Tag: creativity

Creativity

Did you know that you were actually designed to be creative?

I hear way too many people saying things like,

“I’m not creative.”
“I can’t draw”
“I can’t dance.”
“I can’t paint.”
“I can’t write.”

Every time I hear words like that spoken out, I wince and my heart hurts because I used to say those things, too.

The saddest part was that, inside, I was desperate to express myself in creative ways. I figured that because my creativity didn’t look perfect or even really, what I deemed to be acceptable that I couldn’t consider myself creative. Not like other people were.

For my entire childhood, teen years and into adulthood, I grappled with this inner desire to express myself creatively; and this feeling that I wasn’t good enough to even try.

That feeling of inferiority kept me from living as my true, authentic self.

I WAS CREATED TO CREATE.

WE ALL ARE!

We are created in the image of God and HE IS THE CREATOR OF ALL.

His divine nature as a creative being bringing beauty into the world, creating something from nothing gives us all, the right and even the responsibility to create what we can to also bring beauty into our world.

If you feel a desire to paint, then paint.
If written or spoken word stirs you, then let the words flow.
If you desire to dance or flag, go for it.


Whatever creative outlet your heart desires, just do it.
Practise.
Don’t discount the desire.

Very few people have natural talent and ability but that doesn’t disqualify you from being creative.

Ecclesiastes 9:10 has an encouragement to move forward with all your might. It’s an encouragement to not hold back but to GO FOR IT. Psalm 33:3 has an exhortation that when you play an instrument that you would do it skilfully. Some people are blessed with an incredible natural talent but for so many of us – excellence and skill takes practise.

Don’t be discouraged if your first attempts wobble a little.

Think about a baby. When babies first start walking, they stumble, fall and wobble quite a bit but when they take those first shaky steps we excitedly say, “You’re walking.”

Can they do it well? Nope! Will they continue to stumble and fall. YUP!

But we speak into being what we know will happen with practise.

So if you want to write and you practise writing, You are a writer.
If you want to dance and you practice dancing, You are a dancer.
If you want to draw and you practise drawing, You are an artist.
If you want to take pictures and you practise photography, you are a photographer.

Speak it out.
Embrace your creative nature.
Practise creativity regularly and
Share the beauty that you are creating.

Now more than ever, we need beauty in the world and you, as a creative being, have a part to play in adding beauty to our lives and the world.

So the next time that lie comes to you telling you that you can’t create, that you’re not creative; STOP and declare the wonder of who you were created to be.

  • I am a creative being.
  • I am created in the image of my Father
  • I create beauty to share with the world.
  • I have permission to play and create in ways that are unique to who the Father made me to be.
  • I embrace creativity as part of my God given nature.
  • I am creative.

September Art Challenge

I’m SO excited to get back into a routine.

Honestly, I needed the laidback chaos of the summer but I’m definitely craving routine and schedule.

I’m looking forward to drawing and painting regularly and have worked with Jon to come up with an art prompt list for September.

Here is a link to a 8.5×11 page that you can print, if you prefer a paper copy.

September Prompts.pdfDownload

You can join us every day or just some days.

You can draw or paint or sculpt or write or dance.

You can use the prompts for inspiration or do your own thing.

I believe we were created to create; so whether you are an artist or just like to make beautiful messes. Go for it. Create wildly and with abandon. And share your creativity with us.

Tag us on Facebook or Instagram or use the hashtag #xangelleartchallenge so we can see your creativity and celebrate you and the beauty you bring to the world.

Community & Connection

There is only 3 days until the start of the next Art Challenge and I do hope you join us. It’s such an incredible and soul filling experience to purposefully engage your creativity for 30 days.

One thing that’s so valuable as we start this journey is COMMUNITY. It’s amazing to join in with others who are expressing their creativity; to be encouraged and inspired by them. You are also part of the encouraging and inspiring process for others. It’s this incredible loop that cycles around and fills your soul. So if you don’t already follow my Facebook Page, click on the link below and follow me.

XANGELLE

I’m going to send you there right now to follow or like or whatever it is that you do to join and see posts because that is where we will be sharing our daily art and creativity. Each day there will be a post with the Day and Prompt. We will be sharing our art in the comments of each day’s post.

That way we can all see who is playing along with us in this Art Challenge . It’s a great way to collect the art for each day and we can encourage each other as we go along. Think of it as a virtual gallery. I’m excited to see what you create.

