ART AND CREATIVITY HOW DO YOU ACQUIRE IT?

We were all fairly creative when we were children. Remember what we made out of cardboard boxes, the stories we made up about imaginary playmates, roads we built in the dirt, mud pies, (I loved making mud pies), the lives we invented for our paper dolls. We were at our creative best then.
Somewhere, in the growing up process, many times, we loose that spark. We become fearful, we're afraid of criticism from our peers, our parents, our teachers, afraid we can't measure up to someone else's expectations, afraid we won't do it right. So afraid to be different, to stand out, afraid to not be COOL!
Who defines COOL anyway!!
But....... we stop making things. It's easier that way. No judgements, no criticisms, no pain. Our creativity goes dormant. But dormant doens't mean dead. It means sleeping, resting, time out, siesta, nap time, etc.. A dormant condition is a condition just waiting for prince/princess charming to kiss it awake!
Where would we find a kiss that would awaken our creativity?
For starters, go to where the charming prince kisser would live. Kissers like that lurk in art museums, they attend exhibits, art openings, are members of local art leagues, they culitivate artsy friends, subscribe to art magazines.
In order for creativity to be kissed and awakened, do the things and go to the places the charming kisser does and goes.
You will get kissed!! Guaranteed!
Once kissed there is no turning back. It's full steam ahead. Creativity has been kissed, stirred and awakened. It will not be denied.
Awakened, your creativity will stretch and reach into realms you never knew existed. It is possible to gain back our childlike creativeness. It can be nurtured, cultivated and expanded.
By the simple act of doing, our imagination is stirred and awakened. One crazy, wild, idea leads to another and another, it's like a tidal wave that engulfs us.
We are high on enthusiasm, the adrenaline is flowing, the pace is fast and furious. (Sounds like I'm describing a football game) New possibilities are opened up, new avenues are explored, a most satisfying and rewarding way of life has presented itself to us.
A creative spirit is free for all to acquire. To help jump-start your own creativeness try the following excerise.
Cut out magazine pictures of ordinary items
With each item, do the most bizarre thing that could be done with it. For example:
Cut it up into odd shapes and rearrange it (Abstract paintings are made of stuff like this)
Take pieces from several several photos and combine them
Glue them down on cardboard
Paint some of the shapes black or some other color
Cut apart faces and put ears on a teapot, hair on a fence post, etc.
Use these colleges to start a painting or a sculpture
Drip and drop ink or really fluid paint on paper or canvas
Sling it like Jackson Pollock did
Wildly with swinging arms
Place a large canvas on the floor and paint with thin paint.
Splattering the oils with turp
Watercolor with water or alcohol.
Spray the watercolor with the waterhose or run the shower on it.
Don't think fine art painting, I'll ruin it...just sling paint and enjoy the process
Your creativity has been kissed, life will never be the same again!
Artists, who have been kissed, and did approach their work with an open mind, and believed anything was possible; have created some very powerful works.
Works that would not have happened, if they had refused to go with the flow and allow things to happen, even when they seemed like mistakes. Sometimes, these mistakes are so.o.o.o interesting, use them, see what can be done with them. Your work will be the better for it. We are not able to completely think a painting through, unexpected things will happen that we didn't plan on or consider. Use them!.
Creating is mostly 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration. Work with what is happening on your canvas or paper.
Allow things to just happen and then build on it.


Author : Kay Milam
www.milamstudios.com