Finding your Groove, Developing a Creative Practice:
This course is about deepening your creativity so that your rugs become art. It is about creating a practice that lets you take time for your work.
It is all about time. The time we give ourselves, the time we devote to what we love. How we spend our time is a real indication of what we want out of our lives, of what we are passionate about.
Over the years I have developed a practice that is more than just hooking rugs. For me it looks like this:
Prayer - ten minutes a day (this could be centering or meditation)
Walking - 40 minutes a day
Hooking- an hour a day…or longer
Drawing- once a week…or sometimes less
Writing or Journalling- ten minutes to an hour a day
Reading- an hour a day
This is the routine that I aspire too. I do not beat myself about it if it does not happen for a day or two. However If I see myself slipping out of this routine though I do admonish myself a bit and remind myself of the importance of it. My routine, and my lifestyle of living well will feed my creativity. Rug hooking or painting , and making most things is a very physical activity. Even though it seems sedentary, it requires lots of movement and stretching. If I hook for several hours I know that I did something. It requires me to be in good shape, to take care of my body, so I walk to stay in shape. The walking also feeds my eyes with beauty and gives my brain a rest and a chance to wander freely at the same time.
I am flexible. Sometimes I hook for ten minutes a day and walk for sixty. And sometimes I draw everyday for a week and then do not draw for two weeks. I have a routine but it is not steadfast. I make room in it to feel free to make other choices.
For you it can look like any combination of these things, and other things that feed your creativity. For example yours might be:
15 minute work out
Cooking a good meal each night
Ten minutes of deep reading in the morning
If you work full time you might have to build it around your work. For example you might draw for ten minutes at lunch time. If you are on the phone at work a lot you might keep a doodle pad by the phone. You can listen and dow at the same time. Can you walk at lunch, meditate for five minutes before you start work, or take the stairs to your office. The real question is what can you do to build things into your routine that fuel your creativity.
There is no “right” routine.
There is no magic recipe.
There is just self care.
Some people I know travel, others cook. Some might play a sport or an instrument. It is different for all of us. The important thing is to know what it is for you. What routine allows you time to make, to be creative, to find new ideas? Think about this and create the practice that works for you.
There are things that feed your creativity.
There are things that suck it dry.
This month start watching your routines. Maybe even jot down the things you do regularly or consistently. Take note of your habits and think about how they make you feel.
Things to Ponder..
When do you feel that your creative spirit is being fed?
When do you feel that you are getting tapped dry?
I can honestly say that certain activities wear me out. For example administrative meetings tire me. They are often scheduled and planned and interrupt my creativity and this just knocks me off my path. I also don’t enjoy highly structured events where I have to sit for long periods of time. I like to move. I know that these things drain my creativity more than add to it so I limit them in my life.
Sometimes limiting them means that I do not please others. I am prepared to do that for my work. It means a lot to me. Obviously, I am willing to compromise at times for people or projects I care deeply about, but generally, I do not set up meetings or attend structured events. When I do it is because it is very important to me or someone who matters to me. There is nothing wrong with choosing less of the things that quell your spirit and more of the things that ignite your spirit. It is what we must do. Don’t feel guilty.
On the other hand I have got more good ideas walking or while taking a short trip than I can count. Physical exercise and being exposed to new things fires up my creative spirit. They make me want to get back to the studio.
Self understanding is at the root of creativity. It is at the essence of all good art. It is in fact both the purpose and the meaning of art. We need to know ourselves to put art and beauty forth into the world.
There is no need to be strict about your routines unless you know that you respond well to discipline. I am disciplined about working but I might prefer one activity over the other on a particular day. That works for me. And remember even a daily practice gets skipped sometimes. You just need to be regular with these things. You need to choose the things that feed you, make them a practice and add them into your life. Be as ritualistic about as you can be, but do not miss out on a moment of inspiration or beauty because it is time to meditate. Be in the moment as you develop a routine that feeds you. Being present is the point after all.
Please find a journal for this class that you keep as you practice the lessons. Through out the course I will be asking reflective questions that I want you to think about. It may not seem like it but all of these things are related to the rugs that I hook and they are all habits for me, some more habitual than others but they are things I go back to again and again.
Creative Habits
It is not hard to do all these things or any combination of them once you create a habit. It is believed that if you do something daily for thirty days you will create a habit. Twila Tharp, the dancer wrote a whole book called the Creative Habit about how building things into your routine will lead you to making art on a regular basis. It makes perfect sense.
Things to Ponder..
What are the things that feed your creativity?
How can you incorporate those things into your routine?
This month, our first month in the masterclass we will be focusing on self understanding. Years ago I did a masters degree in counselling and one of the best parts of doing that was what it taught me about myself. It helped teach me to think about the way I think and to think about the way I see and how I understand things. That was a long time ago but I still carry these lessons into my life and my art. I can hardly distinguish between the two. It is not like having a job. My art is just my life. The studio is kinda like a farm I guess. That is the only thing I can liken it too. I have never once felt like hooking a rug was a chore. If I did feel anything like that I got up and walked away. Because my life is so much about my this getting to know myself has really served me well.
Over the years I have thought deeply about how I grew up, what I knew, what I saw. I have remembered everything I could and I still try to remember more. That means I have explored deeply my relationship with my family, and with the place I grew up. I have thought, and I continue to think a lot about certain themes that I have stood out in my life and these themes have recurred again and again in my work. My work is built upon my life, it’s themes have come directly from my experience and my inner self.
One example of this is the theme of belonging. When I was sixteen, my parents left Newfoundland and moved to Nova Scotia. I left with there willingly but in truth my psyche was dragged away. Once I got in Nova Scotia in grade eleven my sense of belonging was shattered. I was lonely , shaken and depressed. This lasted for several years and the loss of belonging was never really established again until I was in my forties. I know it is because of this that this theme can be seen again in my rugs. Sometimes the themes emerge in the rugs and I am lead to self discovery. Other times I think about something in my life and am lead to the rug.
On another level altogether, I have had a love affair with trees and blueberry fields here in Cumberland County Nova Scotia. Self understanding is not only about excavating what was hard for you but about exploring what was good for you. At a poetry workshop with Minnesota poet Robert Bly, he asked us to write a poem about your parents and something good they did for you. That writing workshop led me to all kinds of beautiful ideas.
All you ever have to give your art or your craft is yourself. It is the only thing that will ever really help you develop any style. Style is what makes your work uniquely yours. That is why we just begin with self understanding.
Who are you?
Who am ?
What do I love?
What do I have to give?
To me these questions are far more important than any technique I have ever learned because they lead me to discovery and discovery is the place where all art begins.