• Color
• Interesting Objects
• Toys
• Chalkboard

In addition to the items above, my creative spaces often contain:

• Photos of people or animals you love – these remind me that I am loved & supported
• Mementoes from places I’ve visited or traveled
• Greeting cards that make me smile
• Buttons, stickers or plaques with word messages like “Imagine,” “Create,” Inspire” or “Dream”
• Artwork of my favorite artists
• Inspiring images – whether clipped from a magazine, calendar or a photograph

Create an Inspiration Board
If you don’t have a lot of wall or desk space, consider creating a “Inspiration” board. Buy a bulletin board or cork board and post a variety of the items above on it. Place it in your line of sight, so when you glance up or are lost in thought you eyes travel to the board and you are reminded of the what brings you joy and inspires you.

Mental Environment
Just about any book on creativity tells you to postpone all judgement until much later in the creative process. Hensher’s article is no exception. However, I feel there are two sources of judgement to watch out for:

• Judgments that come from others
• Judgements that come from within ourselves

One way to avoid being exposed to judgements from ourselves early in the creative process is to set aside a private space for your art making. It’s very difficult not to judge your own work if people are walking by and making comments. This is one reason having an art studio and a space to call you own is very important. It provides a private space where you are free to be vulnerable and experiment beyond the watchful eyes and judgements of others.

It requires a little mental discipline to ignore the judgements that come from within yourself during the early stages of your creative project. If you’re like me, you might notice that the “Judge” pops in at the same point during your creative process. For me, he always seems to appear when I’m adding additional layers of paint or detail.

“You screwed it up,” he says. “You probably should just start over.” Or sometimes he whispers evilly, “You’re never going to be as good as those other artists. Maybe you should give up now.”

It takes some force of will to tell him to shut up, go away and don’t come back until I’m done. The more I paint and create, the more I realize that there is almost always a stage in my painting process where I don’t like how it looks. Where I doubt myself. And, that’s when the judge creeps in. Luckily, I’ve been painting long enough now, that I realize this phase is very temporary. If I just push through this angst and ignore it, I finish the painting – and I am pleased with the end result (and very glad I didn’t start over).

I highly recommend subscribing to Joan’s blog as well.

1. Preparation
2. Incubation
3. Illumination
4. Implementation

Click here to read more about the four steps of creativity.

There’s also a great book on the subject called A Technique for Producing Ideas, by James Webb Young.

A portion of my Art Studio

There is something magical about Art Studios. We rarely get to see inside them, and therefore, there tends to be somewhat of a mystique about them.

The more I’ve ventured into other artist’s spaces, I’ve come to regard the supplies of an artist, the space they create and their works-in-progress as akin to spiritual objects. The artist has touched them, honored them with frequent use, injected them with their own power, and ultimately pulled forth something almost magical while using them – a work of art.

If you’re like me, you find visiting and perusing other artist’s studios inspiring. Click here for 8 links to online photo galleries of Artist Studios that are sure to get your creative juices flowing.

Boy was that an understatement. The shop was filled with funky, colorful folk art and I totally loved it!  Tucked in the back amongst all the art and gift items for sale, the daughter and mother team (picture above) were were joyfully at work.

I am now convinced that I must have my own shop some day. My painting roots are in decorative folk art and many years ago I taught my Mom how to paint. I would be so fun to “work” together like this.  Oh, the possibilities!

A better question might be to ask, “What inspires you?” The answer to that is considerably different. For me it’s gardening, flowers, trees, nature, and the quirky little things people say. My son, my niece, my husband, my girlfriends, birds, home goods (I know weird!), art studios, driving, and especially the work of other artists.

I may not blog regularly these days but I do exercise my creative impulses regularly – painting, designing, and writing. The downside of this is there is often less time for friends and other activities. Yet, at this stage of my life, after a couple of decades giving priority to other things, I am giving my art more space – in my home and my life.

And, for me, inspiration also comes in the doing … just me, the paper, ink, watercolor …and the little frog or flower becoming more real with each stroke of the brush.

Or, the reasons can also be more insidious. Perhaps there’s a little voice in your head telling you that the art project you want to work on is too big, so why bother working on it until you have a bigger chunk of time to dedicate to it. Or, maybe there’s some part of you that feels the vision in your head exceeds your ability. The art can wait for more time or talent, right?

The art can wait, right? The answer is emphatically NO! You won’t get more art done and you won’t improve your art, if you don’t do your art on a regular basis. These things are all forms of resistance that sabotage our art-making process.

One way we can overcome resistance and get our buts into the studio is by creating healthy studio work habits. Similar to other healthy habits, like brushing your teeth and cooking healthy meals, once a work habit is created it will get you into the studio on a regular basis without even thinking about. In fact, it will become somewhat of a compulsion. With that in mind, here are some excellent blog articles to help you get motivated in 2011:

Overwhelmed in the Studio? Check Your Work Habits, by Lori McNee

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Artists, by Jim R. Math

Ten Habits of Successful Artists, By Geoffrey Gorman

Oil Painting Tips : Useful Work Habits that Make Painting Easier for You, by ToddHarris

Read about the work habits of a few full-time artists:
Daily Routines: How writers, artists, and other interesting people organize their days.

The introduction of Taking the Leap: Building a Career as a Visual Artist states, “I have seen artists do well with nothing more than meticulously applied work habits.” Lang goes on to say that three elements are critical for success as an artist and they are curiosity, comittment, and good work habits.

Commit to developing good art-making habits in 2011. You’ll find more joy in the creative process – and realize  an incredible feeling of accomplishment as more art projects are finished.

The Trustees of the Nichols Memorial Library had three goals:

• Motivate people to vote YES for the library building
• Convey optimism, friendliness, and possibilities
• Preferred an abstract design to a book-specific design

Ideally, they would also like it if the logo had the flexibility to become the library’s permanent logo, after its life as a campaign logo.

I presented eight concepts and the Trustees unanimously chose:

We’re are very excited by the concept because the library is a place where there is:

• More to learn
• More connections
• More opportunities
• More fun
• More for everyone
• More for Kingston

If you live in Kingston, NH, please cast your YES vote for a new library building in March 2011 – and “Imagine More for Kingston.”