Binging Creativity
Finding inspiration and excitement
It is spring but it was snowing when we woke up this morning! Probably the only snow we will see, maybe until next year. Global warming and all that.
I have felt a bit uninspired lately. I have been working on things that I enjoy but sometimes I need that feeling of being completely excited about something, almost to the point of distraction. Sometimes that happens by itself, sometimes it needs some kind of prompt.
I’ve had a subscription to Creativebug for a few months but it’s coming to an end, I don’t use it enough to keep the subscription every month. So I thought I’d binge a few tutorials that are relevant to my interests (and some that feel slightly outside) while working on a project.
And what do you know, I got excited about things I want to try! A few things in fact. I’ll share links to the ones I am particularly excited about (it’s not an ad or affiliate link, just FYI) and thought maybe you’d like too.
The first one is Hand-Stitched Appliqué Quilts with Carolyn Friedlander. I know how to appliqué already but I did pick up a few tips which was great. And it just looked like a nice relaxing project so I went straight to my fabric stash and picked out two fabrics to try a similar design. I spent two or three evenings stitching this while watching tv. I think I might do a quilt with blocks like this. It will be a nice no-pressure project when I don’t want to think too much about what my hands are doing. Slowly building up a pile of blocks using some of my favourite fabrics. :-)
The next class I am excited to try is Make a Doodle Quilt with Annabel Wrigley. I haven’t given it a go yet because I didn’t have all the materials. But I have sketched some designs on my tablet and I’m excited to try it. Maybe this weekend if the materials arrive.
The third class is Words Inform Images: 31 Prompts Using Writing as Inspiration for Art with e bond. It’s a little outside of what I might normally be interested in. But as I was watching each of the 31 prompts it just hit me like a ton of bricks. That excitement about a project to the point of distraction. It was in those prompts. I can feel ideas for quilts and embroidery bubbling. And so far I have only actually done one of the exercises. This was completely unexpected!
My plan is to do all the exercises and see what happens, where it leads me. A year or two ago I started an altered book but never got very far with it. I’m going to use that as the base for some of the exercises and maybe finally finish it. The image above is that first exercise, using the first line in a book to create…something. My result is a bit boring maybe but I like it. :-)
There are a lot of interesting classes on Creativebug and I can very much recommend (again, not an ad) subscribing to it. I think you can do a free trial and sometimes they have offers like 3 months for $xyz. Just watch a bunch of classes, both ones that you are immediately interested in and some that are a bit outside your sphere of interests. It’s good to try something new! :-)
I hope you have a good weekend. I think you can guess what I’ll be doing! :-)
x Carina
Some Things I’m Enjoying
Reading: Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton.
Watching: Classes on Creativebug! :-)
Listening: Automatic for The People by R.E.M.
Following: @eisroughdraft on Instagram