Tag: creative life

another personal at-home summer art retreat…

With all of the stress and change and difficulty of the past several months (and longer), I decided to have another personal at-home summer art retreat. Last year’s – which you can read about here – was fun and nourishing, and it helped me cope.

So I decided to do it again.

Since starting on June 1, I’ve been spending more time than usual painting and doodling and art journaling. There’s nothing structured. No set schedule. Just doing my best to make more time for creative play.

Sometimes I doodle.

I’ve been drawing some mandalas and using colored markers to color them (which is sooo relaxing and calming).

I’ve returned to some old canvases to make some changes.

Even something as simple as painting watercolor swatches counts as part of my art retreat.

The main thing is to have fun. It’s relaxing for me, it helps reduce my levels of stress and anxiety, and it keeps me connected to my creativity.

And creativity is a joy connection for me.

The months since last summer’s personal at-home art retreat have been difficult ones. My husband has had a stroke, which has brought us changes and challenges. He’s had surgery to get a pacemaker. There have been numerous doctor visits and tests and procedures.

And my days have held a lot of stress, anxiety, and fear of the future.

Creativity has been helping me. Writing, painting, sketching, doodling. All done with no pressure. All done just for the enjoyment of it – just for the doing of it.

That’s why it was an easy decision for me to have another personal at-home summer art retreat this year. It’s something I’m doing for my own self care and soul nourishment.

I hope you have something that brightens your days and lightens your load. It doesn’t have to be a commitment for the whole summer. It doesn’t have to be an at-home art retreat. It doesn’t have to be anything with timelines or guidelines or pressure.

It just needs to be something that connects you to joy and nourishes your soul.

Something that helps you get through your days.

❤

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.

❤

brief bits of creative time…

For several years now, I’ve focused on having short times of creativity instead of waiting for longer blocks, and it’s been working out well to keep me connected with my creativity and keep the flow going.

Whether I’m writing or painting, I let myself create in brief bits – sometimes as brief as five minutes or less. There are days when I have only one of these “brief bits” and there are days when I’m painting and/or writing off and on in little bits throughout the day. And it all adds up.

There are also days when a “brief bit” turns into a much longer stretch of time, and I’m always grateful for those days. But I let it be okay when that does not happen. My goal is to have a brief bit.

It’s easiest to do this when supplies are already out (or easily accessible). Not only does it cut back on “setting up” time, it also serves as a visual reminder and little nudge. Creativity can’t be out-of-sight-out-of-mind if I have supplies for arting, crafting, and writing in view.

Having things easily accessible makes it easy to stop and do just a few brush strokes or a few minutes of doodling or writing.

And, as I said, it all adds up. Here are a few recent examples of the results (and projects in process) of my small bits of painting and doodling time…

Most of my writing is in digital format, which means it’s harder to show a picture of my recent writing, but small bits of writing time definitely can add up to finished projects. My novel, New Life in New Melody, is an example.

If I waited for long periods of uninterrupted time when I could concentrate on nothing but painting or writing or any other creative endeavor, my creative life wouldn’t feel as satisfying. I wouldn’t be able to stay as connected to my creativity. And I firmly believe I wouldn’t create as much or as often as I do.

If you haven’t tried brief bits of creative time, I hope you’ll test it out and see how it goes.

Maybe, like me, you’ll find it makes a world of difference.

♥