Thank You's, Kitties, and Fundraising

Thank You!

Dear Friends,

First of all thank you to everyone who has purchased a copy of my new book, Get to Work: Practical Advice for Consistent Creativity. I greatly appreciate the support, and I hope that the book resonates with you.

If you’ve read and enjoyed the book, I’d like to ask for your help. Can you do two things for me to help this book reach as many people as possible?

1. Share - Please recommend the book to friends, colleagues, and family who may benefit from the advice that I share in the pages. And please share on social media. Word of mouth and personal recommendations are so important, even in this highly digital age.

2. Review - Please take a minute or two and drop a review on Amazon. Books with reviews get seen more than those without, and besides, I’d love to hear what you thought of the book.

Thanks again! I am so glad that this book exists in the world now, and you can pick up a copy here.

A New Project!

I always seem to have things going and projects in process, and while I was finishing up the book, I was struck with an idea for a new and different project. I have even hinted at it on social media. I’m referring to my recent cat paintings and collages, and I have some plans for them.

So here’s the story.

Back in July, I shared about a sweet little kitty named Gabriel on social media. Just to recap, my wife and I work with several rescues fostering cats and dogs, and little Gabriel was born in our house to a feral momma cat. Gabriel had some wonky back legs and had some issues where he needed to wear a diaper. I became an expert cat diaper changer! He was such a sweet and loving little cat, and we debated seriously about adopting him. In the end we decided that since we already had 4 special needs cats of our own, one more would just be too much.

So, we turned to the Chris Griffey Memorial Feline Foundation for help since they specialize in rescuing and helping kittens with advanced medical and/or nursing care needs. Gabriel went to Kim, one of the foundation’s main fosters, and Kim ended up adopting Gabriel and giving him such a loving home.

Unfortunately, Gabriel passed away unexpectedly, and I was just devastated when Kim shared the news (thinking of that sweet little kitty still brings tears to my eyes). It was then that I decided to do a fundraiser for the foundation in memory of little Gabriel, and for the past couple of months with everything else that’s been going on, I’ve been making little pieces of cat art in preparation. I finally feel like I have enough art to set up a sale with 100% of the proceeds going to the Chris Griffey Memorial Feline Foundation, and I hope to do more in the future.

The first fundraising sale will begin Tuesday, October 22nd, and I will be selling original art, art prints, and whatever else I can get done between now and then.

I’ll share more details when I can. So mark your calendars, and support a wonderful organization helping special kitties!

As always, thank you so much for all of the support!

Eric

P.S. Don’t forget about my upcoming online workshop as well. Drawing for Everyone is Saturday, October 19th, and I’d love to make art with you!

Get to Work is available!

Dear Friends,

Today’s the day! My new book Get to Work: Practical Advice for Consistent Creativity is out and available!

It’s been a long time in the making but I am so excited to bring it to you. If you’re looking for some practical advice and some motivation to make and create, this might be the book for you!

Although I’ve been working hard to write, shape, edit, and design Get to Work for the past two years, it’s a journey that has been about 15 or 16 years in the making. I actually began laying the foundations of the book way back then as a way to give myself a some motivation to make more and create more. This advice, though I called them rules back then, was simply something that I could repeatedly turn to anytime that I felt stuck or stagnant.

Sometime in 2008, my good friend and fellow Journal Fodder Junkie, David introduced me to the rules that Corita Kent had for her classroom at Immaculate Heart College. Though the photocopy David had of these rules wrongly attributed them to John Cage, I did copy them into my journal, and later, a quick Google search turned up Kent as the author and creator. This list of rules got me thinking about creating rules for myself.

Original journal page with Kent’s rules wrongly attributed to John Cage.

Then in 2010, I came across Patti Digh’s rant about how to write a book, which she later included in her book, Creativity is a Verb. Borrowing heavily from Digh and Kent’s lists, I came up with my own rules to provide me with a bit of motivation and first published them in December 2010. Over the years, I have changed, modified, and rearranged them into their current state, but they have been a guiding set of advice that I can return to time and again.

The idea to use these rules as the basis of a book took root in 2013, and I began expanding each rule into some practical advice. Unfortunately, life got in the way, and I abandoned the idea. But a couple of years ago, I returned to the idea of writing a book about creativity, and I returned to my rules. Seeing them with fresh eyes, I dropped the idea of rules since rules are too tight, too structured, and too imposing. Seeing them as practical advice—things to do when I felt stagnant or stuck— seemed more inviting. However, I kept some of the bluntness. After all, it was advice that I was writing for myself.

