Creative Jump Start

[puppetmaker]

Creativity can be a funny thing. There are times it is like a might river and the ideas and problem solving flow with easy. Other times the creative juices seem to dry up leaving one to bang their heads on the rocks left behind until the solution comes. I think the most frustrating is when the river drying up half way through a project. At that point stepping away and working on something else is the best thing to do unless you don't have the time then banging your head on the rocks seems the only option.

Sometimes it is strange what inspires you to create. I tend to do well with a challenge or given a problem that had been declared too difficult to solve without something I don't have or don't know how to do. When I did the first set of Doctor Who puppets, I didn't know how to knit at all. My aunt tried to teach me but it just didn't make any sense. So I spent almost an entire night with a book and some yarn and by morning I had figured out how to knit (but to this day I still can't purl). I have since used that skill for a number of things over the years.

I learned to use a sewing machine because I wanted to make fabric puppets and I was rather tired of hand sewing everything. That skill has served me very well over the years. Funny thing is that I wasn't really that good at a sewing machine until I learned to drive a car. I could apply what I learned about the gas peddle to the foot peddle of the sewing machine.

Recently I haven't been feeling very creative. I haven't been feeling much of anything. But I seem to be on the mend. My mind is going a mile a minute again with various solutions to projects that have been lying dormant. My writing is good again and doesn't feel forced. My ability to deal with problems and create solutions to those problems seems back on track and it feels really good. May be it is that Spring arrived. May be it is that my health seems to be on the mend finally. May be it is that the cosmic source has decided it is my turn to be creative again. Whatever it is, I am happy that I am feeling creative again.

I am grateful for that creative river flowing inside me.

Comments

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

There are times it is like a might river

"The Might River." Sounds like something from The Phantom Tollbooth. There should be a Might River!

'Cause sometimes misspellings or mis-hearing something can inspire creativity, too. Like what inspired Harlan Ellison's "Jeffty is Five"...

Out of curiosity, how long have you been able to sew?

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

Hand sew since I was 7 or so. Machine sewing didn't happen until I was in my mid twenties. But then I didn't learn to drive until I was 23.

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

I know exactly how you've been feeling lately. It's been really hard to get much of anything accomplished--writing, beading, sculpting, anything. Mostly, for me, it's been since David died. I'm trying to get myself back into the saddle. In the meanwhile, I'm here to tell you you're not alone. And I'm glad things are getting going again for you.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Catch up with me at Shore Leave and I'll show you how to purl.

[jenny_evergreen]

I'm happy for you!

[lanofaylin.livejournal.com]

Amen for creativity....my thing is that sometimes, my mind gets so bogged down with all the "normal" stuff I have to do, it builds a dam on the river and I have to clean it away before the river will flow again....and sometimes, it's a REALLY BIG dam. Huh Huh I said dam.