I must be more creative at being creative

This winter I got the book, Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists.  It is filled with 52 creative drawing exercises to work your drawing and creativity muscles.  I love it.  Every time I read it I think, “I can’t wait to try this out in my journal that Jeremy got me!”  But here’s the sad news.  It’s now June and the journal that Jeremy got me (in January for my birthday) still sits virtually empty.  As a stay-at-home mom I’m taking care of little people and trying to keep our household running most days.  I won’t lie, this is not the easiest job I’ve ever had and it is also hard to find down time to just sit and create.  So as a result, my poor little journal still has all those clean pages begging for someone to poor some fun onto them.  This is wrong and sad.  This journal is begging to be filled with doodles, thoughts and creation, yet remains virtually untouched.   I have good intentions.  I tell myself that once the little people are down for the night I will return to my small table and start filling the pages with the creative ideas that bounce around my head during the day as I take care of the little people.  But alas, the little people always go down later than I had hoped, there is a list of household chores still needing to be done and my mind and body are so pooped that I can’t even really think straight.  Is creating while you have little people in your house an unrealistic expectation?

Here’s the truth:  I feel more whole when I create.

I need to.  So, for the next 2 months, my goal is to be more creative being creative.  So here’s my summer creative resolution:

I am going to start having Creative Table Time with my little people.  This may be a huge flop, but I am going to try it anyways.

Little person #1 is now old enough to be able to create on his own.  He has his own drawer and cabinet filled with his own personal supplies (crayons, markers, stickers, scissors, colored paper, glue sticks) plus he is given free access to the daily recyclables to reclaim for his projects.  Little person #2 is just old enough to sit in his high chair and put anything that he can grasp in his mouth.  So, starting this week, we are all pulling up a chair at the small table and seeing where our creativity takes us.

Do any of you have any ideas of how to make more creative space in your life in the midst of little people?  If so, I’d love to hear about it!

Amber

 

Tonight, I just played.

Tonight I did something I haven’t done in a long time.  (All you guitarists with kids will appreciate this.)  I put my son to bed, closed his door, went into my studio, plugged in my electric, turned on an amp and just played.  It felt great and was a lot of fun.  I think I can so easily get bogged down in music for a cause or a purpose like playing for church or recording projects.  I have so many ideas for things I want to produce, songs to record and even musicals and books to write, but so little time to do any of them.  It’s too easy for me to obsess over every second of creative time allotted to me.  They have to be jam packed with productivity in regards to some goal or they are wasted.  Part of this is a German born work ethic.  Another part is a sick perfectionistic obsession that can squelch the creative love right out of the room.

But tonight I just played and it felt real good.

I ran through pedal configurations and presets, distorting here, modulating there and, of course, had the obligatory “push-the-tubes-to-the-moon” rock out.   And not with headphones.  The volume was a low enough for my son to sleep (with a sound machine) but loud enough to let the speaker sing.

What about you?  Do you other guitarists and creative types ever struggle with this.  Do you ever ask yourself, “When was the last time I just ‘let my hair down’ and played?”  I love to work hard.  I love to get that perfect mix.  But tonight I loved playing.

Please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts.

Jeremy