant work and a little research into their methods and discipline nearly always reveals a steady unwavering dedication, a commitment to their art and to themselves, a few tiny steps each day.

And so with our lives in general. Do we spend months just waiting around for the right partner/ job/ circumstances to suddenly fall into our laps? Yes if you want to spend most of your life feeling frustrated and anxious.

Instead we can take control, always moving towards our dreams and ambitions, always seeking new ways and new ideas, being open minded, experimenting and seeing what works for us and what doesn't, both creatively and in our wider lives.

The things that work for us we keep doing, the stuff that doesn't, we drop. We choose to be in charge, and we can then enjoy everything that we do, every experience we have.

Remember even if we do choose to take the "slow burn" route, it doesn't mean we WON'T have those amazingly rich bursts of creativity. In fact it gives them more of a chance to develop, permission almost to visit us any time, because we're always open, always ready.

So, what are YOUR notions around how you can be creative? Maybe they enable you to be as prolific as you wish to be. Or maybe they've been holding you back..?

Let your little cork rise!

I recently finished an interesting book - Stop Thinking, Start Living by Richard Carlson.

One of the analogies that struck me strongly was that we all are like a huge ocean of thoughts and feelings and at the bottom of the ocean is a little cork that represents our inner wisdom or higher knowledge, whatever you may wish to call it.

The only thing that can stop the cork from rising to the surface of the ocean is for obstacles to get in it's way.

I found it a helpful way of expressing that rather than constantly seeking external answers or truth, we need to simply let the waters calm and listen to ourselves. Deep within us, we ALL know what's right and meaningful for our lives.

We can apply a similar idea to our creativity. If we remove the internal obstacles that hinder our creative expression - the doubts, fears, hang-ups and negative beliefs - we can all create the most amazing works of art in our lives.

In fact our lives themselves can become great works of art.

So here's to letting YOUR little cork rise..!

DI4Y - Do It 4 Yourself

So much of our lives seem dictated by other people.

We are constantly bombarded with images of how we should look, told what we should wear, what we should eat, what car we should drive, what magazines we should read, what CDs we should buy, what films we should see.

"unmissable... you'll love it"

"THE fashion accessory to be seen wearing this season."

"the best film you'll see this year!"

So as creative people, one of the most powerful and liberating experiences is simply to create something that's uniquely ours, that's totally of our own design and making.

Something that WE make the rules for.

Take an hour of your time over the next few days to start a creative project of your own. What it is is completely up to you. How you approach it, what form it takes, how big it is, how long it takes, are all entirely up to your imagination and deciding.

In fact it doesn't matter if you start with a small drawing, a few lines of poetry, a collage or a new recipe. Just pick something you haven't done before, commit at least an hour of your undivided attention to it, and see where it takes you...

Reclaim some control over YOUR creativity and YOUR life...

The Waiting Game

How much of your life do you spend simply killing time while waiting for others? And at the same time feeling you really could be getting on with something more productive..?

We all seem to have busy lives these days and anything that can help us to make better use of our time is usually gratefully welcomed.

The act of creating each day and getting into this rhythm and discipline is one way we can begin to work towards this.

Even if we do this however, many of us find we still "waste" much time in waiting around for others.

Some everyday examples are waiting in queues in shops, or waiting for a train that's late. But then there are those other times where we're waiting out of some obligation for another. We're with people we're close to in our lives - our partners, children, friends or colleagues - and we may feel because we're in the same room or building at the same time, we "should" spend some time with them .

Rather than schedule a fixed amount of time in which to see them and have some quality undisturbed time together, we often just try to squeeze it in and drop the other activities we're currently doing.

How often have you been with a friend, and felt pressured because you know you don't have much time together until one of you has to leave to attend to some other task? This looming urgency then puts a spoiler on your time together and instead of relaxing and enjoying each other's company, you never quite get into any meaningful conversation or commit to doing something together you both like and appreciate.

Over a period of weeks, months or years, this can build up and instead of having occasional enjoyable and largely undisturbed time together where you're both focused and committed, you feel like you have a series of snatched interludes, where in all honesty you'd probably both be rather spending the time doing something else!

