The Conundrum of Being A Creative

November 28, 2023 / still a dreamer / 8 Comments

For those of us who create, whether we be writers, artists, musicians, etc., we face a particular challenge. When creating our work, we want to feel that we can express all the richness of our hearts and minds, to bring to the world the best of who we are in any given moment.

But … suppose what we create is how we make our living? Assuming we’re not famous and a household name. How can we create freely when we know that people must like our creation, and want to buy it?

This is the conundrum I faced recently when deciding to create a new Christmas/holiday card for my Etsy shop, which focuses on Frenchies. I have a small following who have purchased my cards over the years, and loved my style of drawing. But I have been longing to do something new and different.

I decided to follow my heart in the message, the urgent need for love today, which I believe will resonate. We are all deeply saddened, frightened, and upset with what is going on in the world. But I also wanted to do something new artistically. I created an image that is a combination of my own watercolor painting and digital art, quite a digression from what people have seen from me in the past.

How will this work out? I’m promoting as fast and wide as I can, but I won’t know for a while yet. The question remains … how does an artist balance doing what they feel is their own personal creative truth with the need to make a living? Dare we believe that expressing ourselves fully and completely will be rewarded in every way?

See both cards and details in my Etsy shop.

Gratitude

November 22, 2023 / still a dreamer / 6 Comments

So many of us have so much to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Stories Change Us

September 18, 2023September 18, 2023 / still a dreamer / 9 Comments

And stories make us grow. They add colors and textures and emotions and new perceptions to our personal library called `self’. Stories add depth and dimension to our being, and give us perspectives on things that we may never have considered, whether fiction or non-fiction.

That is, of course, if we choose good books.

Up until a couple days ago, I had several spots around the house with books that I had picked up here and there, books I’ve been waiting to read. Now they’re all in one place. And as I am just finishing the fabulous book I’ve been reading, I also find myself wondering … who do I want to meet next? Where do I want to go? What time period feels inviting right now? What do I want to know?

And which book, which story, will take me there? Is it here on my shelves, or will I take a trip to the library? Reading is just such an incredible gift.

An Inspiring Guide for All Who Create

September 4, 2023September 4, 2023 / still a dreamer / 7 Comments

Above are the two books I’m reading now, one, the memoir of a transracial adoptee, the other, a kind of guide to the act and nature of creativity. Both are excellent, but here I am going to focus on the second book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin.

Here we are in a familiar spot on my back porch. I’m sitting with my coffee, ceiling fan going, hoping to enjoy the fresh air until the heat gets too much. And reading The Creative Act. Rubin has been a well-known and highly successful music producer and record executive most of his life. He wanted to take his experiences and write a book to help artists. He said, “I set out to write a book about what to do to make a great work of art. Instead, it revealed itself to be a book on how to be.”

And he wrote a phenomenal book, taking complex philosophical principles of how the artist exists and creates in this world , and makes them accessible and digestible to the reader. No easy feat. His thoughts on the various aspects of creativity are broken down into 1-1/2 to 2’1/2 page chapters, making it very easy to read in small bites and reflect on.

He addresses the artist in us all, looking at ultimately, how we live in the world being so critical to our creativity, and thoughts about how we can all be on our own road to bringing what is within us to light.

I feel I cannot truly do this book justice in the space of a blog, so I encourage you to read the in-depth description of this book on goodreads or the extensive reviews on Amazon. This is not a self-help book, but more of an illumination of the creative process that we artists engage in with insights guiding us to deeper exploration and understanding.

Thanks to a blogging friend, Kitty, at The Daily Round who suggested this to me; she knows my creative heart and soul. If you’d like to explore the deeper and very real issues of what it means to be a creative of any kind brought to you in a new and inspiring way, The Creative Act: A Way of Being may be just what you need.

p.s. Think you’ve already seen the photo Immediately above? You’ve seen the early hydrangea blooms (left) in a previous post, but what you didn’t see are all the smaller, bright ones in the sun. They are all the new blooms that grew in spite of the deer having eaten nearly all the hydrangeas, leaving only barren stems. Those little guys are the beauty and persistence of nature.

Summer Fruit

August 29, 2023 / still a dreamer / 4 Comments

Summer is just about gone, and soon, with it will be the wonderful bounty that we love so much this time of year in New Jersey – peaches, corn and tomatoes.

I’ve been enjoying all three as soon as they hit my local farm market, but had yet to do anything special with them. Time flies! I really wanted to make something delicious with peaches before they’d no longer be available.

I perused a bunch of recipes I’ve yet to try, but instead settled for a fabulous favorite, German Plum Cake. It is usually made with Italian prune plums when they are in season, but works equally well with peaches or apples, and is so easy to make.