☆ Top 10 ways to Beat the Creativity Blues: part two [GREATEST HITS]

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I hope you are enjoying my Greatest Hits series! This is because I am taking January off + I am currently reading a book, sleeping on the couch, swimming at the pool, or painting in the studio....

These are the posts that have inspired, helped, motivated + encouraged my readers. How do I know this?

Because you told me. In emails, comments or links.

Enjoy....

☆ ☆ ☆

MY TOP 10 WAYS TO BEAT THE CREATIVITY BLUES 

{part two} {part one here}

6. ALTERING ART...

Once I had a few photos of my family lying around, that I wasn't going to use in frames, the quality wasn't great, or they had printed wonky.

So I glued a few in my sketchbook + found a permanent marker + my extremely cheap metallic gel pens + started to doodle over the photos.

I ended up with some very cool ideas to then translate onto paper. (Bonus - It was super fun + my kids love looking at them!)

7. WEEKLY CHALLENGE SITES...

There are heaps of these around. These are websites which provide you a weekly prompt - usually just a word + it is up to you to create something based on around that word.

My favourite sites are Illustration Friday + Inspiration Avenue - but feel free to share you favuorites in the comments section for others to visit.

I often use these prompts, when I am struggling for ideas. 

You can share your work with others on the sites, but quite often I don't, I just spend a quick ten minutes sketching a picture.

8. ART COURSES...

Again there are so many courses out there, and if you a regular reader of 'Listening to the Squeak', you will know that I have done the LifeBook courses for the last two years.

I love these courses, the many different techniques + different styles of the artists teaching is so inspiring, but the best part of this is following a lesson plan, which if you are in mood you can just follow as is, or taylor to your imagination.

This makes art courses perfect for keeping creative with out having to think of inspiration.

The cost can be prohibitive, but you can find free art courses online - Tam Laporte's Art, Heart + Healing was one that I did early on + was fantastic. 

9. MAGAZINES + CATALOGUES...

You can usually find magazines everywhere, at your mums, your nans, the doctors surgery... 

And every week, we receive half a dozen junk mail catalogues, so if I am running on empty, I will find a picture of a dress I like, a cute wall decal, a tea set - something + I use it as a basis of my sketch.

The sketch on the left was a pose + hair style I liked + on the right, I liked the neck on a dress I found.

It doesn't need to be an elaborate sketch if you don't have time, just enough to give you an idea when you flick through your sketches later.

10. PINTEREST [OR MY FAVOURITE TIME SUCK]...

I hesitated about suggesting this one, the site itself has caused some controversy, but I love using pinterest to spark my creativity.  

I have several boards like a wings + things board or poses board, that I go to for inspiration on days when I am stuck.

But you have to be careful not to spend time mindlessly surfing or you can end up spending hours on there. (time suck!!)

*****

So I hope this has given you some ideas on breaking through those creative dry spells that seem to happen to us all. 

What are your favourite inspiration busters? I would love it if you shared yours with us below.

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☆ Beating the Creative Blues: part one [SUMMER OF GREATEST HITS]

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For the first time I am taking the whole of January off. I don't really have any plans - I am working on being spontaneous this year.... well I will let you know how that goes! 

I had this idea. (Did you know that Mac is putting this on my grave stone??)

Anyway January is a time of creating new habits, reflecting on the past year/ years, sometimes as it is the depths of the season (Summer for me + Winter for many of you) it is hard to get motivated to move. 

So my idea is this: I'm going to share with you some of the posts that have been the most inspiring for readers. These are the posts that I have had people personally contact me about. And I want to revisit some earlier work, share some of the paintings in progress that and some other bits + pieces.

I hope you enjoy this Greatest Hits series + I will return with fresh ideas + content in February.

☆ ☆ ☆

MY TOP 10 WAYS TO BEAT THE CREATIVITY BLUES 

{part one}

1. TAKE THE DAY OFF...

WHAT? 

Seriously take the day off.

Do not go near your work space or sketchbook. Shut the door, close the book and take the day off. But the most important part of this is to LET GO OF THE GUILT + WORRY.

Instead do something different, something you don't normally do - go for a walk, read a book, visit a park with a coffee or watch a movie. 