It's like having a snack every few hours and throwing it down your throat because the you know restaurant is closing in five minutes, rather than taking a couple of hours to sit down and relax with a delicious meal and a bottle of wine once a day.

Or maybe even worse, it may feel like sitting in a restaurant waiting for a meal with someone when neither of you are particularly hungry and can't decide what to order!

So maybe it takes being selfish first to be giving in the long term. Maybe next time you try to snatch a few minutes with your partner, children or friends, just because you're both in the same place at the same time, think about how you could book some more focused and relaxing quality time together instead, and give you both the opportunity to really get the most from each other's company...

Five Guilty Pleasures - Music

Five songs I adore (but don't often brag about!) and why...

Say You, Say Me - Lionel Richie

The echo on his voice, the way the big reverby drums come in, that whole bit in the middle where it speeds up then slows down again for the final verse... And the vaguely ridiculous but somehow deeply profound "people in the park / playing games in the dark / and what they played / was a masquerade / from behind a wall of doubt / a voice was crying out..."

"Say it for always / aah / that's the way it should be..."

Waiting For a Star To Fall - Boy Meets Girl

The helpless soppy romanticism of it all, the boy and girl voices together, the sax solo that sets up the final part of the song, the way the music pauses and the voices all go up an octave...

"carry your heart into my arms / that's where you belong / in my arms baby yeh..."

She's Gone - Hall & Oates

The fluidity and smooothness of it, right from the outset, the guitar then "ooooh ooh ooh ooh ohh" of the intro, the soaring strings, the tense musical build up then release to "she's go-o-o-o-ow-ow-awn..."

"my face ain't looking any younger / now I can see love's taken her toll on me"

Dancing Queen - ABBA

Yeh it's a bit obvious I know, but what a tune...

The genius idea of STARTING with the chorus, the way it's somehow impossibly young and happy yet poignant at the same time, the way they pronounce "mew-sic", the "de-dun de-dun de-dun" piano stabs in the chorus, the whole shimmering slinky beautiful POP-ness of it!

"Dancing queen / feel the beat of the tambourine..."

Say Hello, Wave Goodbye - Soft Cell

The way he sounds out his depth at times and doesn't seem to quite know the melody, both vocally and in the relationship, the wit and knowing of lines like "you're used to wearing less / and now your life's a mess", the still futuristic and majestically layered synths, and that unequivocally magnificent chorus...

"Standing in the door of the Pink Flamingo / crying in the rain..."

One of the most creative people I ever met...

One of the most creative people I ever met was Stefano, a fabulously generous and warm Italian in his early 50's. His main profession over the span of his life was writing and journalism, in particular music journalism, also radio journalism and broadcasting.

What made him so memorably creative?

I think his unwillingness to conform, to be put into a box created by society's expectation. In conversation he was sumptous, abundant and elegant, his rich sturdy oak of a voice wrapping its Roman accent around near perfect English, along the way dropping all kinds of musical, literary, biblical and philisophical references.

Listening to him was on one level like hearing epic passages of classical music and on another level like a crash course in history, philosophy, music, mythology, religion and politics simultaneously. Just a five minute conversation with him would leave me with a dozen ideas and people to investigate and research further.

What I remember most about his creative output were the mere two letters he wrote to me. They were among the most rich, delicious and eloquent pieces of writing I've ever read, spiralling off at mad tangents before drifting back into the main point and flow and attacking once more with searing intelligence and poetic grace.

As well as the incerdible content, he wrote on whatever paper was to hand, and in different colours, directions and angles, little pictures and illustrations scattered between the words. Reading these letters was a huge inspiration to me and an affirmation to continue to explore my own writing with an sense of experimental freedom.

So what's the moral of this? I think that by having his general unwilllingness to conform to society on so many levels, to do what was "expected" and to fit in a pre-fixed notion of what he should be and what he should do with his life, Stefano was freed up in his mind to be as creative and imaginative as he wished. In the process, he was creatively a great inspiration to all those who spoke with him and the lucky few who received one of those amazing letters...

Who's the most creative person you've ever met..?

First Post

"Creativity is a compulsive human urge which demands
more than ritual actions or routine responses..."

- Alan Fletcher (from "The Art of Looking Sideways")