21 Days to Creative Abundance - Day 8

Dragon Dog

Sebastian Michaels talks a lot about our creative routines and how we can “engineer” greater creativity. He says our job is not to find the muse but, rather, to show up consistently so she can find us and to create an attractive invitation for her.

I know absolutely that my best creative times are in the morning and since I am doing digital art, my creative space is where my computer is. Fortunately, I work on a laptop, so I can go other places with it. What I have found in the last few days, however, is that going out with just my camera, myjournal and a pen, has a completely different feel and takes me into different thought processes. It’s more of a “pre-creation” experience, allowing more space for the “what-ifs."

 Side note: As I was writing this post, I suddenly heard Barbra Streisand singing, “You don’t bring me flowers anymore.” Perhaps my muse wants flowers?

Going out with just my camera and my journal has a joyful, just-exploring feel to it. There’s no pressure to deliver something, it’s just gathering sights and impressions. 

Sebastian also asked us to find triggers that invite the Muse. For me, I know that one reliable method is just browsing through my photos. This has always worked, but what Sebastian’s guidance prompts is looking for photos that not only inspire me but somehow seem like they want to play together.

Earlier I mentioned the app: Way of Life. If you’re a visual thinker, you may like this app. It gives you a simple process for checking off your habits at the end of the day and shows your week with bright red and green boxes which are so much more dramatic than just check marks. My ugly index card approach is gone forever. Yesterday, I missed studying Spanish so I got 4 greens and 1 red.

The important point is that it made me realize I have to have a special time for Spanish. Not my creative early morning time, but still a time when I have the energy needed for learning. I like going out for a walk around noon so I’m going to complete my 30 minutes of Spanish study before I can go for my walk. 

Challenge #8 was about photo compositing, putting things together that don't belong together in a way that looks real. The specific instructions were to put something inside of something else. With the dog I chose, that was tricky because he was tied up with a rope. I can't say this was a favorite challenge.

Base photos for this challenge were:

 

This post was prompted by Sebastian Michael's "21 Days to Creative Living" and "Photoshop Artistry" programs. More information here.