WEEK THREE

Course Focus: Permission to play

Writing Activity: “What would I try if I didn’t have to be perfect at it?” 

What is your biggest hope for the next year, creative-wise? Let’s start there, shall we? I recently took a weekend workshop with Connie May Fowler (and Inkblossom Writing). She lead the group through questions and brainstorming for each of us to get strategies for our works in progress. It seems in alignment with what I’m offering on my website and other places. I’m going to throw in her questions throughout these weeks and let you know how to use them to understand what’s going on for you, the challenges and motivations and interests. Let’s get inspired together. 

“Now I was going to painting with a fundamental need, wanting to work out my difficulties through brush, paint, form and color. Writing had served me well, but I no longer and to be limited by it as my only tool. I had confidence in myself from having made writing a deep practice. I was not flirting with painting.” (From Living Color by Natalie Goldberg.)

Her focus is on how ‘a writer paints her world’. It’s a perfect book, well timed too, as this year has been less about writing for me and more about painting. Each year I decide to learn a new skill. This year has been watercolor painting, from loose style to urban sketches, pet portraits to landscapes. I was worried that I’d lost my writing focus but the words have come back. With help from Connie, I have reclaimed weekly actions that are realistic, working out my challenges (life situation), and what time and energy I have available. 

Natalie wrote, “When I painted, I was moved by rain, the light on snow, how haze softened a mountain and tree.” That how she made peace with blending the importance of multiple creative outlets because they are also inlets. What energy comes to you from a great movie, a book that resonates or echoes the one you are writing, a playlist heard? And how do you layer up your own creative processes? Worth thinking about, right? 

My first writing prompt for you is this, each day for the next two weeks, yes, there are the morning pages, the free-writing that both Julia Cameron and Natalie Goldberg recommend and teach, but I’d like you to also spend ten minutes writing on these questions:

 1. What is your biggest hope for the next year, creative-wise? 

 2. What other creative things do you do?

Play with those, okay? Here’s a recent painting when I took a whole new direction…And if I finish a project and think, well that was fun, I am on the right track. How do you know?

Here’s another concept for you: Feeding the Creative.

What do I mean by that? Well, there are so many ways to bring in that creative energy to inspire yourself, by music, ‘shadow’ books, movies, note taking. I even used AI with a long description of my current manuscript with key words, etc and then asked for comparable books and came up with about 20 of them with some tweaking back and forth. Then I used that list to ask for a comparable playlist asking for a group/solo artist and one song and came up with about 30 recommendations of that tone and energy identified in my own work and the other authors. My evenings are now a blend of listening to one of these shadow books or the playlist whilst I paint. Cooking is another creative process that I love, do you? 

Inspiration: to build upon these simple statements. How do they relate to what we’re doing here? 

Julia Cameron encourages lifelong creative play and giving yourself permission to play which is huge as adults. I recommend her books and how she combines many paths to being creative. Do you know her work? Try it. Find her. Go to her for inspiration. I recently bought a few more of her books to have on hand. My hope for us is that you learn tools that work for you, find voices and artists that speak to you. Living a creative life has been the main focus my whole life and I am so grateful that in my late fifties, I’m still going strong and trying new things each year. 

Do this your way. 

Natalie Goldberg invites wild, unpolished expression and I second that. Feel free to explore and create. Go for it, okay? Write each morning, the free loose emptying of your mind to open yourself up to the day. No critics allowed. These pages are for you and no one else. That’s what keeps you safe and free to express all those gripes and dreams and half-thoughts. Let them out. 

Actions and Prompts:

1. Carry a little notebook outside and sit down on a public bench or a wall and note down five senses from the scene in front, the texture of the ground, a sound, a smell, etc. 

2. Blind contour drawing.

3. Write about the last time you laughed at yourself.

4. What would you make if no one could see?

Exploration Habits:

– Three minutes of stretching or dancing. Get that body moving. 

– Add a playful meal, take yourself on a picnic or make a themed meal to suit the style of creativity you love. 

– Write “good enough” on a sticky and post it each time after creating.

Creative Wander:

Buy one silly, inexpensive item and make something with it.

Creative Modality:

Watercolor smears, color‑based collage, or sound sketches.

What type of creative are you? Take this free little fun quiz for a basic overview of a few kinds we can move between…I know I’m a mix of at least two of these. Try it for yourself! (It’s a link to another page on this website so safe to click on.)