And now I can share the fruits of this 15+ year journey with you.

It is my sincerest hope that the words in this small book can help and motivate others, so I invite you to do three things.

1. Buy the book! If you need some practical advice and motivation to consistently create, then get your own copy. Since I self-published Get to Work through Amazon, it’s only available there. But I will have my own copies soon to sell in person.

2. Spread the Word! I would love for this book to reach as many folks as possible, so I ask for your help in getting the word out. Since it’s self-published, I don’t have a big publisher behind me that will market and promote the book. You can share this post, or you can share about the book on social media. If you purchase the book, share photos on social media and tag me @emscottart ! I’d love to see the book out in the wind.

3. Write a Review! If you purchase and enjoy the book, write a review on Amazon. More reviews mean that it’s more likely to be seen by others!

Thank you all so much for the continued support! I hope that this book resonates with you!

Happy creating,

Eric

P.S. Don’t forget about my upcoming online workshop as well. Drawing for Everyoneis Saturday, October 19th, and I’d love to make art with you!

Storytelling

I have become enthralled with story lately. Everywhere I turn I hear folks talking about story, sharing their stories, or extolling the virtues of story. It wasn’t something that I was really paying attention to up until a few years ago. I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Creative Pep Talk with Andy J. Pizza one afternoon while I painted my front porch, and he interviewed Brian McDonald and Jesse Bryan and they talked about story. I just lit up listening to them talk about story. Something resonated deeply within me, and I immediately started listening to their podcast, You Are a Storyteller. I began using some of the ideas from the podcast for my art and even for presentations I was giving. The ideas just resonated with me, and I’ve probably listened to all of the episodes of You Are a Storyteller three or four times now. Every time I listen, it seems to go deeper and deeper into my bones. There is just something about story that keeps pulling at me.

Actually when I think about it, stories have always been a big part of my life—not that I told stories or ever thought of myself as a storyteller, but stories have had a profound impact on me. I was 3 or 4 when I saw Star Wars in the theater—what we now call A New Hope—and it wowed me. I wanted to be Luke Skywalker, and the whole narrative just blew me away. I was a poor kid from the middle of nowhere. Luke was a poor kid from some middle of nowhere planet, and if he could save the galaxy, at the very least, I could grow up and do something pretty cool. I soaked in all of these stories of the little guy taking on the big guys and of ordinary folks overcoming the greatest of odds in movies, books, and tv shows, and I knew that I could and would overcome the odds as well.

Growing up poor like I did, the deck was stacked against me, but I made it to college, began teaching, travelled all over this country, and had an impact on quite a few people throughout the years. That’s a long way from where I came from, but I believed it was possible because of all of those stories.

And now, I’m beginning to understand the impact that story has had on me, and maybe there’s a way that I can use story to have an impact on others. I’m still figuring it out, but I know that story is going to be pivotal to what I do. Hearing about story was like someone handing me a key, but I’m not sure what it’ll unlock. I’m still figuring that part out, but I know that story is the key.

It’s only appropriate that I share the impact that Brian McDonald has had on me over the past few years. From listening to him on the podcast to reading his books, I feel like I know him, and one day I’d definitely like to meet him, shake his hand, and thank him. And I definitely want to take a class with him in the future. In the meantime, I’ll keep returning to the You Are a Storyteller podcast and to his books. I just got the second edition of Invisible Ink, and I can’t wait to dig into it and see the changes and additions since the first edition. And if you’re looking for a simple and concise book on storytelling, Invisible Ink is definitely a good place to start, and if you want a good example of storytelling, Brian’s graphic novel Old Souls is good to turn to.

Brian writes in a very clear matter of fact way to present his points, and he draws examples from movies, fairy tales, fables and more to illustrate them. So, if you’re interested in storytelling or even if you want to be a better presenter or communicator, check out the You Are a Storyteller podcast and pick up Brian’s books. I can’t recommend them enough.

Thanks so much! And Happy Creating!

Eric

Being of Service

How can I be of service?

This is a question that has been turning over and over in mind lately. I first heard it from Dr. James R. Doty on the Chase Jarvis Live podcast a couple of months ago, and in recent days it’s become top of mind for me as I figure out my way forward. See, I don’t know how to make my way forward right now. I’m a bit stuck, but this question of how can I be of service helps point the way.

