Finding Creative Communities
Sometimes the creatives appear right under your nose
Hello and welcome, my lovely creatives! I hope you had a fabulous week of daring adventures, or at least learned a new trick, like how to make ink from turmeric and alcohol, which is what I learned last weekend. More on that later.
Today's letter is posting a little late due to technical difficulties. And me trying to figure out how to word this letter to myself about finding other creatives.
Dear Lovely Creative Person,
I know that sometimes you've wondered if you're the only creative weirdo around. Why is it everyone else seems so normal when you're bouncing around with a million and one ideas and no one to bounce with you?
You don't know it yet, but there are creative people everywhere. Some are outwardly creative and use their bodies as their canvas with clothes and hair and makeup and tattoos. Others are more subtle about it, having entire universes inside their heads just waiting to come out through words or or illustrations or music or short animated films. You just have to find them.
There's this lovely confluence happening in your life now where you're calling in creativity even when you're least expecting it. Like the day you attended a natural ink workshop and had some time to kill before the documentary screening so you went to the library and pulled out your sketchbook to work on your next Cryptid Cuties drawring.
As you drew your Batsquatch (as you do), a woman sat down at the other end of the table. You barely registered her presence because you were so engrossed in Batsquatch creation while listening to music but you did notice when she pulled out a beautiful landscape painting, which she was touching up with a pen or marker.
Then, a few minutes later, a woman from a completely different demographic approached the woman and complimented her painting. You were only seeing and hearing bits of what was happening, but you saw the second woman taking a photo of the painting. And then you saw the second woman pulled out a landscape painting so the first woman could give her pointers.
What was even going on? Was this a preplanned landscape painter meeting and you didn't get the memo? Or did this all happen organically? Does everyone secretly carry landscape paintings just in case an impromptu landscape painting gathering might happen?
You chuckle to yourself that you inadvertently started the art table at the library with your Batsquatch, the most unlikely thing since it was only moments before you started your drawring that you found out there even was such a thing as a Batsquatch. It's a rather pleasing turn of events that makes you wonder if there's such a place as a drop-in art centre for adults because the creative energy was palpable that day. It’s something to research because that sounds like exactly the sort of place that should exist.
Don’t forget to look for community in the most unlikely, my lovely artistic friend. Get creative!
Love always,
t :)
P.S. In case you’re wondering what my Basquatch looks like, here it is:
Inspiration Of The Week
Last weekend, I attended a workshop-type thing in connection with a new documentary called The Colour of Ink about Jason Logan and his exploration and experimentations with natural elements to create ink.
The doc shows various elements he's used to make ink while discussing art and philosophy. It's really cool and definitely worth checking out if you have a chance.
At the workshop thingy, we sat at tables with some unlabeled bottles of various types of natural inks. We could see the general idea of what colours they were but they way they came out and then the way they dried was a delightful surprise. Even though it wasn’t intentional to have unlabeled bottles, it was fun to experiment this way.
I could tell two of the people at my table were talented artists, whereas the other four of us were experimenting but didn't necessarily have a plan in mind of what we wanted to create. Sometimes it's fun to just play.
Here are some of the tools provided and masterpieces I created:
And here are some of my trials, failures, and unexpected successes (all artwork and photos by me):
So as you can see, playing around with materials can have fun, unexpected results. Even without a subject or a plan in place, I was able to have some happy little accidents while I channeled Bob Ross. Or something.
During a Q&A towards the end of our brief foray into inky play, something Jason said as we messed about really struck me: “The inks we're playing with are alive…and they die.”
I believe he said this after someone was asking how to make natural inks that can stay the same colour and not fade with time. He suggested buying archival ink for that sort of preservation.
But this thing he does with twigs and rocks and berries and rust and whatever else he can source from the natural world around him isn't about permanency. It's about creating something beautiful from something else beautiful around him. It's about cooking (quite literally, for some of his inks) up ideas using nature's palette and delighting in what comes of it.
I'd never thought of creating ink itself as an art form, but it really is, at least when someone like Jason does it.
You can check out his Substack, The Colour Lab, for more information about the wonderful things he's doing.
Creative Prompt For The Week
This section is a weekly prompt to nudge you to do something creative this weekend. Sometimes we want to do something but just don't know what to create so we need a starting point. I'm going to help the creatively challenged by providing a word, phrase, or some other starting point where you can focus and create something. If you'd like to share it with me, please do, but there's no pressure. I'm here to inspire, not judge or tell you how or what to do.
Your prompt for this week, should it inspire you, is:
CROSSWORD
I went for lunch with a friend who's obsessed with crosswords. He does the crazy hard ones and was talking about them with such passion, it made me wish I could do them myself.
While I love the idea of crosswords, I've never been able to do them beyond the very simple kiddie ones. My brain just doesn't work that way. My wordplay comes in a different form. And that's ok. I still like the idea of them and maybe this can inspire some of you to get creative by making your own crossword-inspired thing.
Perhaps you can write a song about crosswords. Or make a ceramic tile with a crossword motif. Or a cross stich crossword with clues for stichy words. Have at it!
I hope you have a lovely week full of creative inspiration and maybe even an impromptu artsy gathering. This seems to be happening around me more and more. And I love it!
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