creativity challenge

Finding purpose in the process: a recap of the Drawing Project

Finding purpose in the process: a recap of the Drawing Project

Tomorrow a yearlong project comes to a close. Last September I started sending out weekly emails to a small group of people who agreed to join me in an experiment. I wanted to see if I could confront my inner critic and my fear of drawing and find a way to make drawing feel fun again. I've spent the last twelve months reading drawing books and blogs, obsessively searching for drawing quotes, writing about drawing, and, of course, drawing. It has been quite an adventure. This last year I've tried new materials, visited new places, and drawn subjects that I probably never would have otherwise. I've dealt with frustration, boredom, and disappointment and I've enjoyed wonder, delight, and a sense of flow.

Creative Experiment: Halfway Through

Creative Experiment: Halfway Through

Back in November I started working through Marion Deuchar's book Draw Paint Print Like the Great Artists, committing to doing every single exercise.

I called this project a creative experiment because I wasn't really sure what would happen. I hypothesized that working through every exercise in this book would yield creative returns, but I didn't know what those would look like. I hoped that it would help me to develop some creative discipline and that I would get better at creative play. You can read more about my expectations about the project here.

Creative Challenge: #InspireOctober

Creative ChallengeOctober is an amazing, crazy month. Birthdays, anniversaries, Halloween, Thanksgiving (my favourite holiday - and yes, here in Canada we celebrate it in October)... and I'm moving. The days are getting shorter, the last of the green leaves are turning colour and falling to the ground, and that inescapable winter chill is starting to creep in. It's a month of celebration and transition. What better time to sharpen my creative muscles and focus more clearly on the world around me? This month, my creative challenge is back with #InspireOctober.

Last week I wrote about the importance of rituals, habits, and routines to help you stay creative every day. This week I have just the thing to help you with that goal! Introducing #InspireOctober, a 31-day creativity challenge that will inject some inspiration into your creative practice every day this month. It's easy to play along: Each number on the calendar is a day of the month. Using that day's prompt as a jumping off point, take a picture or write a short post and publish it on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook with the hastag #InspireOctober. That's it! Full "rules" (there are no rules though, really) below. Enjoy!

The Mission:

To stretch our creative muscles a little bit each day in October. To open our imaginations and share our stories.

The Rules:

1. Use the words above as prompts to create a story: either a visual image or a small piece of text each day.

2. Post the story you create to Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook using the hashtag #InspireOctober, along with the word that inspired it. Follow me on these platforms for even more inspiration.

3. Interpret the prompts any way you want, literally or off-the-wall figuratively.

4. Use any media you want. Try to stretch a little bit and think about the different stories you can tell with each word. Will you sketch or paint a picture? Make a collage? Take a photo? Use found objects to make a sculpture? Take a video? Use found text? Transcribe overheard conversations? Create a map? Of course, if you want to use all photographs that’s fine too!

5. Do as many or as few as you want, in any order you want. I don’t want to stress anyone out, so make this challenge whatever you need it to be to have fun.

6. Share with your friends! The more people we have playing along, the more fun it will be.

The challenge starts tomorrow and will go to the end of October. I hope you’ll join in on the creative adventures!

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#InspireJuly: A Creativity Challenge

#InspireJuly Welcome to my very first creativity challenge!

The Mission:

To stretch our creative muscles a little bit each day in July. To open our imaginations and share our stories.

The Rules:

1. Use the words above as prompts to create a story: either a visual image or a small Tweetable piece of text each day.

2. Post the story you create to Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #InspireJuly, along with the word that inspired it.

3. Interpret the prompts any way you want, literally or off-the-wall figuratively.

4. Use any media you want. Try to stretch a little bit and think about the different stories you can tell with each word. Will you sketch or paint a picture? Make a collage? Take a photo? Use found objects to make a sculpture? Take a video? Use found text? Transcribe overheard conversations? Create a map? Of course, if you want to use all photographs that's fine too!

5. Do as many or as few as you want, in any order you want. I don't want to stress anyone out, so make this challenge whatever you need it to be to have fun.

6. Share with your friends! The more people we have playing along, the more fun it will be.

The challenge starts tomorrow and will go to the end of July. I hope you'll join in on the creative adventures!