I am a teacher at heart. Yes, I’m a visual artist, but I think that more than anything I am a teacher, and I am always looking to share what I’ve learned, what I’ve figured out, and what I do. It’s my way of connecting, and it goes back to high school when I would tutor some of my friends in study hall, especially with math since it seemed to just make sense to me just like art made sense.

Since those high school days of helping friends survive math class, I’ve been sharing and teaching for 28 years now. It’s who I am, and at the heart of that is this notion of service. How can I be of service?

It’s why I’m writing these words, and why I’ve tried my hand at blogging and podcasting. It’s why I have a YouTube Channel and why I’ve co-written a couple of books—to share some of the things that I know, that I do, that I’ve figured out. It’s my way of being of service, and I am trying to find a way—a deeper way to do that. I just don’t know what that is right now.

But I’ll keep sharing, and I’ll keep trying to be of service in whatever direction life may take me.

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The last time that I felt stuck like this was a few years ago, and at that time I turned to YouTube and podcasts and I started to listen to interviews with a wide range of individuals—some who were doing something like what I want to do—some that were leaders in business and entrepreneurship—and some who were just creatives making their way in the world. I took a look at what they did and listened to what they had to say, and it helped me move forward. Now that I’m feeling stuck again, maybe revisiting some of these isn’t such a bad idea.

Austin Kleon was one of those people, and I watched a number of his interviews. In my last post, I mentioned Kleon and his books, but he has been so helpful on my journey, so I thought that I’d share one of the interviews Chase Jarvis did with Him.

Although the video is more than ten years old and I had read his books, I still took away a lot from the interview and created the two-page journal spread that’s at the top.

What do you do when you’re feeling stuck. Are there people, resources, or ideas that you like to revisit that help you move forward? Share them in the comments so others can check them out.

Thanks so much for sharing this journey!

Happy Creating!

Eric

New Beginnings

I’m not sure what shape I want this newsletter and blog to take now, but right now I’m imagining a weekly endeavor that comes out every Friday with two main sections — “Here’s what I’ve been up to this week” and “Here’s some stuff that’s been inspiring me and keeping me motivated” kind of thing. But the aim is to share more deeply about not just what I am doing but about other folks and other things.

So here goes.

This Week

I’ve been rather fortunate to find myself with a couple of rather quiet weeks. Being a part time teacher at a private school means that I get the summer off from teaching at my school, but I do keep myself busy teaching a few things throughout the summer. I finished up my first camp of the summer a couple of weeks ago, and I won’t have another until August. However next week, I begin a two-week summer art program for high schoolers that I’ve taught for about 18 years now.

So, for the last two weeks, I’ve been enjoying some down time, and I’ve been working on several things. First, I’ve been keeping up with my daily collages, and if you haven’t been following along on social media, you’re missing out. I am now at 460 straight days of creating a small 6in x 8in cut paper collage. It’s been a great way to explore my creativity and to experiment with ideas. I also worked on edits for my forthcoming book Get to Work: Practical Advice for Consistent Creativity which I’m hoping to self publish by the beginning of September.

Probably most significantly, I worked on a cut paper collage self portrait. Using a favorite selfie that I took a few years ago in the midst of the COVID lockdown, I turned it into a layered paper collage.

This wasn’t an idea entirely new to me, and about 20 years ago, I developed a project for my high school art classes that did something very similar. However, there were two main differences. First, students had to mix and paint their paper different values, and instead of a flat collage, they had to create a relief where the image was slightly 3-D. See and example below.

Artwork by Natalie K.

It was good to revisit the idea and create a new piece.

Inspiration

I am constantly inspired by so many people, and it’s really hard to figure out where to begin, so I’ll begin with someone who constantly inspires me and someone who I tend to quote and cite a lot when I give talks and teach classes. And that’s Austin Kleon. Though Kleon is about ten years younger than me, I want to grow up to be like Austin Kleon. If you’re not familiar with him, he is, as he describes himself, an author who draws, and he his probably best known for his bestselling book Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative. It’s a book that I have read and reread several times. It’s a concise book with great advice for making and creating.

And just like Kleon suggests, I stole from him! I love that his books are small, concise, easy to digest, not expensive, and filled with some very practical advice. So, as I began working on my book Get to Work, I kept all of that in mind, and I just imagine my book fitting in nicely on the book shelf next to his.

