Well, my underpaintings do not look very promising this week. I may or may not get time to work on them later today. So please don’t have high expectations tomorrow when I post the results. Sometimes creativity is like that. I tell myself there is learning to be had and just keep going. I also look back on other work that has been successful to boost my ability to be brave and bold and take the next step.
For today, I have been thinking about an image that I took early in the morning on New Year’s day. This pier is in Bennett Bay on Mayne Island. I have various images of it but this has to be my favourite. Enjoy.
(image may be purchased here.)
It is a quiet photograph the invites rather than excites. Today this seems just right.
Sprout question: What do you do when your creativity doesn’t meet your expectation?
© 2011 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.
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Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.
From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada
Creative Potager 
Terrill – You’re absolutely right, the photograph “invites rather than excites” and it’s invited me right in. And it’s a nice place to be on a protected day of writing for me — thank you.
Sprout question: What do you do when your creativity doesn’t meet your expectation?
I pick myself up, dust myself off, and start all over again 🙂
(Psssst, update your copyright date to 2011 🙂 )
Thanks Laurie! I might not have caught that copyright date until June 🙂 You and I are a lot alike in this way. Your sprout response is what I tend to do as well. The best part is that a few days later what seemed like a dismal failure will have lead to something else and I hardly notice the previous work or it will have already transformed into something I am delighted with. Have a great day writing Laurie.
The mist is rolling through the valley today and wrapping itself between the trees. One of my favourite kinds of days at la casa de inspiracion.
I like the quiet energy of this photo. It inspires and calms. When my creativity misses the mark, it can be challenging. I have been experimenting with the new camera and don’t always like all the results. However, I want to use the pictures–even though they are imperfect–because illustrating the story seems to be the important thing. So I smile and say “oh well” and vow to read the manual one of these days. 🙂
Kathy! What a pleasant surprise 🙂 I thought you were hibernating? I seem to read manuals just like you Kathy. When I am stuck then I decide maybe I should inquire how things work.
My hibernation lasted only two weeks, Terrill, before the creative energy swooped upwards and outwards. (And then someone said that bears actually give birth in January…that must have been it!)
Well welcome back Kathy! I look forward as always to your creative offerings at Lake Superior Spirit.
That photo is gorgeous! I love the light on the mist.
When my creativity doesn’t meet expectations, I try to take a break and let go of my expectations. No matter of forcing it helps, but letting go of expectations usually does. Sometimes hard to do of course!
Kat I too find that forcing is less than helpful. Letting go of expectations is hard for me. I usually have an idea or an image I am working towards. I can go with what is in front of me but I have already decided the direction I want to take things before I make my first move.
Dear readers, did I ever tell you I am an internal editor? That means I don’t think out loud very often. I mull things over and then when I have reached the final stages of my problem-solving or musing I speak. It is hard to hear my long pauses online. But in real time… they are there. I am absorb to the point that I feel like I am chatting all the time. Only after I happen to be recorded in a conversation did I realize that most often I say very little. Of course, like the best of us I can get on a roll and not stop until someone bumps me but this is rare. What I am discovering is I tend to paint much the same way. It comes out in fast strokes but these are the strokes I have slept on, dreamed about and imagined before every getting near the canvas.
That is an inviting photograph!!
As for your question, I do my best to let go of expectations right from the start. And if that hasn’t worked, then I do my best to brush myself off and get back to it. Getting back to creating usually helps me move beyond the disappointment.
Leah so glad you found a moment to drop in! It has been awhile since you have been by. Welcome back. I like what you say about “getting back to creating usually helps.” Putting paint on canvas or taking a photograph is not usually a life making or breaking experience. It is an experience. Now let’s have another one. And another one. Oh why not! Let’s have one more for good measure.
Great thought everyone….
As for my creativity, I am still learning to bring it out and let it play….Being a Life Path 1 (see Laurie’s blog today!)
I tend to be way too serious and have high expectaions of my self and others…no play until all the work is done….
Learning to step back, let go, and play is on my mmind…..
Kim! I was just thinking I hadn’t seen you for awhile. Glad you came by. Too serious I think would describe humans in general at this time in history Kim so you are in good company. Lighten up is something I can personally take away from your sprout response. Thanks for that Kim.
Ok, sooo now you are reading my experience!
I’ve just this week had THE very same thing happen!! I did my best with a peice of artwork and instead of being rewarded with an end result I was over the top with, I had the not-so-good-I-don’t-know-how-to-fix-this kind of thing happen – with a LARGE canvas no less – there is just something about large canvases that scream MAKE ME PROUD OF YOU.
And so I had no choice but to totally took to the streets, namely the art supply store, to lighten myself up a bit!
I bought a couple new (much smaller) canvases, new paint (well, just white, but hey, ya can do a lot w/white) and a packet of little spatchala kind of thingies (hope you’re all good w/me using the “techno” terms here). And I will let all this simmer on the back burner for a while – or until I get up nerver enough to strike paint to canvas again in the wake of the not so steller (botched job – my opinion) on the BIG canvas, and then I will begin anew.
I love the phot of the pier by the way. It looks almost sketched. I have a similar one of the pier at Folley Beach in South Carolina from two summers ago, different, but similar.
And on we go. . .
Alison don’t you just hate it when that happens!? I so agree with you – the bigger the canvas the harder the fall when it doesn’t work out. Nice thing is, with acrylic and oil paints, a person can paint over them and start again. Besides they get that beautiful textured look when this happens.
My most favourite art teacher Glenn Howarth used to tell us… we don’t learn and deepen our understanding from the sketches and paintings we get right. That is why I am determined to be BOLD this year and paint in ways that are new and fresh to me. I am going to try things I have no idea how to do and see what happens. It may not be pretty but I am determined to enrich my learning experience in painting. I am sure there will be some paintings you will like, some you will hate and some you will wonder “what is that woman trying to do!?”
Welll, seeing as you mentioned BOLD and experimenting I thought I’d quickly invite you to take a look at a local painter who inspired me to begin painting. His name is Jonas Gerard and you can see his work at http://www.jonasgerard.com – I’ll be interested in your reaction to his Bold/Experimentation.
Alison thank you so much for sharing your link of Jonas Gerard’s work. I am particularly drawn to this one Lake Lure #5 http://www.jonasgerard.com/represent01.html#anchor08 Such a great combination of freedom and control in his work. Very high energy and fluid.
If I am only in the beginning phases of a project and find I just don’t like it, I may just scrap it or set aside. If I am near the end though and am not liking it, I will most likely start some experimenting. If it’s a sewing project, I may add some hand painted items or appliques. If it’s an art project…who knows! Depends on the project. Maybe turn it into a mixed media collage instead of a painting. Cut it down to an image I like….cut it up and use it in several different new projects. The list is endless! And, of course, there are times I just throw it away!
So peaceful… I can almost hear the water. The colors are calming releasing creativity. Wonderful photo!
Thank you woldsrosebud. I love your online name. I am going to have to check out your blog and see if I can find out more.