So if you haven’t already, go give my page a follow. I’m so excited to start this art challenge and to see where our creativity leads us.

Words are Art

What if I’m more interested in writing than I am in drawing or painting?

That’s AMAZING! Just like the picture says above….words are art, too!

If I could encourage you to do one thing, it would be to listen to your heart and create. Your heart might be desperate to draw and you’ve not done it because you’re not very good. If you’ve always dreamed of writing poetry or stories, do it.

Very few of us humans start out naturally good at anything. But if there’s a small voice inside of you that has been desperate to do something creative, listen to it. Start now. Start small. Let the beginning be just that. A beginning. Take those first few wobbly steps; and soon you’ll be walking steady and sure. It doesn’t happen over night though. Just acknowledge that and know that it’s part of the process.

I’m planning on writing some for this Art Challenge. It’s another creative outlet that I’ve always dreamed about. I’ve have written some, here and there but recently I’ve embraced creative writing along side drawing. When I do express myself through art or writing, it feeds my soul in ways that very little else does. There’s a satisfaction in doing something that the very core of you longs for.

Is there a part of you that desires to create in a way that you’ve been denying yourself? I’d totally encourage you to join us as we spend the month of September creating.

You can find the details here:

Click for the Art Challenge pdf.

Just Over a Week Away

The Art Challenge starts next Friday September 1 and goes through the 30th. We will be drawing or doodling or creating with joy and passion; maybe a little fear and trembling but honestly, I hope you enjoy it.

I’ve put together a little package together that you can print and have on hand to look at the prompts, think of ideas in advance, or just to hold in your hot little hands. I’ll post it in a link below. You can just click the link and it will take you to a page where you can print from or save it to your computer or phone. There’s a colour option that you can print double sided if you want or single page black and white version. I’ll also be posting the prompts the day before so you can come here or go to my Facebook Page or my Instagram and check it out if you’d rather follow along that way.

Click here for the Prompts and Art Challenge Pdf.

I can’t wait for another fabulous month of art and creativity and I do hope you join us.

But 30 Days is SO Long!

You might be wondering what kind of commitment this whole 30 Day Art Challenge is.

Honestly 30 days is a long time.

Will you be kicked out of “the club” if you miss a day?

NOPE

Will you be letting someone down if you miss a day?

NOPE

Will you be shamed or called out if you miss a day?

Also NOPE!

I would strongly encourage you to join our 30 Day Art Challenge with every plan of creating art every day.

Purposing to do this will allow you to get the most out of the process. It will also encourage you to get creative with finding ways to fit creativity into busy days. It could be a quick 5 min session while you wait for a bus or a kid. It could be drawing while you sit in the waiting room at the dr or dentist. It could be on your coffee break at work. We waste so much time but the more you realize that. The more you purpose to fit creativity in to your day to day life , the more ways and times and places you will notice that you can fit it in.

If you get to the end of your day and realize that you forgot or were too busy…..take note of that. Use that information to give you feedback. If you had the most soul fulfilling day packed with love and joy and people, then call it a win and have a good nights sleep. If you think back and feel like the day was tied up in fruitless busy-ness; think about how you can make changes to be living the life that you want to and make one plan to do so the next day.

If you choose to invest in a month of adding creativity to your life, make that month count. But don’t feel like a failure if life gets busy. Just come back to it.

Live life with the passion of a baby learning to walk. They try. They fall. They try. They fall. They keep trying and trying and trying and trying until they’ve got it.

This also means they fall and get up, over and over and over until they walk.

Also think about the fact that we say they are “walking” when they manage to stumble through 2 or 3 steps. We don’t run them down for falling. We cheer and squeal and shout and encourage them on.

Be your own cheerleader on this artistic journey. Speak gently and encouragingly to yourself. Let us, also, cheer you on. The more steps you take, the more you will be confident in your abilities. But it’s not about the finished product. It’s about the journey.

We’d love to have you join us from September 1-30 for our 30 Day Art Challenge. Stay tuned for more details.

Sharing Your (he)Art can be Scary

I think one reason that doing art and especially sharing art is hard is that it’s a piece of you. You are essentially “creating a piece from yourself” and if you expose it or share – the hope, the wish, the prayer is that people will be kind. That they will see something good. That they will accept and love and value the pieces of yourself that you put out there.

