Musings on Creativity

This whole idea of creativity, inspiration, and putting form to that inspiration has been swirling around in my head for a few months now. Exactly what is it about a certain fabric/layout/picture/color/ad etc. that moves me? How can I give form to the creative ideas that are welling up inside me?

Growing up, I was always encouraged to try my hand at creative things, from drawing to papier-mâché to counted cross stitch. My mother is very artistic (she even had a private art tutor as a child!), and she had myriads of ideas for me to try. To my chagrin, I never could draw worth a lick, and as I entered the teen years my focus turned to friends and clothes and school.

A few years out of college, I began working in the advertising/promotions department of a small publishing house. One of my tasks was editing copy for an assortment of ads, promotional pieces, and catalogs. Through working with the various project coordinators, I began learning to look not just at the spelling/grammar/punctuation of the pieces, but to also look at the overall layout/design. Listening to them as they “talked through” a mockup piece, musing about colors, fonts, even photo choices, really opened my eyes. Around the same time, I was invited to my first Stampin’ Up party – finally, I had found my creative outlet!

I’ve come a long way since then (my first cards were pretty atrocious!), and I still have so much more to learn. I’m at a point now where I’m getting restless again, searching for ways to better express my creativity. It’s an almost uncontainable urge to create something lovely, something beautiful. I wholeheartedly agree with Travelingmama that as created beings we have within us the inherent desire to create – whether it’s through papercrafts, cooking, music, writing, decorating, photography, sewing, oh, I could go on and on. I look at the world around me, and I’m inspired by the colors, the textures, the people, the buildings, the food… I am amazed by the creativity in this world, and it makes me want to participate in making something beautiful.