Search Results for: everyday creative

Everyday Creative: Let’s Begin

January 28, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Like most years, I decided to start 2010 by dedicating the year to becoming more creative. Usually, my dedication ends up occurring in not so everyday inspirational spurts. I hope this year will be different. I hope my creativity remains constant and in the forefront of everything I do.

So how am I going to manage to pull off this feat? By learning to be everyday creative by following Eric Maisel’s The Creativity Book: A Year’s Worth of Inspiration and Guidance. Yes, that’s a year’s worth of dedication!

I first encountered creativity coach extraordinaire, Eric Maisel’s work when I signed up for his Intro to Creativity Coaching online course five years ago. At the time, I was working as a museum educator, where I was focusing on everyone else’s creativity but my own. The course not only taught me how to empower other creatives but how to focus on my own creativity.

After I finished the course, I worked for almost a year with a creativity coach, moved to another part of the country, and switched careers. But before I changed careers completely, I had some time to explore my inner creative urges. I signed up for art classes, exhibited my work in shows, launched my blog, taught creativity and art workshops and realized that I was creative.

But like most things, life got in the way. I began to create less frequently, post only weekly to my blog, and abandoned my membership to the National Collage Society. So when I thought about my goals for the year, the first thing I did was dust off the Creativity Book. I decided I wanted to explore being an everyday creative person- something I’ve never really been able to accomplish. Like a lot of creatives, my inspiration erratically ebbs and flows, but what if I focused on it and nurtured it everyday instead of just some of the days?

You are probably wondering why I am starting the program now after the year has already begun. The book is only divided into 11 monthly sections. The 12th section is dedicated to creating a work, whatever you want it to be. My work will be to continue to be an everyday creative, which I realize could change during the course of the year.

Filed Under: Everyday Creative, Inspiration

Benefits of Being Everyday Creative

December 14, 2009 by 3 Comments

One of my everyday creative habits involves checking out the magazine rack at my local library. Quite frequently, you will find me there picking up magazines that catch my eye, especially magazines I would not normally read.

This weekend, intrigued by the cover story Everyday Creative, I stumbled upon the latest issue of Psychology Today. The article begins by debunking, probably, the number one myth of creativity and that is that if you are not a creative genius then you are simply not creative and have no hope of ever being creative.

Instead, the article focuses on the fact that too many people fall for that myth and don’t even see all the creative potential and successes in their own life.

Another myth, debunked in the article, is that creativity is intrinsically linked to the arts. Not so, say these authors, who concede that true creativity begins with problem-solving skills and that we can all learn and master these in our everyday lives, whether that means coming up with a new recipe or simply another way to get the kids to go to bed!

So how do you begin being everyday creative? Well, first you have to believe that you are creative, then you have to discover your problem-solving style and use it to innovate in your own daily life. Before you know it, you’ll see some of the benefits:

  • Increased observation skills
  • A more collaborative spirit
  • Better coping skills.

For more on being everyday creative, check out my new column starting in January on Creative Perch. I’ll be following Eric Maisel’s Creativity Book to enhance my own creativity and encourage you to join me.

  • How are you everyday creative?
Filed Under: Creativity, Inspiration

Are You a Big C Creative?

May 19, 2015 by 1 Comment

balboa parkIf not, don’t worry. Neither am I. And that’s ok.

Several years ago, I used to introduce myself as an artist with a small a. One time someone expressed to me that she didn’t like to hear me say that. She felt I was diminishing myself by doing so. She believed I should embrace being an artist is with a capital A. But that’s not who I was, and I was perfectly happy with that.

Much like how we have become caught up with being a creative with a big C. Being that type of creative means to me that you have achieved something great and given it to the world. I think of Steve jobs and the iPhone or the writings of Maya Angelou. I realize I have not done that…yet!

And I am fine with that.

To me, being a small c creative means that you are heading in that direction. That you are taking all the necessary actions to get to that big discovery or life changing invention. It’s not that I think less of myself but instead realize that my creativity is still a work in progress.

glass palette

You don’t have to wait to create your masterpiece. Here are some ways to embrace your little c creative while working toward being a big C creative:

  • Create more little aha’s. Daily inspirations can lead to big breakthroughs. Focus on moving forward with your discovery. Every little breakthrough gets you there.
  • Build your creative dream in 5 minutes a day. You don’t have to devote large chunks of time to your creativity. Set aside just 5 minutes a day and write, paint, dance, whatever it takes to move your creativity along.
  • Have an inspired conversation. Find a friend and discuss a new creative topic or find a new person to chat with and get inspired by all they have to teach you.
  • Play like a kid. When was the last time you simply played? If you can’t remember, then get out there and do it. Play opens us up to new ideas as our imagination is stretched.
  • Be everyday creative. Find ways to infuse creativity in your daily tasks. Add a splash of color to your wardrobe, create a new recipe or find a different route to work.

