Grow Your Soul
I found the image below and the accompanying story in the middle of the night, on one of those nights in which sleep had abandoned me, but I was still really tired. Maybe it was the half-awake, half-sleep state I was in, or maybe I was in a time and place to be open to the concept of making art for the sake of making art.
But the idea took hold:
“Make art now, and do it for the rest of your lives,”
I started by creating a permanent space for my watercolor paper and paints - a place that I didn’t have to set up or clean up when I wanted to paint, and it led to painting for a little while every day. Which led to painting a lot every day.
I want to talk more about the beauty, soul growth, and epic calm that comes from creating. Yes, I’m back on my soap box of encouraging creativity for ALL (See previous blog post if you need a refresher). I’m back on this box because it is my sincerest desire for everyone to have something small to look forward to each day, and experience the joy of spending a few moments each day in a creative state of mind to, as Kurt Vonnegut said: You have experienced becoming, learned a lot more about what’s inside you, and you have made your soul grow.
THE IDEA
In order to accomplish the above stated goal (because it’s no longer a wish) I have been gifted the most brilliant idea!
Many years ago, my friend Diane sent me a small jar filled with slips of beautifully decorated paper. On each piece of paper, she wrote a creative prompt. The plan was that each week we would draw a prompt from our respective jars, do the thing, and then share it with each other.
We succeeded for a few weeks, but then one of us got a new job or something and the jars were put on a shelf never to be heard from again. I think the reason we didn’t stick with the plan was that these prompts weren’t bite-sized. They required a lot of action during a period when we were both short on time.
THE SOLUTION
Diane reminded me of this jar the other day and I knew exactly where it was. I retrieved it, dusted it off, and had such a wonderful time reading through all of the prompts she lovingly wrote out. “The idea," then, is to create a virtual jar of five-minute-prompts: each prompt should take no more than five minutes and the items needed to participate in each prompt will be everyday household items. I won’t be asking anyone to invest in any fancy art supplies, but if you want to I’m here to support you.
I plan on sharing one prompt a week in my newsletter and on all the Socials. I hope that readers and followers will participate and then share with the community what they created. Or not. I will only encourage you to participate in the activity. The level you share with the wider world is entirely up to each individual. But if you do want to share, I made up a #hashtag specifically for this project, and I’m quite proud of it.
#create4five
My intention for this project is to create a gateway, a safe space for people who do not consider themselves to be creative, to start to dip their toes into the creative sphere without judgement or pressure. And a place where people who do consider themselves to be creative but maybe have trouble finding time to indulge; to use this idea as a guidepost to dip into once a week - to stretch their creative muscles with something a little different. Your first prompt is below.
If the above sounds fun, please - join me in growing your soul and #creating4five.
ALL ARE WELCOME!
~Jill
