C.R.E.A.T.E

Every Creative's process differs from the next. Carving out 'your way' comes with experience and with each creative encounter new techniques are formed, as you discover your potential & the many innovative ways you have up your sleeve for creating your work! There's no 'right' way of doing things and accepting that is a huge step in becoming the truest version of your creative self. Here are some tips that I find particularly useful when creating: 

Connecting with the world around you is vital to sparking those light-bulb moments when you need them most. Using all the senses to experience what life is offering you minute by minute, day by day will continually charge those creative batteries, without you even realising it. Being aware of what's available to you and what you can potentially tap in to is a gift from the universe ready for the taking! Go to a city and walk slowly down a busy street, observing and absorbing everything. The voices, snippets of conversations and languages you can hear; look high and low at the signs, window displays and architecture you can see; breathe in the scents and try to identify their source; take your hands to the varying textures and feel the rough, the smooth and everything in between. Sounds a tad creepy perhaps but slowing down to appreciate and take stock of your surroundings can enlighten the mind. If you get one tiny speck of inspiration, it's worth your time. We can't expect our poor creative brains to churn out masterpiece after masterpiece without refuelling it, now can we?! As Creatives we are preoccupied with constantly making something new to offer up to the world but you must remember that, in order to knit the jumper, you need the ball of wool. If you're switched on to your surroundings, you're speaking less & listening more, you'll be more likely to hear what you need to! 

Recycling is good for the environment- your creative environment, that is! Never be afraid to reuse what you have previously tried, tested and bought the T shirt of. If an idea has worked for you in the past and seems a perfect fit for your current project, it shouldn't be deemed a cop-out to slip in to that 'one size fits all' concept one more time. After all, you may be sporting the same T shirt but you can customise & accessorize to remodel any previously worn look, producing something very different from the original. We all endeavour to create unique pieces of work that have been born out of brand spanking new sources of inspiration each and every time  but if that's forced, you could be missing out on a golden opportunity to up-cycle. Sometimes it's okay to go with a 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' vibe, if what you plan to do with it this time round is subject to  some tweaking. 

Experimenting is about taking risks, going with your gut and making mistakes that you can learn from. In the creative process a  'Try before you Buy' approach will ensure you get exactly what you are looking for eventually but, like with any new journey, you have to be willing to explore and potentially get lost before locating your desired destination.  An idea is one thing but in order to know if it's the missing jigsaw piece you've been searching for, you have to pick it up, play around with it and try to make it fit before you can know for sure it's the perfect match. Fear of failure threatens to stop awesome ideas in their tracks before they've even made it off the starting block. When an experiment goes spectacularly wrong, there's something to be learned from it, so you have to be up for trying it out. Where they say baking is an exact science, creativity is more like cooking- a pinch of this and a dollop of that won't always work out the way you expected but you're more likely to be able to cover up any mishaps with more spoonfuls of creativity. Who knows what you'll end up with and that's where the fun is! The power of the unknown is exciting & inspiring, so be more open to experimenting! 

Aim high! Pushing yourself and your work to be the best it can be takes hard work and determination but the rewards are worth the effort. It's okay to strive for what you deem 'perfection', as long as you enjoy the journey- there's no point in creating something beautiful if the process was damn  ugly, as it will be the latter you'll remember most. All your connecting, recycling and experimenting will help shape the ultimate goal you're striving for and then all that's left to do is more of the same to get it just right. The sky is the limit when being creative-so don't seek shelter when you have the chance to dance in the rain! 

Take time to create. Those light-bulb moments can be fairly sporadic so best not to expect to be able to turn your creativity on and off like a switch. Breaking the task in hand in to manageable chunks will avoid you feeling overwhelmed with the need to create something amazing on a deadline. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will all your masterpieces. When I'm choreographing a dance, I find myself working on it to a certain point but then having to step away from it for a while to take stock of what I've produced thus far, before being able to move forward with it. That's it to say I'm not lastminute.com with projects (I'm often found procrastinating over a To Do list until it's absolutely necessary to start creating!) but I know the process is more pleasurable when I can work at a leisurely pace & take pauses intermittently to mull over things.

Evaluating your work as you go will inevitably help create something you are happy with overall. Yes, there's always hindsight to flag up the 'what I shoulda/coulda/woulda done'  but if you're able to continually critique and question your creative choices as you're making them, the final product is more likely to meet or even excel your expectations. 

And there you have it, 6 pointers that may help you create more efficiently and effectively. I'd be interested to hear from you as to what your hints and tips are!

Lisa