Stepping out of your routine + taking the day off can open yourself up to new inspiration.

2. DOODLE, ZENTANGLES + MANDALAS....

These are such great ways of letting your mind wander, I find them almost meditative, and often once I have spent just ten minutes doing one of these, I am open to new ideas + solving problems that have been worrying me, and unblocking my creativity.

There are so many 'how to's' when you Google any of these terms + so many free template downloads you can fill in. This is one of my favourite inspiration busters.

3. VISIT THE LIBRARY...

or bookshop, or second hand book store or charity shops. 

But instead of the how to books or art books, go to the children's sections and look at the beautiful illustrations in their books.

I love doing this, and often drag my kids to the library under the guise of borrowing books for them, but I am actually choosing books whose illustrations sparked inspiration.

4. YOUTUBE...
There are so many how to tutorials out there on YouTube. And definitely worth watching - my favourites are this one + this one.

5. USING A DIFFERENT STYLE...
Sometimes, I just need to do something a little different.

I have often done several quick sketches of cutesy mermaids, pirate queens or zombie queens (not my usual stuff).

Sometimes, I draw disney princess for my girls to colour in. Anything to just keep my creative brain going.


Make sure you come back next week for the rest of my favourite ways to beat the creativity blues, but I would love to know What your favourite inspiration busters are? I would love it if you shared yours with us below.

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☆ Friday Art [clockwork geisha]

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The best thing about going away to the city for me is being out of my habitual life. 

As a family, we are very (very!) routine. We have our dance classes, play groups, mothers groups, morning tea at nan's and school days. 

And I often wonder if we lived in a city if we would be as structured, or if we would be more spontaneous, and jump on a bus to somewhere.

Anyway, as I was saying, the best thing about going away is seeing things that I haven't seen everyday, and therefore, do not see anymore - do you know what I mean? 

Like beautiful graffiti on the train tunnels, like the mist covering the harbour bridge, or like the vibrant colours of a 'nemo' + 'dorie' fish.

So on Sunday we went to the markets in The Rocks, and I love these markets. They are a mixture of touristy items (like opal jewellery + australian animal puzzles) + and beautiful + original art + crafts.

One of the stalls had amazing steam punk jewellery, and if I had had more cash on me I would have bought lots from this stall, (thank goodness they have a website!!), but I was reminded how much I love steam punk - the clothes, the gadgets, the contraptions, and I remembered that I had a few old watches in my studio.

So with my hammer I took apart all these old watches (so. much. fun!) to find the elusive gold cogs to use in future projects, and I decided to use some in this weeks painting. 

Clockwork Geisha

(So she is not very geishaish, but I decided that the steam punk genre is all about being traditional, in non traditional ways!)

Add caption

How cute are those cogs? If they were bigger I would have stuck them on a bobby pin for my hair!!

I was tell my nan about my day of destruction, laughing at how I took my hammer to the old watches, and her face was priceless, (I don't think she ever thought that some one would pull watches apart for parts to use in artwork!) She then told me she had a few old watches from my Poppy in her special box, that would have some cool parts, but I knew that she wasn't offering them to me for destruction!

Have you pulled apart something for art? Just because? I would love to hear your stories. [And feel free to send me your old watches!! ]

Thank you everyone for your awesome comments on my post - I am sorry I couldn't visit as many of you as I liked, but I will this week!

[LINKING TO PAINT PARTY FRIDAY]

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☆ How to Catch Mermaids [inspiration from bean]

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Bean came to me one morning and said 'Mama, I am going to catch a mermaid'

'Oh' I said.

'How do you do that?' I asked.

'Well' she said, 'First you get your fishing line, tie something to it...

And then you through it in the water. Then you catch a mermaid'

'Thats a very cool way to catch a mermaid Bean'

And so this painting was born.

My kids are my greatest source of inspiration.

Some days it is so, so hard to hear them, through the noise, the tantrums, the tears, (like the easter hang over from hell we had this week!), 

And then there are moments of sheer joy + clarity which make these moments seem so insignificant, and it is in these moments that I find the best stories + inspiring ideas.

This painting will remind me on those very hard days to listen harder.

Have you thought about where in your life you should listen harder? I would love to know what you heard. 

