The CCS Ultimate Creativity List...

[Dan Goodwin]

I had an idea based on a discussion in the Thirty Days of Creating group. Let's create a combined list of all the many different ways we can be creative.

There must be hundreds!

Then anyone who starts to feel they're not being very creative can visit here and realise how much they're creating and not acknowledging.

It's easy to think of yourself only being creative when it's some recognised art form, like painting a picture, or writing a story, or taking a photograph.

But what about all the other ways, like how you dress, preparing a delicious meal, creating connections and relationships with others, creating space in your house and mind for new creativity, to give just a few examples...

Everyone free to contribute, just list below all the different ways you create, or could create...

[Dan Goodwin]

Yeh, I'd love to sneak into a public library and do it, one shelf at a time, ha ha...

[Susan Hosken]

Dan, I have all my books in subject order!!! I am a librarian couldn't help myself. I have also arranged books by spine color. They look good that way but I couldn't find things the way I can when they are in subject order.
Lots of love from susan in australia

[jane]

i so agree.... i divorced some 6 years ago and although we are not on the path you may be on, we are certainly closer than perhaps we were in the 25+ years that we were together.. perhaps freed from whatever it was that binded us! So making new relationships out of old is perhaps one of the most creative acts we can undertake... so many things affect our relationships and emotions get all tangled up.... if we can emerge with new understandings and friendships - WE SHOULD BE PROUD!

good luck lucinda...

[Virginia Gardner]

I feel incredibly blessed to have begun making art during the age of the Internet. I keeo a range of blog sites and forums up on one page, and when I am feeling the need for inspiration, I start visiting. I will spend days going through images on one of my mosaic sites, downloading and printing those that incoporate a particularly intriquing technique, composition or content. Or, one might start searches on Flickr to do the same thing. I stay away from the studio during these times, because what I really need is a little juice, which the images provide.

[Dan Goodwin]

There are many amazing benefits of living in the internet age. The amount of creative inspiration I get through just Twitter for example is vast. Plus you get to communicate and share with other creative artists that you'd never be able to connect with otherwise, even ten years ago. It's a huge bonus for anyone who creates...

[Claude Aimee Villeneuve]

It sure takes us out of isolation and allowsus to share our passions with like-minded souls - like here on CCS - And since we create in relative isolation, it's good to be able to share and to get feedback and inspiration from others!
Claude Aimée

[abstract4art]

Blogs are such a gift sometimes, Virginia, aren't they. One of my favorite pastimes. Never thought of searching Flickr. I've searched Google Images, though.

[Claude Aimee Villeneuve]

I have a friend, Maureen who is such a creative person! When she invites us over to her house, she takes the time to cook delicious meals and to arrange everything on the table as if it were a work of art: colors and shapes are organized in such a way as to be pleasing to the eyes as well as the palate and the heart. She is also wonderful with plants and flower arranging and everything she does, is done with care and a gentle sense of beauty. I would say that she has a gracious way of living in general and her artwork is also done with care. She has a love of family and friends and has a beautiful way of cultivating friendships too. I really feel lucky I'm her friend!
Creativity is also being aware of the moment, of the beauty, or pain, or excitement of the moment and taking care of the details and putting all our heart and soul in it.
When I look at some of my family and friends, here are some of the things they do that I consider creative:
Wearing a fanciful hat and scarf and shoes that say: hey! this is ME!
Putting a fresh bouquet of cut flowers from the garden on the kitchen table, hall or bathroom sink, just for the fun of it.
Adapting a recipe and improving on it.
Throwing a last-minute party just because you haven't seen your friends in a while
Mailing a vintage post card or one from a museum gift shop to a friend you see all the time - just for the fun of saying hello in words
Singing your own lyrics to an old song while you're in the shower
Remembering your childhood imaginary friends - even if you are 50 years old
Finding new life and purpose for old things
Making up a good excuse not to go to work and stay home all by yourself to putter in your studio - undisturbed
Going for a nowhere trip and really getting lost and enjoying it a lot!
Making a festive lunch out of yesterday's leftover by serving them in your best china, best tablecloth and accompanied by your best wine . There is a lot of creativity in mixing the mundane with the festive...
And on and on... I'll add more maybe as I think of other ways.
Talking of flower arranging, I've been working on a series of photographs of flowers from my garden that I cut and arrange in different pots and backgrounds and I'm having a lot of fun. So here's one of the photos for your viewing pleasure...

Claude Aimée

[jane]

love it! great vase for the flowers! and really resonate with everything you say.... especially
Throwing a last-minute party just because you haven't seen your friends in a while
Mailing a vintage post card or one from a museum gift shop to a friend you see all the time - just for the fun of saying hello in words
Singing your own lyrics to an old song while you're in the shower
Remembering your childhood imaginary friends - even if you are 50 years old
Going for a nowhere trip and really getting lost and enjoying it a lot!

the last one is especially an adventure..... who cares if we get lost.... in UK... you are never really lost!

[Ang Monsoon]

learning about yourself through taking journeys on the Journal route by following prompts there & writing or collaging...
learning about creativity in general...especially through CCS....and "re-wiring" your way of thinking about creativity so that you are in a position to be creative everyday.
learning about the creativity of others - last night I put a couple of things on my calendar, art related, and i thought "I've got a life"..not just a life as an aspect of my nearest and dearests' lives.
learning to find beauty everywhere so that you'll have something interesting to share...
learning to find beauty in yourself so that you find yourself interesting (!) .....

[Dan Goodwin]

I like how all of these are all about learning Ang. We're constantly creating and re-creating ourselves, hopefully as a better version of ourselves than before...

[abstract4art]

Oh, my, Claude Aimee. This is a beautiful, creative floral arrangement! If I were a painter and had this in my house, I would paint it! I remember my Grandmother used to make lovely floral arrangements for her house, and she always set her table with good china and silverware and had flowers of some kind of arrangement on the table as well. Though she wasn't an "artist", I had forgotten what an ARTIST she was.