Recapturing Creativity

When I was younger, I used to draw all the time.
I drew joyfully, creatively, effortlessly, freely...
but
somewhere along the way
I lost that easy pleasure.
Art school knocked some of the joy out of me. Not that I regret going ~ the experience provided me with some invaluable lessons but it developed my inner critic in a big way.
And, these days, I always seem to be too busy. I'm expected to be very serious at work. Sadly, I can't imagine anyone approving of me doodling through meetings.

Even so, I manage to nurture my artistic side a little. I still draw sometimes. I occasionally get to go to drawing courses. I went to some fabulous lessons with an artist, educator and creativity advocate called Dawn Meader. Dawn now lives and works in Santa Cruz but I still draw inspiration from her ~ I receive an ezine she produces every month and really enjoy reading the creativity exercises and looking at the beautiful reproductions of her work.

Here are some of the pastels I completed in her classes:

These drawings are enormous by the way ~ they cover my double bed. (Dawn had us draw on huge pieces of paper so that we sketched with big, loose gestures.)

I also keep a little sketch book in my handbag. My idea for the sketch book is that I draw in it for five minutes every day, sketching whatever's in front of me, disengaging my inner critic, accepting whatever appears (a bit like writing morning pages if you're following The Artists' Way.)

I've also found a gorgeous blog called Creative Every Day. It's written by an artist called Leah Piken Kolidas. Leah writes perceptively about the creative process and posts some really interesting links to articles and images. She also draws beautifully, creating her artwork with the ease and joy that I would love to recapture.