Next week I will be starting a spotlight series featuring the artists who join me in the Easter Tag swap, so stay tuned to see some of the amazing tags that were created for this swap.

By the way did you see that this months give away is now open for entries? 

And finally, this weekend the latest news + gossip letter will be emailed out so if you want to know the latest happenings, whats coming up, or to grab a special discount code sign up by clicking the email icon.

Have a fabulous weekend.

[LINKING TO PAINT PARTY FRIDAY]

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☆ Tree [illustration friday]

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Have you had a chance to enter into this months GIVE AWAY (which closes tomorrow evening AUST time) or perhaps thought about joining me in my very first Christmas Tag Swap? 

Both are open to absolutely every one + I would love it if you would check them out.

Princess in a Tree

When I was a tween, I desperately wanted my own cubby house in the big gum tree in our back yard. I wanted it, because I was obsessed with the Baby Sitters Club books, and the idea of a 'club' of friends appealed greatly to me and I thought a club house would be a perfect place to meet with my members, and gossip about boys, and other very important tweeny things.

I never did have a club house in a tree, but one summer I spent a lot of time in that big ole tree, reading, planning, dreaming. (I even had a rope which I pretended was the reins of a horse - a la 'National Velvet')

There was something about hiding in a tree, away from the world, and dreaming...

I wondered if it would be the same today - if I were to climb that tree? And besides the fact that I can't see how I would hoist my pregnant self up into the tree, I don't think it would be the same.

Did you have a secret space where you would dream, plan + plot? What did you dream about in that space + have you a space now where you can dream, plan + plot? I would love to hear your stories.

P. S: Don't forget to enter into this months give away - there are two awesome prizes up for grabs. x

AEDM

2012 XMAS 
TAG SWAP 

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☆ RIght in Front of Your Eyes [inspiration]

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Sometimes I sit in my studio and stare blindly at the wall, trying to find some inspiration, when I realised that I have a board of inspiration right in front of my eyes.

Right. in. front. of my eyes.

So when I realised that I had been staring at a wall of inspiration with out seeing it, I wondered what else I have been seeing with out seeing it?

What else have I have missed?

Time to pay attention, to stop and take the time and to be more present.

I am going to smell the flowers.

P.S Don't forget to enter this months GIVEAWAY. Click here to enter

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☆ No Higher Compliment.

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My friend has a little girl who the same age as my Bug, they are the best of friends, and worst enemies, (as they all are at this age), and like Bug, she has started to develop a fixation with Arial, and all things mermie.

So great friend that I am, for her second birthday I decided to paint her, her own Arial.

I figure, if my children are obsessed with mermaids, it is my civic duty to encourage that obsession within my friends kids.

(And now I can have some one to moan with when my girls start with their diva-ish mermaid behaviour.)

My friend sent me this photo last night, apparently she loves her Arial so much, she sleeps with the painting at night.

Every night.

There is no higher compliment.

This photo makes my heart lift.

This photo makes the struggles worth it.

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☆ Lasso the Stars [new art]

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©2012 Kirstin McCulloch

"Lasso the Stars"
Acrylic on Canvas
18" x 18"

I was watching an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - you know the show where they come in and tear down some deserving persons home and rebuild a house, and often save and rebuild lives?

The show where the deserving persons life is usually so hard, so desperate, so bleak, yet they some how find the light is the darkness?

The show that has me in floods of tears - every. single. episode!

Anyway I digress (and really what else is new?) on this one show, the father says something like 'I teach my kids to shoot for the moon, and if they miss grab a star instead'.

How awesome is that? It really resonated with in me, and I had a moment of extreme clarity. There is no best or worst, there is no first and last and there is no succeed or failure. You aim high - and sometimes you need to grab a star instead.

So this is what I was immediately inspired to create and I ignored everything to finish her. I will frame her and put her some where to remind me - lasso the stars.

Have you ever had such a moment of clarity? What did you become inspired to do? I would love to hear your stories.

P.S. It is not to late to enter this months GIVEAWAY - It is so easy to enter. Check it out here. x

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☆ Blue Bird Winter [new painting]

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Blue Bird Winter
©2012 Kirstin McCull

In past posts I have mused about my... well... muses. About what inspires me, about when it hits,   about what happens when you least expect it.

