Five {5} Creative Questions‏ with Leah Piken Kolidas

For this round of Five {5} Creative Questions we welcome Leah Piken Kolidas.

Leah is a mixed-media artist living near Boston, MA with her husband and their four fuzzy meows. She sells her art at Blue Tree Art Gallery and blogs and runs creative challenges at Creative Every Day.

1. What does creativity mean to you?
I think a lot of people relate creativity to some kind of art-making, and then think because they can’t draw that they aren’t creative. But the truth is, everyone is creative. We are already creative every day in the way we live our lives, the way we dress, the way we make that fantastic potato salad, and the way we doodle on our junk mail. I think creativity can be found everywhere and it only expands when we focus our energy on it.

2. What is your creative process and what tools do you use to stimulate it?
I especially like to create intuitively, allowing myself to choose colors and materials that I’m drawn to in the moment, and letting images flow out spontaneously. Sometimes I’ll use sparks like inkblots to get me going. I also love working with collage and acrylic and seeing what happy surprises come during the process.

It varies. In the colder months, I especially like to work at night. In the warmer months, in the late morning or afternoon.

By focusing on creativity on a daily basis, I find that opportunities to be creative spring up everywhere!

I think having community is really important in maintaining a creative life, which is a big part of why I started the Creative Every Day Challenge on my blog, Creative Every Day. The Creative Every Day Challenge is a year-long, low-pressure challenge that you can join in anytime. It’s a great, supportive community and place to share what you’re creating that helps keep me and many others motivated and inspired through the year.

• THANKS Leah!