How will you nurture your little c creative? 

Filed Under: Featured, Inspiration

Build Your Creative Dream in 5 Minutes a Day

June 1, 2011 by 9 Comments

Yesterday, while looking through my google reader, I noticed a post by my fellow creative blogger Tanner Christensen on creating the work you dreamed of.. It was a deeply personal post that touched a nerve with me and I am sure many other “creatives” out there.

In it, he tells his story of being a creative who, listening to everyone around him, forgoes a career as an artist to become a designer – considered to be a much safer choice. But like a lot of us out there in similar situations, he still longs to be an artist and challenges his readers (and I assume himself too) to take just 5 minutes a day to do something creative, whether it’s writing a quick poem, taking a photograph, or doing a simple drawing to get back to your creative dreams.

I believe the reason his post and suggestion resonated so strongly with me was because, I too, have gotten into a place where I am safe and doing work, that while still part of my dream, is comfortable. No matter who we are, we get in that rut of doing the same thing almost everyday and forget about our lost creative dreams.

Like Tanner, I believe in the power of short – planned or unplanned stints of creativity. Small steps are what helps to build a larger practice of creativity. Recently too, I’ve tried to weave this into my own life, whether it’s creating redesigned website wire frames on post-it notes during my lunch break, or snapping images of my daily life and altering them on instagram, or even pledging to create one thing a day for the next thirty days.

Let’s start a Build Your Creative Dream in 5 Minutes a Day Challenge, where we take that short amount of time each day to express ourselves and rediscover our lost creative dreams.

  • What can you create in 5 minutes?
Filed Under: Creativity, Inspiration

Five {5} Creative Questions With Melanie

December 27, 2010 by Leave a Comment

When I started this interview series earlier this year, I envisioned getting a peek into the lives of some of the creative women I am surrounded by virtually.

And while I did this and shared them with you, I always thought about what my own answers would be. So here they are:

1. What does creativity mean to you?
What creativity means has changed and evolved for me over the years. When I first started thinking about creativity in high school and college, I assumed it was something I didn’t have. So I spent my time admiring it in others, also known as studying art history! It wasn’t until later, while working as an educator at a museum when my boss told me, “to just be creative,” on a project that it hit me. That statement stunted me, because I did not know what that was. After that, I began to really study creativity (mine and others).

So today, creativity means to me a connection of new ideas to make something that moves us forward somehow, whether it is spiritually, personally or professionally.

2. What is your creative process and what tools do you use to stimulate it?
Since I am an introvert, my creative process involves A LOT of internal musings. It usually starts with me being in a quiet place, which could be in nature, bed or even the shower. These are places where I do my best thinking. Once I get the initial idea to create, I usually run with it from there.

For instance, if I am designing something, it usually starts with an idea. Then I try to tie a theme or process to it. I am very big on connections and am always thinking about how things relate to one another.

3. What is your most creative time of day?
First of all, let me say that I put this question in because of a blog post I wrote about this a couple of years ago. I was curious to see if there was any connection between the time of day and when people were most creative. There turned out to be none.

4. How do you infuse creativity into your daily life and tasks?
After completing Eric Maisel’s The Creativity Book, I’ve become more attuned to being everyday creative. For me that doesn’t mean simply doing something artistic but living my life creatively. This might mean taking a new route to work, eating a new food or even getting up on the opposite side of the bed. Anything that I can do to create synergy, I try. I also do simple things like improvise a new recipe, mix up my wardrobe with different colors and patterns, and decorate my planner with images.

5. What creative tip or resource would you like to share with our readers?
Over the years, I’ve definitely shared with you a lot of my personal tips. That’s why my best resource is also the one I subscribe to the most and those are my Top Ten Creative Cures. There’s bound to be a tip in there that will ignite some sort of creative spark within you.

  • Happy Creating!
Filed Under: Five {5} Creative Questions, Inspiration

Five {5} Creative Questions‏ with Leah Piken Kolidas

June 17, 2010 by 2 Comments

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.

3. What is your most creative time of day?

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

4. How do you infuse creativity into your daily life and tasks?

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

5. What creative tip or resource would you like to share with our readers?

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!
Filed Under: Five {5} Creative Questions, Inspiration

Calling All Creatives: From Vacant Lots to Vineyards

January 14, 2010 by Leave a Comment

What is the role of creativity? We all know the function that creativity plays in art and innovation, but what is the purpose of using creativity to build and enhance our communities? I’d like to look at using creativity as an agent of change and encourage you to think more creatively about your community.

