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Expressing Feelings Workshop

2/25/2015

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Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard.”

~Anne Sexton

Enjoy these photos of yesterday's workshop. The work produced was exciting, colorful, emotional, and sometimes even sad. Some of the attenders were uncomfortable at first, but the work produced was a testament to Van Gogh's words, "If you hear a voice within you saying, "'You cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced."

"I came in angry and stressed but am leaving relaxed after having fun."

"I didn't want it to end"

"It was fun!"
Comments from workshop attenders

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Steps to Creativity

2/21/2015

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"I’d rather have eloquent failure than boring success."

Raphael DiLuzio

The Washington, DC metropolitan area has had a cold and snowy February. Not nearly as bad as New England, but enough that our normal routines have been interrupted – at least mine have. I love my run/walk/runs, even as painfully slow as they might be, but I am not willing to go out for them in sub-freezing temps. I have gotten together with friends much less than usual, and I don’t enjoy shopping enough, on a good day, to drag myself out unnecessarily in unpleasant weather.

This has given me the chance to spend a little more time researching art, creativity, and color. This is how I came across another wonderful TED Talk: "7 Steps of Creative Thinking" by Raphael DiLuzio. He is an artist and an entrepreneur, but he achieved these by moving beyond great challenges in his life.

His seven steps are interesting and worth paying attention to. I have listed them at the end of this. What I found pertinent to Art&Soul is his insistence on writing things down, or keeping a journal.

Here are a few of his words about thinking creatively and keeping a journal.

“ Journal when you are in the state of research, in the state of gestation, in eureka moments….keep track of the feelings you have in these different stages… capture the ideas…our crazy ideas are important…
Keep them… Make them...Share them. ..Value your ideas… Be fearless.”

Here is a quick look at his seven steps. You may participate in these steps in any order.
1.       Idea stage. Frame a question. Value ideas.
2. Research. Engage in research
3.       Basta moment. (Basta means enough.) Time to stop researching.
4.       Gestation. Hold the question. Let it stew. Our world of imagination is important, let it work.
5.       Eureka moments. Flashes of insight. These are especially important to be written down. The idea comes back, but with an answer .
6.       Process of making. You must get beyond the idea of fear of failure or the question "What will people think?" Engage with people. Share your ideas.
7.       Testing and criticism. Testing , sharing, what do people think? Did it work,not work? Bring your ideas into the world. Encourage creative participation. Put aside fear.

Have you found that writing things down helps ? If so, tell us about it in the comments. Or tell us what creative challenges you have found for yourself this winter while you are enjoying our beautiful snow.

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Play: a key to happiness

"When you're engaged in activities of "personal expressiveness," ones that are self-chosen and that reflect intrinsic goals, you're operating from the "true self," says Alan Waterman of the College of New Jersey.
....
When you're stressed, the brain's activated emotional hub, the amygdala, suppresses positive mood, fueling a self-perpetuating cycle of negativity. Play can break you out of that straitjacket. It also cut through stagnation at the office. Studies show that playfulness can increase performance on the job and stoke creativity by breaking up the mental set that keeps us stuck. It resets the brain.

This tonic we write off as trivial is a crucial engine of well-being. In its low-key, humble way, play yanks grownups out of their purposeful sleepwalk to reveal the animating spirit within. You are alive, and play will prove it to you."

Joe Robinson, author of Work to Live.

February can feel hard in the northern hemisphere. Frequent cold rain, snow, and a lack of sunshine can impact our moods and our productivity. Many studies show that play is an excellent way to counteract the doldrums and 'reset' your brain. Choosing an activity for the fun of it, that gives opportunity to be totally present and involved, is likely to boost your mood, creativity and production. You can read more about that in Joe Robinson's article here.

In preparation to write this blog post, I spent time researching playfulness and fun for adults. I was surprised at how difficult it was to locate good, solid information on the topic. Our culture has lots to say about play for children, but much less to say about grown-ups playing tag or smearing paint around and 'messing up a canvas' just because.

As adults we feel that taking time to play will keep us from doing the important things. In reality, choosing fun may make all the rest easier. If you spend time doing something for the sole purpose of the enjoyment of the process you will be doing yourself, and the people around you, a favor.

Find something fun to do this February. We
have new workshops planned that will give you the chance to 'mess up' a few canvases.

Add some color to the winter.

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Expressing Feelings Workshop

Steps to Creativity

Add Some Color to Your Winter

Play: a key to happiness

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Archives

Categories
art painting 'expressing feelings' paint color expressions 'Art Matters' 'Art Works Now' healing

Expressing Feelings Workshop

Steps to Creativity﻿

Add Some Color to Your Winter

Play: a key to happiness

Author

Archives

Categoriesart painting 'expressing feelings' paint color expressions 'Art Matters' 'Art Works Now' healing

Steps to Creativity

Categories
art painting 'expressing feelings' paint color expressions 'Art Matters' 'Art Works Now' healing