This painting is a funny one, I was looking through the back catalogue  of one of my favourite authors, and  the title of her book was Bluebird Winter.

I immediately thought was an awesome title for a painting, and this the result.

I have probably read over that back catalogue twenty times, and yet this time was obviously the time that I was open.

It made me think how often I might be closed to ideas and inspiration. And how I might be open more often. 

So I wanted to ask you, how do you stay open?

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☆Sink [Illustration Friday]

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Sink or swim?

Under pressure which do you do?

It used to be that I sank, I gave up and I gave in.

But I think since the birth of Bug, things have been changing. I have been changing. I am less likely to give up, I feel that I am no longer sinking, sinking in self doubt, and self worth, sinking in helplessness and hopelessness, and sinking in an abundance of ideas and dreams with no direction and no clue where to begin.

©2011 Kirstin McCulloch

I am not going to sink anymore.

And a big 'Thank You' needs to go to you guys. Thank you for your inspiring comments, your helpful suggestions and your support. You guys have helped me so much on this journey. Thank you for encouraging me to listen to my squeak.

So how do you keep your head above water, and not sink. What is the inspiration behind your motivation to keep going? I would love to know.

Have a great day!
☆•*¨*•.¸¸

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☆ Inspiration Wednesday

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I thought I would share with you some amazing, quirky, and cool things that I have snapped over the past few weeks.

Things I thought that I would never see, things that I perhaps wouldn't have seen if for that instant I was open.

Jackson Pollock and Salvador Dali inspired Gnomes at Floriade

The old watch tower in a summer fog 

This Baby Kookaburra decided to shop at Aldi's with Bean, Bug and I

 Pink pink sparkle shoes under UV lights - who knew?

I should take advice from my McDonald's coffee more often!

Sunrise over Sydney Harbour from the botanic gardens

The colour of this Bamboo - gorgeous

Most places tell you to keep off the grass and not to hug the trees! Loved this welcoming message

Graffiti wall in a random lane way

What's inspiring you this week?
 ☆•*¨*•.¸¸

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☆ Fuel [Illustration Friday]

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Inspiration is all around at the moment. Last week I looked more closely at my own inspiration thanks to the IA challenge.

Saturday morning, after I had read my IF email alert I went out for a walk.

I wasn't really thinking about the prompt. I don't really think about much at six in the morning, especially before my coffee, but when I came home Bean said to me 'Did you take your rabbit with you on your walk?'

My what??

I repeated what she said back to her to make sure I heard right (because yes - still before the coffee) and she said, 'Yes. Did you take your rabbit for a walk?'

So I answered 'Yes. And I enjoyed it very much.'

Thank you Bean for the fuel for thought, the fuel for my inspiration. I love you more than hokey pokey ice cream too.

Walking with Rabbit
©2011 Kirstin McCulloch

So what fuels you? What give your soul nourishment? Who or what inspires you?

Have a great week

☆•*¨*•.¸¸

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☆ Whats your Inspiration?

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Over at Inspiration Avenue the question 'what's your inspiration?' was posed.

At the time I was part way through a new painting, thinking about inspiration, who or what inspires me, and I realised the painting I was working on was actually inspired by a song.

Inspiration is such a personal journey. Everyone's muse is different, and so I started to think about what am I inspired by? And my answer - pretty much anything!

Ok, ok so I know that is so vague, but it is kinda true.

My inspiration comes from songs, from books, from the light hitting a building or a field, from my daily walks, from my children, from movies, from my husband, from my garden, from a drive in the car, from the summer storms, from the internet (OMG pintrest!), from travelling....

This piece was inspired by the song 'Jar of Hearts' by Christina Perri

'Jar of Hearts'
©2011 Kirstin McCulloch

Mainly though my inspiration comes to me when I don't think about it. I don't read a book or listen to music, or go for walks, or travel to find inspiration, it just comes.

But I think I have to do all these things, I have to read, listen, speak and observe, to be exposed so that I can be open to receive it. And I believe that is the key to inspiration - you have to be open to the muse squeaking in your head.

How do you encourage your inspiration? Do you actively seek it or do you let it evolve more organically? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Have a great weekend.
☆•*¨*•.¸¸

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