Plot Your Creative Garden
I’ve been thinking about creativity and how it needs to be nurtured a lot like our gardens. In order to harvest creative gems, you need to plot your garden, prepare the soil, plant seeds, provide water, sunshine and nutrients and, most of all, practice patience.
Let's Plant Some Creative Seeds,
Shall We?
Let's Plant Some Creative Seeds, Shall We?
Your Garden Space
Where will you plant most of your creative seeds? Do you have a large plot to grow enough to sustain your entire family or do you only have room for a few pots with herbs to flavor your dinner? It doesn’t matter how small or large, we all need a designated space to fuel our creativity!
Backyard Garden
This is an entire room dedicated to your creativity. It houses all your art supplies and creative dreams. Call it a craft room, art studio, office, creative sanctuary, whatever you desire. This space will typically have a desk and/or work table, some shelves and bins for organizing supplies and a lock on the door with a sign saying “keep out”!
Raised Beds
This would be a corner or nook typically within your communal living space. A small desk or table with a few of your most used supplies are within easy reach. Make it known that this space is NOT for placing junk mail, dirty dishes or other people’s belongings. It’s a sacred space to show up for your Creative Spirit. Add a candle and a few small trinkets that make it feel more like your mini sanctuary.
Patio Pots
This is a portable, easy to access box or basket filled with key creative components. Perfect for small spaces, this creative space can easily be tucked away to make room for other activities or pulled out quickly when inspiration strikes. I love a good basket of goodies - sketchbook, pencils, markers and a few paints are all you need in life. Ok fine: food, water, shelter, and love are important, too.
Once your Creative Garden has been plotted, it’s time to prepare the soil!
Gather Creative Essentials
What mediums do you love to work with and what new ones do you want to try? Make sure your creative essentials are easily accessible. It makes creating in small pockets of time easier.
Here’s a list of my creative essentials:
Mixed media sketchbook - My favorite sketchbooks don’t have a ton of texture, but they can withstand wet and dry media.
Black pens for tracing over sketches.
Kneaded eraser
Pencils - I’m not really picky.
Pencil sharpener with collection area for shavings.
Glue sticks
Washi tape
Color pencils
Paints - watercolor and acrylic
Assorted paint brushes
Scissors - pointed and sharp
Plant the Seeds
Now it’s time for the fun part! We get to plant the seeds and see what grows. You may have every intention of growing tomatoes, but every now and then a surprise flower pops up. Let your creativity surprise you!
Leave out a few key supplies so that you can quickly make a mark, write a few thoughtful lines or doodle an idea. By having supplies easily accessible - not digging them out of a closet or scrounging around for a notebook, you are more likely to take the time to create!
Planting seeds could look like laying color down on a few pages - the blank page often inspires fear in creatives! Tackle that fear by adding blobs and doodles around the edges - making the page less “precious”.
Even scraps of paper, receipts, napkins are great places to jot down ideas and scribble notes.
Capture inspiration throughout the day - take a picture or quick sketch of something that inspires you. Take it back to your creative space and work it into your next project.
Water, Nurture, Be Patient
Give your creativity 5 minutes a day! 5 minutes! That’s all it takes to keep your Creative Spirit alive. If you want to make it really healthy and strong, give it 15 minutes a day most days and an hour here and there. Before you know it, inspiration and excitement will pull you into your creative space! Ideas will be sprouting everywhere and you will have to pick what you are most excited about and prune what’s not as exciting.
The key is to set the intention and do the work if you want your creativity to blossom. It won’t just happen!
I’d love to see your creative space. Send an email or DM me a picture of your creative garden!