During January the spotlight is directed towards International Creativity Month. Created by Randall Munson, the purpose of International Creativity Month is to find time to explore creative ways to re-energize yourself and your colleagues, family and friends.

So what is creativity? Creativity is defined as a process for bringing something new into being. The creative person makes connections between one situation, object or thought and another, and this involves thinking, analyzing and then producing.

Created Creative?
Munson promotes that we were ‘created’ creative, giving the example of how creative young children are: “A center for creative learning studied the creativity of children and found that during the first five years 90% of children are highly creative. The next two years, ages six and seven, the percentage of highly creative children dropped to 10%. By age eight or nine, the percentage of highly creative children fell to only 2% and stayed about that level from that time on,” said Randall.

Creativity is not complicated. Kids do this all the time. And adults can too. You need to start from a place of imagination and free association.

Whether you’re a creative novice or expert, here are a few tips to help power up your creative juices during creativity month (and all the time!)

Creativity and Exploration
As adults take the time to play and explore. Go on a hike and collect random objects for the sake of this creative exercise.Base your collections on what feels interesting to you or spontaneous. With your collection of items, make various associations and categorize:

• color-add elements with similar color
• shape-find common shapes
• texture-look for consistent textures

So what’s the point? Observation! Observation is one of the key strengths in becoming more creative. It’s noticing, comparing, finding similarities and new combinations.

Curiosity
Curiosity is one of the drivers of creativity. When you stop asking ‘why’ or ‘what if’ or ‘how’, then you definitely need a creative boost. Creativity is all about discovery! Discovery is all about questions, curiosity and passion for knowing, understanding and expressing. Take the time to notice the details in nature, listen closely to the things around you, be alive to the world.

Observation

The action or process of observing something or someone carefully or in order to gain information.

Careful observation from a non-judgmental neutral position leads to stronger creative skills. Through observation you can understand and observe subtleties, patterns, and discover solutions to problems through trial and error (which starts with observation). Through awareness of your surroundings you gather information that is valuable for creative combinations. Go back to the exploration phase of finding and categorizing. Observing is paying attention, understanding and again categorizing what you learn so that you can make new and creative combinations. After all creativity is bringing something new into being. Before you can do this you have to have thoughts, objects, inspiration, ideas and more which result from exploration, curiosity and observation.

Of course there are many more factors to creativity.  It’s not black and white and you can find your own ‘formulas’ to enhance your creative growth. Make it a point each day to either explore, ask questions, observe with curiosity and express your thoughts and ideas and be sure to keep a visual journal of your ideas.

The best way to jump start your creativity is to get started.  Stop thinking, forget about processes and procedures and unleash your stream of thoughts.

The post January: International Creativity Month appeared first on Art and Design Inspiration.

Let’s be honest here: Some artists are naturally creative, for others it doesn’t come so easy. To become a successful artist on your own, it’s important to nurture your creativity and talents. If you find there are times when your mind just draws a blank, you’re certainly not alone!

Here are a few ideas that will give your creativity a boost when you need it:

Keep what writers call a “swipe file.” Or, call it your art idea journal. Either way, carry an art diary with you and when you see something that inspires, take notes – or even a photo with your cell phone.

Keep a bulletin board in your studio or office. You never know when you’ll run across something that will spark your creativity in a magazine or newspaper. Even a telephone conversation can spark an idea, so put up a bulletin board where you can post ads, pictures, quotations, or anything else that may inspire you.

Know when you’re at your most energetic. Creating amazing art takes energy; when your energy level is low, focus on other projects that don’t require a lot of thought. It’s also important to note that there are times you simply need to take a complete break from your work for a day or two to rejuvenate. Also know what times of the day you’re at your most creative or energetic, and which times you’re not.

What to do when an art project becomes boring, instead of inspiring or fun? Maybe re-work the piece into something new, or reflect back on the excitement and anticipation that led you to start the project initially. Alternately, find a temporary distraction and do something else for a bit. If the enthusiasm just won’t come back, consider scrapping the project and beginning on something fresh.

Working on a big project? Think about slicing it into smaller pieces. This makes it easier to remain enthusiastic about your work, sort of like setting small goals; when you reach your goal with the smaller piece of the overall project, it motivates you to move on to the next small piece. Huge projects can become overwhelming; working on a smaller “piece of the puzzle” can help you thoroughly enjoy your work.

Don’t think that every piece has to end in success. Art is not a field of perfection; just like anything else in life, practice makes perfect. Get it in your head that some projects will simply be good practice, and don’t put pressure on yourself that you must achieve perfection with every piece you create!

Perhaps most important of all is engaging with other artists, who have been through (and still go through) what you are going through. When your creativity hits bottom, it’s often inspiring just to be around other artists who have stories of their own – and maybe a few suggestions!

The post Creative Lull? How to Give Your Artistic Creativity a Boost appeared first on Art and Design Inspiration.