Take Your Creativity on a Date

I came across an article last week from the Freelancers Creative Blog that spoke about broadening the definition of creativity: “Creativity is not—nor has it ever been—about art. Creativity is about the basics of life, the forces that drive us and the solution of problems found blocking our progress.” What a freeing idea! Creativity can move beyond the computer screen and beyond the drawing table. It’s not difficult to find creativity in your daily life. You just need to look around. Love clothes? Think about how you pair together a fabulous outfit for a Friday night date or Sunday brunch. Love flowers? Think about how you choose flowers for color and texture to pull together an arrangement for the table. For me, I love to bring my creativity to my cooking. One of my favorite problems to solve is to create a dinner menu out of what is left over in our frig from the week’s groceries. My boyfriend calls this “kitchen magic”. From slightly wilted spinach and half a pepper and onion I can whip up a spicy vegetable stir-fry over some quinoa. Exercising my problem solving skills in the kitchen feels just as satisfying has stretching them while drawing. We all can be creative every day; we just need to nurture it.

AbbyDora Design Artist Date
How to nurture it, you might ask? One of my tricks is to gift myself Artist Dates. It was a concept I learned from the creativity help book The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. Artist Dates are of your own choosing. The point is to gift yourself something fun and inspiring. Maybe that is visiting a gallery or walking through an art store to admire the colors of the colored pencils (guilty!). But it could be walking through the park to hear the birds chirp and feel the grass. My most recent Artist Date happened over the weekend. My boyfriend and I went to see “Wants and Wishes” Short Films at Rochester’s Film Festival, called 360|365 at The Little Theatre.

On our screening we were able to view 6 shorts by filmmakers from around the world. There were a mix comedies, dramas, and documentaries. It is amazing to see the power of storytelling in less than 15 minutes. One of the most memorable shorts was called Le Petit Dragon. It was an animated film about a Bruce Lee action figure and the trouble he finds while exploring the bedroom floor. Here’s the trailer. If you can, I highly recommend seeing a screening of it.

Le Petit Dragon (The Little Dragon) – Bande Annonce (Trailer)

Be good to yourself this week and nurture your creativity by going on an Artist Date of your own. I’d love to hear what you did!

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