Category: creativity

sparking creativity…

Are there certain things that just make you feel like creating? Things that spark your creativity? Things that make you want to pick up a paintbrush or pen or get to work on a project?

One of my creative sparks is watching videos about painting, art journaling, or writing.

These videos can be instructional or they can be someone talking about their own creative process. It doesn’t matter to me – simply watching them (even without following along if it’s a lesson or a teaching video) makes me feel creative. These kinds of videos help me stay connected to my creativity.

I’ve been watching several videos like that over the past few days. Karen Abend’s 2025 Sketchbook Revival Binge Fest started on Tuesday and I’ve been having a blast. My first experience with Sketchbook Revival (no charge to sign up) was in 2019, and I’ve been doing it every year since then. Each year there are many videos from different artists sharing videos of techniques and tips and projects for painting, drawing, mixed media – basically anything that can be done in a sketchbook, whether big or small.

This year’s Sketchbook Revival Binge Fest is different from previous years, and I’ve been looking forward to it ever since she announced it. For the 2025 Sketchbook Revival, Karen has opened the vault to all the videos for five years’ worth of past Sketchbook Revivals: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. This means over 130 workshop sessions from dozens of different artists.

Watching videos like these sparks my creativity, and that’s why I try to watch things like this on a fairly regularly basis. Sometimes I’ll simply go to YouTube and search for art journaling videos or writing-related videos. Almost always, it leads to doing more writing, more painting, more creating.

Since Tuesday, I’ve watched a few of the videos from 2018 (I’ve focused on that year since I didn’t sign up for Sketchbook Revival back then). I’ve only watched, I haven’t actually followed along or done any of the specific projects. But watching has made me pick up my paintbrushes and pens more often this week.

How it looks isn’t what matters. It’s the doing of it that matters.

Just to play. Just to relax and unwind.

Just to connect to creativity.

Just to create for the joy of it.

❤

old newspapers as calming distraction…

It might seem strange to say that exploring decades-old newspapers brings me a sense of calm, but it does. The history. The tidbits of social information. The photographs and advertisements of stores and restaurants that no longer exist.

I like it all. And it provides a way to occupy my mind and distract me from anxious thoughts – with the added benefit of learning things that can help me with my genealogical and historical explorations. The main site I use is newspapers.com because it has the papers for the locations I’m exploring. But there are other options too.

As I’ve mentioned before, genealogy is one of my hobbies (and is also something that serves as calming distraction for me) and newspapers have provided lots of information about generations of family members. There are the expected wedding announcements and obituaries, but I’ve also discovered things I knew nothing about: unexpected photos and news articles about relatives.

In addition to genealogical research, I also turn to old newspapers for help with my writing, especially when it comes to fiction. My novel, New Life in New Melody (and its earlier version, In New Harmony), takes place in 1943, and I’m currently working on a sequel set in 1944. Exploring newspapers from back then, especially the one published in my novels’ geographic location, has led to lots of helpful information and historically accurate slice-of-life tidbits for my stories.

Since not all news is pleasant or happy, I try to pay attention to my emotional and mental capacity, and I don’t tackle heavier-duty research topics on days I don’t feel up to it. But usually, looking through old papers provides me with interesting distractions that actually help me deal with anxiety. It transports me to another place, a different time, and other lives that aren’t my own.

In recent months, I’ve posted about a few different things that work for me when it comes to providing some calming distraction from life, stress, and anxiety. Exploring old newspapers might be an unexpected one – but sometimes we find help in unexpected places.

❤

writing on the journey…

When I made the move from a different site to this blog several years ago, I knew I wanted a phrase or tagline that tried to capture a sort of overall theme of what I share here. After playing with a couple of ideas, I settled on writing on the journey.

The phrase continues to be one that reflects what I do.

The dictionary gives the definition of journey as “the act of traveling from one place to another.” And whether I’m writing a blog post, a journal entry, or even including a word or phrase on one of my paintings or art journaling pages, I am writing about the journey through this life. I’m writing about the challenges and the joys. I’m writing about the things that help me along the way and, I hope, offering some encouragement for others.

There has also been another aspect to this phrase for me, though.

It’s also about the writing journey.

I believe connecting to your creativity is an incredibly important aspect of life – and there are many, many ways to express your creativity.

Painting and writing are my main creative outlets, and I share about those most often. Those are the creative activities that light me up the most and make me feel more me. A day doesn’t seem complete unless I’ve held a brush in my hand and moved paint around a canvas or page for at least a few strokes. I’ve talked often about how painting calms me even when nothing else helps.

But as much as I love painting, it was writing that was my first love and it’s writing that’s been a through-line of my life. I didn’t even allow myself to try to paint until far (far!) into adulthood, but writing was with me as soon as I could hold a fat marker to form letters and words.

So…my writing journey is part of what I share here. And that includes sharing things that I hope will be helpful or encouraging for you if you’re on a writing journey of your own.

After all, a writing journey (or any creative journey) is part of the journey of life.

❤