I first encountered the idea of creativity for change while an undergraduate studying art history. This is where I first learned about art movements, primarily in the late 20th Century, using creativity for social change. Years later while working in museums in Washington, DC, I encountered another way that the arts affect change through my personal interactions with inner city school children. For them art was a way to escape, but not change their social situation.

Now, I’d like to explore how the ideas behind the art (aka creativity) can generate community. But I am not talking about Richard Florida’s concept of the Creative Class, which while a wonderful theory only takes into account the people that use creativity for their profession. What I’d like to see more of is everyone, not just professional creatives, using their ideas to improve the quality of their cities and neighborhoods.

To begin this quest, I looked no further than my own (figurative) backyard – the city of Cleveland. Late last year, the results of an exciting new program were announced, and it could just be the idea that transforms a depressed Rust Belt city into a sustainability success story. Fast Company even selected Cleveland as one their 13 Most Creative Cities in the World last year based on this program.

The Re-Imagining Cleveland Grant Program gives residents the power to redesign their own city. The program sought out submissions from local residents on how to reuse the plethora of vacant lots in Cleveland. Instead of relying on a development corporation, the program encourages residents to come up with their own sustainable ideas.

And did they ever come up with ideas. Out of 103 proposals 58 proposals were chosen with ideas ranging from a vineyard, market garden and even a garden tended by a group of African refugees struggling to get by on food stamps. The creativity and innovation on the part of the citizens was simply remarkable.

Later in the year, I plan to report about the successful implementation of these ideas. But in the meantime, do you know of everyday citizens who are transforming their communities through creativity or using creative thinking to solve problems like they did in Cleveland? I’d like to feature them in a later post.

Please leave me a comment and let know who they are.

Filed Under: Calling All Creatives, Creativity, Inspiration

Creative Intentions for the New Year

December 29, 2009 by 1 Comment

As this year winds down, I’ve started thinking about my intentions for the New Year. Like most years, my intentions in 2010 center around bringing more creativity into my life. But like a lot of ideas, intentions don’t mean much unless you have a plan to back them up.

That’s why I’ve signed up for the Creative Every Day Challenge. This challenge allows you to do as much or as little as you like, expressing your own personal creativity. The fun part is that each month has a theme to inspire you, plus there are ways to connect (via Twitter, Flickr, Blogs) with others also completing the challenge, so you feel supported.

In addition to the challenge, I’ll also be writing my new columns for Creative Perch – another way to keep me motivated to pursue my intentions! I’ll be following The Creativity Book: A Year’s Worth of Inspiration and Guidance and encourage you to join me.

  • What are your creative intentions for the new year?
Filed Under: Creativity, Inspiration

Overcoming Creative Blocks

October 12, 2008 by 4 Comments

I admit, like most people, I get creatively blocked. This latest bout though has been going on awhile now. Yes, I have creative ideas but have been finding it difficult to actually sit down and turn them into reality.

So what causes creative blocks and what can we do to get past them? According to Steven Pressfield in the War of Art, it’s called resistance or that feeling you get when you can’t sit down to create. The feeling that makes you want to do everything from get a cup of coffee, talk on the phone or search the web, rather than create. Basically, it’s anything you do to avoid actually being productive.

Pressfield’s solution to overcoming resistance is to simply sit down and do the work that needs to get done. Like Twyla Tharp, in her book the Creative Habit, Pressfield believes that eventually the work will flow once we are engaged, and like Tharp he believes that creating must be a habit, something that is done every day.

Recently, I’ve been giving into my resistance and not creating at all, because I haven’t had the time to sit down everyday and create.

  • What do you do when life gets in the way of your creating?
Filed Under: Books, Creativity Techniques

About

Inspiration to live your creativity. One dose at a time.

“Creativity is a drug I cannot live without.” — Cecil B. DeMille

Melanie Sklarz

melanie turquoiseI inspire individuals and groups to tap into their creativity for personal and professional success, whether it’s a painting, marketing plan, or being everyday creative.

As a marketing and communications strategist, I bring a breadth of creative expertise to clients looking to develop and strengthen their brand.

A former educator and curator, I developed and led innovative programs for museums, most recently in Washington, DC.

I want to live in a world where everyone believes they are creative.

Also an informative speaker, I have facilitated workshops for creative women entrepreneurs, presented a parent workshop on raising creative kids, sat on a panel discussing women in blogging and taught college students how to find their tribe online by building their brand.

I am also a mixed media artist specializing in collage. My art has been exhibited at the FAVA Gallery in Oberlin, OH, the Dialogue Gallery in Buffalo, NY and The Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen, VA.

I earned a BA in Art History from Seton Hill University and a MA from the Ohio State University, where my research focused on women’s artistic production and activism.

Five {5} Creative Questions With Melanie

Join me on Facebook!

Find me on Pinterest!

Follow me on Twitter!

« Previous Page
Next Page »