WEEK FOUR

Course Focus: How does your environment feed your creative life?

Activity: Paint/write your landscape of belonging.

I’d like you to think about the ideas of belonging, environment, and the stories we grow from. I grew up in a small town in England and never really felt at home there. I didn’t find my people or a landscape that fed me. I left home for London and college then started exploring Europe and into the States. The huge open skies of a coast, the heights of a mountain and emptiness of the desert, places where I could ‘stretch my eyes’ as a friend’s grandma said, that was home. Is home. Julia Cameron treats nature as a creative partner and encourages us to think about our relationship to the landscapes we live in. She wrote, “Creativity flourishes in an atmosphere of safety and acceptance.” It’s not only the physical surroundings that affect us but how we relate to them. Where are you right now? Do you have a space in your home or town that encourages you to play and explore different ways of being creative? Think about how you could work with any obstacles at home that stop you from playing like that. The weekly practice of going out on an Artist Date as she calls them could be the one way for you to claim that time to yourself. Go alone. Find a gallery or museum, a street or a park, a market or festival. Slow down, pay attention, relax and let things come to you. Follow that curiosity telling you to turn at the crossroads and check out a store you’d not noticed before. That’s where the magic happens. 

To continue with more coaching questions I’d like you to act on these prompts below, reflect a bit but mostly just write out your answers. Take your time, come back to them each evening to unwind and play a bit. They’ll help focus your dreams if nothing else! 

Prompts:

1. Write about the landscape that raised you. And then the one you now live in. Freewrite. 

2. Paint or describe your landscape of belonging. A sketch or cartoon or crayons or paints. Where do you feel safest, most at home? Have you found it or are you still searching? 

3. What colors reflect your creative identity? the palette you are drawn to? How does that relate to your current creative projects?

4. If your surroundings were a character, what would they want for you? Give them a name and a story. Play with that idea! It’s a fun way to look at where we live. 

Natalie Goldberg writes place as memory and rhythm. I notice how I’ll be in New Mexico but write about Vermont. I’ll be in Colorado and write about Mexico. But with my paintings, it’s different. They come from the landscape around me. In Colorado, I painted the mountains and changing seasons of the aspens. Being a nomad is in my DNA at this point, I can’t imagine being in only one place but that’s just me! Even if you have lived in that house or that town or state all your life, there are so many details you take for granted and so my challenge to you is to look anew. Find the quirks, the shapes and shadows, the streets you normally drive past, look for areas and homes and views that you’d not noticed before. Then sit with them. Take a moment. Absorb them. 

Exploration Habits: These open you up to inspiration and more. Don’t ignore the power of a weekly ‘artist date’ to get new ideas. 

– A sunrise or sunset walk.

– Make a landscape‑inspired meal.

– Sit outside and focus on sound.

Creative Wander:

Visit an outdoor place you rarely go and sketch or write there. Take notes for later such as sounds, textures, colours, plants and wildlife, people and conversations overheard. 

Creative Modality:

Landscape sketches, desert‑inspired color swatches, or a photo series themed around “belonging.” Take the week to build a mini portfolio of your environment and think about its influence on what you want to create. 

If you want more ideas about landscapes as characters, there’s a post you can read on my website here. https://sarahleamy.com/2020/01/15/landscapes-as-characters/

Here are some of my photographs available that show you the kinds of places I’m drawn to… 

You can find a few more on Fine Art America.

And LASTLY…If you are looking for a jumpstart to living a creative life, after working together you’ll have the tools and a sense of direction to get on track to do just that. In no particular order, some of the results include us brainstorming, building a local and/or online artistic community, sharing resources, discover and enjoy mindset shifts, develop a gratitude list, build a realistic practice, expansiveness, get directions and loose goals, cultivate daily habits to keep you healthy and energized, increase your desire to keep learning and experimenting, foster more self trust, and finally you’ll understand your strengths, habits, obstacles and steps to stay en route. 

Creativity Coaching is a thing for a reason. It helps us all. See more information on my website here and contact me if you’d like to chat and see what you think. You won’t regret it and I love to share my experiences if it helps another.

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For more prompts, stick around. I’ll be sharing them on here within posts and as downloadable pdfs. Start with this list of 31 questions, reflections and prompts to keep you going. Enjoy!

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