Category: Art

Art, Creativity, Drawing, Knitting, Quilting, Sewing, Spinning, Writing

Getting Started: 5 Ways to Overcome Creative Resistance

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When I read Rachel Mankowitz’s blog post about struggling to write music for some lyrics she’d heard, I could relate. How often have I had a spark of inspiration, a desire to do something, but never managed to follow through? Even when it’s something I really care about, resistance to working on the project is always there. In fact, the more I care, the harder it is to start. Why is that?

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Art, Books, Knitting, Quotes, Sewing

Art: Comfort When You Can’t Leave Home

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While I still insist we should be expecting less rather than more of ourselves due to the stress and strangeness of life during the pandemic, I also believe that we should keep making things.

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Art, Creativity, Life Lessons, Quilting

Quilt Show Lesson: Every Work of Art Has Its Fans

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In the world of the internet, it can be hard to understand the value of making things yourself. There is so much competition out there, so many people better at what you are doing than you are. A meme or video goes viral, and suddenly everyone you know is talking about baby Yoda. In such a world, it’s easy to feel very small and that your efforts aren’t worth much. Those focused on fame tell us that if you don’t have at least 100,000 followers, you’re wasting your time.

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Art, Creativity, Drawing, Knitting, Nature Journaling, Sewing, Writing

Waiting for Inspiration? Spend the Time Practicing

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There’s a belief that all the great artists are inspired, that what makes their work wonderful is a brilliant idea or new insight. But this is just a myth. A single moment of brilliance can be blinding to the rest of us, but there’s more to it than that. You can’t make use of inspiration if you don’t know how to use your medium. Great art comes from lots of work, which can be summed up in one word: practice.

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