But it’s really Austin’s advice from his book Show Your Work! that keeps ringing in my head ever since I had my little meltdown a couple of weeks ago. In the chapter titled Don’t Turn into Human Spam, he gives the advice “If you want fans, you have to be a fan first.” And he goes on to say, “If you’re only pointing to your own stuff online, you’re doing it wrong.” So, I’m trying to follow this advice, hence the new and hopefully improved newsletter and blog.

So, if you haven’t checked him out or if you haven’t read his books, I highly recommend him and his work. And it’s definitely a reminder to myself that I really need to reread his books.

Thanks so much for your time and energy, and I hope that you had a good week. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Until next time! Happy Creating!

Eric

Losing Myself and Finding Myself

Thanks and Gratitude

First of all, I just want to say thank you for the outpouring of support in response to what I shared earlier in the week. I really appreciate it, and I am very grateful. I do realize that there are so many out there that have supported and lifted me up throughout the years, and I know that I have indeed had an impact or others. Everyday during my gratitude practice, I express my gratitude for that support to the universe. It’s just too easy to get overwhelmed with negative thoughts and frustration. So thank you all for the reminders of all the ways that I have impacted others. I appreciate the love and support.

I do want things to change. As I mentioned, I want to offer that same love and support to others, and so I am trying to be more intentional in sharing not just my thoughts, my art, my stuff, but also the things that I find intriguing and the people that inspire and motivate me. So, I’m going to see if I can start sharing more deeply at least once a week through the newsletter and through the blog. I want this to be a regular practice, and I hope that you’ll join me for this journey.

Be Here Now

With that recent feeling of overwhelm, frustration, and spinning, negative self talk, I can’t help think about Eckhart Tolle and his teachings on being present. You may be familiar with him through his first book The Power of Now, but it’s his second book, A New Earth that I feel most connected to. I reread it every couple of years, and I am rereading it now.

If you’re not familiar with Tolle, his books, or his teachings, he talks about how we are often at the mercy of the ego and don’t focus on the present moment. We preoccupy ourselves with what has happened in the past and with what we want to happen in the future. He explains that because of the ego, we have built up a false sense of self and identity, and we often spin ourselves with negative thoughts. We feel anger, stress, worry, fear, and so much more because we are so wrapped up in ego and this false identity. Unfortunately, I’m not explaining it too well. But his ideas align with much if what I’ve learned from Buddhism and the Dalai Lama—we create our own suffering through attachment to the past (something that we cannot change) and to the future (something that has yet to be). We only have this moment—the present moment.

I definitely lost sight of that when those thoughts of mine swirled out of control. I let ego get the best of me as I focused on the negativity. In that moment, I couldn’t accept the way things were and got caught up in a cycle of frustration, anger, and negativity. But, I am here now, and this is how things are. Yes, I want them to be different, but ranting and raving about it all and wishing things were different isn’t going to make things change. I have the power to change them, and this is the first step. Being in the midst of rereading Eckhart Tolle’s words is a reminder of that.

New Online Workshops

One quick note to say that I’ve just released a series of five new online workshops for the fall and early winter. Each one will be online through Zoom, and I invite you to join me. You can find all of my online workshops, past and present here.

Frustration and a Moment of Clarity

A couple of days ago, I was hit with some massive feelings of overwhelm as a swirl of frustration and negative thoughts simply consumed me.

It was morning, and I was getting ready to do the morning dishes like I do everyday. And like I often do, I put on a podcast to listen to as I scrubbed the cups, bowls, and animal dishes, but within a matter of minutes, I just began spouting on and on about so many things. Something in the podcast just irked me, and before I knew it, all of these negative thoughts and frustrations began pouring out. I had to turn off the podcast, and I just kept ranting.

After a good 15 or twenty minutes of ranting, I realized that I had tears streaming down my face and I was shaking. That’s not something that often happens, and I realized that all of this frustration had been building and building, and it all came out in that moment. It was a release, but it was very unsettling.

You see, eight years ago, I left teaching in the public schools to try to do things on my own. For many reasons, I had grown tired with teaching art in the public schools, and I knew I had to get out. I had come to realize that teaching in public schools wasn’t what I wanted to do, and I had a dream of leaving and making my way as an independent artist who sold his work and taught workshops and retreats all over the country. And I did just that, at least for a while. And though it took a lot of work and a lot of hustle, I got to travel and teach in Hawaii, Texas, New York, and so many other places. I gave talks at art education conventions and taught at a few of the big art retreats around the country. It felt like I was on the right track.

