NO SECRET
There is no fine line between being creative and not being creative. There are gradations, however, and these can change. That’s because we are all, as human beings, basically creative. Have you ever had a problem, come up with a solution, and solved it yourself? That is being creative.
Have you ever envisioned a home or lifestyle that you wanted? That is being creative.
Someone told you there was only one way to do something, but you found another way to do it. That is being creative.
IT’S OKAY. Truth be told….
NO SECRET
THE ARTIST WITHIN
You can strengthen and refine those powers that you used to make those decisions. You can discover the artist in you. How? Through a series of readings and simple creative projects that encourage your creativity to start flowing. The personal creative process is fun and rewarding. It should not be demanding or intimidating. After all, you may be meeting a hidden part of yourself for the first time.
LEARNING THROUGH ART PROJECTS
Art projects can reveal creative powers you didn’t know you had. Have you always thought that you are not creative or imaginative? Everyone has creative and imaginative powers that they can draw on for strength, balance, and creativity in their own lives.
Through five art projects, you’ll discover a lot about yourself and your personal strengths (and weaknesses!). Each project introduces you to the use of certain materials: oil pastels, collage, pen and ink, pencil sketching, and painting with acrylic paints. By using these materials you will discover your creative and imaginative powers.
Here’s an example: One project involves work with vibrant colors in oil pastels, using small dots and streaks of color to create a composition. This is a long process that requires a constant work of accumulation of color areas. It takes a long time to fill a small area, but as the areas of color develop, the contrasting colors interact and images begin to emerge! The final product is very rewarding and will teach you several things:
(1) You will learn a specific technique using oil pastels (a technique used by the Impressionists).
(2) You will learn how to use many colors to produce an area of vibrant color.
(3) You will learn to see shapes coming out of areas of color and work to emphasize those shapes towards the final composition. These shapes can be trees, flowers, a patch of fog, or an alligator. In the end, she has not only learned a wonderful technique for creating vibrant and atmospheric colors with oil pastels, but she is beginning to train her eye to work with her imagination and create an image.
THE WOW FACTOR
As the image emerges, you will feel amazed, because it seems that the work that it is developing is the same. But no, it is you who works to develop it and it is you who sees the images that arise and makes it so. And once they emerge, you’ll find yourself working automatically, using the oil pastel technique to strengthen the images and make them stronger and clearer. Now you are working like an artist!
You are tapping into a very powerful resource within you. One that is primordial and necessary for the balance of human existence.
You are learning about yourself. You are beginning to see what you are made of, remembering where you came from and how you draw on your personal history every day to do what you have to do. Sometimes what you use as a creative resource is not very pleasant. As you create and imagine things will float in your mind. You will recall images and events in your life that were painful, pleasurable, and meaningful.
Everyone has a personal story that they are inspired by. Let your existence as a human being here on Earth be the resource for your creativity. See yourself as an individual with something to say, empower yourself and share with others. This is why art is inspiring. Behind all works of art on display in museums today, regardless of whether the work was done centuries ago or very recently, is the artist’s basic need to harness his or her creative talents and share them with the rest of humanity. This is what your inner artist can do for you: clarify your hopes, dreams, fears, inspirations, and goals and, if you wish, communicate these personal powers to others.
Here is an example of how, through the five art projects, you can empower yourself in your personal life:
By learning creative skills in these projects, you can inspire your relationship with your children by turning off the TV, turning off the video games, not only reading bedtime stories, but also drawing pictures with them and encouraging them to create a story around those. Photos. It will be fun! It will strengthen your relationship with your children and transmit to them the wonderful resource of creativity.
THAT GERM OF CREATIVITY
There is a germ of creative ability in everyone. Once it is discovered, a person lives a richer life. No, not all problems can be solved through creative thinking. Life happens and creative ability is not going to change everything in our lives. But what does change is our belief in ourselves and the strength to summon the inner powers, those powers that have been within us all along, waiting for us to discover them.