Tag: joy

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.

❤

do what makes you feel alive {printable}…

Over the weekend, I was tackling a tiny bit of much-needed decluttering, and I came across a couple of printouts I had totally forgotten about making. Both were printables I made a few years ago, one from one of my watercolor paintings, the other from part of one of my acrylic paintings.

Both paintings are abstract, intuitive paintings, not paintings of anything in particular (“paint play” is what I often call what I’m doing)… and I took photos of the paintings, digitally added words, and turned them into printables.

Tracking down the digital files took some time, but track them down I did. Turns out I made the printables back in 2017. I think (but I’m not positive) I shared them on my old blog but they got lost in the shuffle somewhere along the way.

The first of these printables-from-original-paintings is below. I’ll be putting up a post with the other one in a few days.

This one is from one of my watercolor paintings, with the words: do what makes you feel alive

I think we often need that reminder. As long as it’s not something that hurts someone else, it’s a good thing to keep in mind: do what makes you feel alive.

Do you know what that is? If not, take some time to get quiet and feel into the question. What lights you up? What sparks your inner fire and stirs your soul? What makes you feel alive?

This reminder – and putting it into practice – is something that helps us connect with joy. And, I believe, helps us connect with our purpose.

The printable is yours if you’d like to print it out. As with the other printables on the blog (you can find those here – be sure to go back to all the “older posts” to see them all) there’s no charge, nothing to sign up for, no strings attached. Just download and print as you wish. The file is in .pdf format, and you should be able to resize the image to suit your needs.

The link to get it is here.

Or just click on the printable’s photo below to get the file.

Do what makes you feel alive.

♥

 

it’s often the little things…

As I wrote last week, my taper and now withdrawal from a benzo brings (basically daily) physical challenges that wax and wane regarding which specific symptoms, as well as the intensity.

The past several days have been difficult, with ramped-up symptoms, although I can’t always tell which are actually due to withdrawal and which could be something else – and I do have other physical challenges that have nothing to do with the anti-anxiety medication, so there’s that too.

But whatever the cause, an increase in symptoms means I need to consciously focus even more on joy and gratitude, because otherwise I’d just get too lost in the difficulty of it all.

So in the midst of hard days, I’ve been doing my best to spend time doing things I love, or things for self-care. I’ve been looking for the moments of joy in each day, joy connections that make me smile and help me breathe and bring me back to present time.

I’ve been painting. I’ve been writing, working on fiction. I’ve been listening to music that lifts me up and lightens my spirit.

I’ve been cuddling our cute Chloe.

I’ve been pushing myself more than I often do – although I have to be careful and mindful about just how much I push, because pushing too much and overdoing the pacing can cause a setback. But when I’ve felt up to it physically, I’ve been pushing myself to go out, be around people, have a change of scenery.

This has meant hours over days writing at the library. And stopping to chat in person with old friends. And having brief bits of time with my husband in the middle of the day on his lunch break.

Another thing I’ve been doing is reading. Books are loves of mine, and my earliest memories include books, and then reading, and then writing stories with fat markers in my can-barely-write scrawl as soon as I could print words on paper. This love is what led to becoming a librarian, and a writer.

Because of eye issues the past few years, I haven’t been able to read nearly as much as I used to. But I do still read, and one of the books I’m reading right now is Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts.

This is what I said about it on instagram:

A few weeks ago, two different people, in two different places, within 30 minutes of each other, mentioned this book and what a life impact it had. One of them mentioned a 5-session (and no-charge) online study running Nov 18 thru Dec 22, and I decided to do it. I thought I’d need to get the book but then I thought… wait, didn’t I get it already, maybe on kindle? And sure enough, I already had it – and according to Amazon, I’ve had it almost exactly 4 years… but I’d never read it. Until now.
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So now I’m reading it, and I’m doing the study that started last week, and…just wow. I hadn’t realized how strongly it would focus on three things I try so much to bring into my life: grace, joy, gratitude/thanksgiving. I don’t know why it took me so long from the time of getting this book to finally reading it, but it’s not the first time something like this has happened, and I believe books (our reading of them) can come into our world at whatever time is right for us.
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I know first-hand what a difference it makes to focus on gratitude. And joy. I’ve kept gratitude lists before…but I’ve never intentionally kept a running gratitude list of 1000. Until now. And wow.

So – in the midst of difficult and hard, I’ve been finding moments and connections of joy and happiness and laughter and inspiration and comfort and coziness and peace and love.

Painting. Writing. Cuddling the cat. Holding hands with my husband. Chatting with friends. Love. Laughter. Twinkle lights. Coffee. Comforting tv shows. Cozy blankets.

And so much more.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…

Sometimes – maybe even often – it’s the little things.

♥