But that changed when COVID shut things down, and though I’ve done some workshops and some talks since then, there have definitely been fewer and fewer each year. But I did have a couple of opportunities fall into my lap, and I currently work a couple of part time jobs and teach workshops and summer camps locally. The bills and the mortgage are paid each month, but it’s not where I had envisioned myself.

So, part of the frustration is that these part time jobs pay the bills but zap me of time and energy to focus on other things that I’d rather be doing. The remainder of the frustration comes from feeling like I’ve spent the last eight years spinning my wheels, and I feel further from my dream than ever. And, I’m just not sure how to move forward. I feel so stuck. I had thought by now that I would have made more connections and be able to do more of the things that I want to do—write books, teach workshops, make videos, and make a living from it all. But I feel stuck and stagnant.

Something in that podcast just struck a nerve, and out came the negativity and the frustration. I just began going on and on about how little progress I’ve made, about how few followers I have on social media. My Instagram followers sits at just over 2000 and my Facebook followers at just over 2400. I know that social media followers aren’t the best indicator of success, but it’s just hard to do the things that I want to do if I can’t get people to engage with the things I make or sign up for workshops. Of course, social media algorithms are set up to hinder growth, and I feel like I’ve been making all of this art and doing all of these things with very little to show for it. Yes, I know that I have made connections, and I know that there are many people who support what I do and engage with the things I make, but in that moment, those connections and that support didn’t matter. And out it came—the excuses, the blame, the frustration, and the negativity. I ranted and I raved until tears were flowing.

“If you want other people to give a shit about you, you have to give a shit about other people.”

And then, a moment of clarity hit me. I realized that through all of it, there was one constant—me, and a thought popped into my head. I just said to myself, “If you want other people to give a shit about you, you have to give a shit about other people.” It was like a slap to the face but it was a clear message to myself.

I’ve mentioned before how I’m socially awkward in real life and on social media. It’s just hard for me to connect. There’s probably a million reasons for this, but the fact is that I am stingy. I’m stingy and selfish. I’m stingy with my praise. I’m stingy with my comments and my compliments. I’m stingy in so many ways, and I hold back so much. I find it easy to put myself out there with my art or with blog or social media posts or with videos and reels, but I find it so hard to put myself out there for other people—to lift others up. Maybe the reason that I’m not where I had imagined myself to be eight years ago, is that I hold so much back and keep so much to myself.

So, I’m going to try to be less stingy and selfish. I’m going to try giving a shit about other people and see how I can connect to others and celebrate not just those who have supported me but those who have inspired me and motivated me. I’m not sure what shape or form that will be, and I know that it won’t be easy. Old mindsets and old habits are hard to break.

I will begin by saying thank you to everyone who has supported me in anyway—by reading my blogs, liking my art, joining me for workshops, watching my videos, commenting and giving me feedback, or just being there in general for me. Though in my moment of frustration and overwhelm it was easy to focus on all of the negative, I am grateful for all of the love and support folks have given me over the years. Now it’s my turn to give the love and support—to give a shit about other people!

My Influences — Rembrandt

Growing up in the 70s and 80s, I loved to draw, but since I didn’t come from a family of artists, famous works of art and famous artists weren’t things that I was exposed to a lot. This was way before the ubiquity of smart phones and the internet, so seeing art and being exposed to different artists was nearly impossible if you didn’t live close to galleries and museums, and I lived in the middle of nowhere in southwestern Pennsylvania. Because of that, I knew very little about art. I didn’t have art class in elementary school, and even when I had art in middle and high school, the inclusion of artists and art history wasn’t the norm the way it is now.

So, my biggest artistic influences at the time were the how to draw books that I checked out of the school library, especially the Draw 50 series. But of course there were some big name artists that I did hear of, and calling someone a Rembrandt when they could draw or paint was a fairly common expression. But my exposure was very limited, and I only had the World Book Encyclopedia that sat on the bottom shelf of the bookcase in the living room. I spent hours flipping through the pages and looking up some of those big name artists, and Rembrandt was one who stood out to me. I don’t recall exactly what the encyclopedia had on him, and it was probably a brief entry, maybe a page, probably less. Most likely, it only had a couple of images of his paintings, probably in back and white. But it was enough to capture my attention and etch him into my mind.

Once I got into college as an art education major, I was exposed to a lot of art and artists, especially in my art history classes, and Rembrandt still stood out and captured my imagination even more. I think it was, in part, my fascination with drawing and painting realistically, and artists like Rembrandt were the epitome of this aesthetic that I found so intriguing. I aspired to be able to draw and paint like these artists.

It wasn’t until my junior year in college when I was 20 that I saw my first Rembrandts in person. It was on a trip to Washington, DC sponsored by my university, and I remember being absolutely blown away standing in front of Rembrandt’s self-portrait from 1659 in the National Gallery of Art. As a painter, I marveled at the brushstrokes and how the paint was built up in the light areas and how multiple glazes of color were used to show the variations in the skin tone. One thing that really struck me was how impressionistic his painting was. More than 200 years before the Impressionists, Rembrandt was using thick brushstrokes and hinting at details. In the images presented by my art history professors and in my art history books, I never realized how the painting was done, but there in front of a real life Rembrandt, I just stood and marveled. I even got yelled at by security because I was a bit too close for comfort, but I just wanted to see it close up.

My style has changed a lot in the last 30 years, and I long ago gave up trying to draw and paint realistic looking art. Although I’m an abstract artist now who works mostly in non-representational art and uses bright, bold colors, I still marvel at Rembrandt’s technique and find his work inspiring.

A Year of Collages

More than two years ago, I started a daily art practice, and after a year of daily watercolor paintings, I switched to daily doodles which quickly morphed into daily collages, and for the past year, I have sat down each day and made a cut paper collage on a piece of 6x8 inch mixed media paper. Even on those rare days when I don’t have the time or energy and can’t make one, I make up for it the next day, and if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you may have seen some of the collages that I post each day.

Today, I stacked all of them together and the stack was more than fourteen inches tall. It’s such a visual impact to see them all stacked together. It’s one thing to thing about how I made one each day for the last 366 days (it is a Leap Year!). It’s a completely different thing to see the teetering stack of them standing in front of me.

My daily art practice isn’t about making a masterpiece each day, and it’s not about being able to brag about having a daily practice, though it’s good to toot your own horn every now and then. It’s about dedicating the time to create. Sometimes, I love what I make, and other times, what I make just doesn’t work. And out of the 366 pieces that I have made, I would probably say that there’s only a couple dozen that I feel really work. But sitting down everyday and making something with the same materials, pushes me to explore and experiment with themes and and images, and I feel like I have grown so much as an artist over the past year. And I have this bank of ideas for ideas for future work.

I’m just showing up everyday and planting creative seeds and seeing which ones grow.

Over the course of the past year, I’ve had a lot of folks ask me what I planned on doing with them, and many have suggested deploying them and having an exhibit. So, I am pleased to announce that I will display them at the Round Hill Arts Center for the month of May. I am simply going to pin them to the wall, and I am looking forward to seeing all 366 of the collages hanging together.

I’ll share more details in the coming days, and I hope that those of you close to the Northern Virginia area can come see it once the exhibit is hung.

In the meantime, I’ll continue creating and sharing my daily collages, and I look forward to seeing where my ideas and my art take me.

Seeds

I’m a firm believer that we are all creative, but many folks have lost touch with their creativity—they’ve lost the connection. There are a myriad of reasons for this disconnection, and it doesn’t matter what they are. What matters is that you can get back in touch with it. You can reconnect to it.

Creativity isn’t confined to art or music or any of the other disciplines we deem creative. There’s no such thing as creatives and non-creatives, though the business world tries to convince us otherwise. Creativity plays a key role in every aspect of our lives. We often don’t see it that way though. It often flies under the radar because we’re not painting a masterpiece or composing a symphony or writing a sonata. But creativity resides in the way that we solve problems and in the way we make choices. It inhabits our hobbies and shows up in simple everyday chores. We just are unaware of it. We can’t live without exploring and using our creativity. In simply buying clothes, decorating our living spaces, cooking dinner, trying to impress a date, or buying a present for someone close to us, we are expressing our creativity. These are all creative moments, but we’ve been lulled into believing that creativity only happens to special people doing special things. However creativity is ordinary and everyday.

Like so many things in our lives, we are unconscious and unaware of the role that creativity plays in our lives, but once we start to see how creativity is simply entrenched in the way we live and we become aware of it, we can cultivate it. We can purposefully and intentionally nurture it. It’s like we are planting tiny seeds, and we can chose which ones receive our time, our attention, our care. We can nurture the seed of creativity or we can nurture the seed that is the denial of our creativity.

How are you nurturing your creativity?