And that’s hard. Because not everyone will see or accept you. Sometimes we feel like it’s easier to protect or hide those parts of ourselves. To not expose or (even safer) to not even create.

But we lose out on something incredible when we stifle or repress the creative parts of ourselves that long to be expressed and seen.

It feels easier to deny our creative longings than it does to express them. But vulnerability is critical for both artistic and personal transformation.

But ironically, it’s when artists are courageous enough to tap into their vulnerability, they also tap into the healing power of art for themselves and the people who view their art.

Incredible Article Here

I’m on an artistic journey. I’m on a personal healing and transformative journey. I’m on a vulnerable journey; and if you are interested in walking along side of me. I welcome you. There is no judgement here. You will be seen and there is space for you.

Our Art Challenge starts on September 1 and goes for 30 days. We’d love to have you join us in whatever way you can. I’ll be here in all my glory and chaos. The mess and the wonder is invited to just be present.

You don’t need anything special. Paper and pen or pencil works but I would suggest some kind of a sketch pad, just so you have a journal of your journey.

Did you see my silly birds reel? I’d love to see your silly bird if you draw one (or a few)

Create With Me!

I thought it might be fun to have a practise round before we get going, so that you have an idea of how this process works.

Starting with the prompt “Flower” create something and either tag me on Instagram ( @pattic ) or post it in the comments of this post on Facebook.

You can draw, paint, write a poem, a song, take a photograph, sculpt, do whatever you want. But create your interpretation of the word flower and share it with us.

The word is just a prompt so create what that prompt sparks inside of you. It could be a flower, it could be multiple flowers, it could be a bouquet, or a field. It could be a flower dress or a flower tie or flower sunglasses. It’s up to you. It can be as simple or as complicated as you want. I’ll probably take about 5 mins to draw and paint mine.

I can’t wait to see what you create.

I’ll post mine as soon as I do it. Happy creating!

Imposter Syndrome

We’d LOVE to have you join our art challenge in September. Keep following for more details!

But I can’t draw/paint/color/etc; “I’m not an artist.” you might be saying.

You might not be selling your art, or hanging it in a gallery but that doesn’t make you “not an artist.”

That was an awkward sentence.

I remember when I changed the title on my Facebook Page from Blogger to Artist. I most definitely did not identify as an artist. I felt like the hugest fraud putting that on there BUT……the fact was that I made art and crazy enough, I even sold my art…..even crazier, people had been buying my art on greeting cards for years.

But I wasn’t an artist because I wasn’t very good. I most definitely wasn’t as good as “them”.

Imposter Syndrome is that uncomfortable feeling that you feel when you think you are unqualified and incompetent. If you manage to do something well, you might chalk it up to good luck.

After much therapy, I figured out that feelings of “not being good enough” weren’t really serving me and I wanted to live life differently. That involved redefining how I saw and spoke about myself.

Art was a big one for me because I’ve always felt called to create. But I spent a huge portion of my life doubting my abilities and denying myself the right to try and fail while still having fun.

If I can, in some small way, encourage you to try – knowing that failing is just part of trying; and encourage you to have fun while trying – I honestly believe that if you want to, you can create art to spark joy, too!

Not everyone wants to draw or color and that’s fine. But if there’s a part of you that has always wanted to but hasn’t given yourself permission to – for whatever reason……know that this is a safe space to start.

Calling all my fellow artists and creatives, we’d love to have you join us as we do a 30 day Art Challenge from September 1-30.

Art Challenge Supplies

“What do I need for this Art Challenge? I’m not an artist. I don’t have any art supplies.”

Good news! You don’t need anything special to join. Find some scrap paper, and any thing that writes. Pen, pencil, broken crayon…..you are good to go.

Ok honestly, you really don’t need anything fancy. Scrap paper is fine. A ream of printer paper is fine. I would suggest that you get a sketch book of some sort, just so you have a record of where you started and so you can see your progress. You can pick something up at a dollar store, but it’s not necessary. Pencil is a great medium. An eraser is super helpful, as is a sharpener.

I love my watercolor paints. Jon is trying oil based pencil crayons. If you have an iPad or a tablet, there are tons of digital drawing apps. If writing is your thing, a journal or computer. Get creative. I know someone who used cut up cardboard boxes to paint on.

It doesn’t have to cost you money to create; just some time and energy. And that’s not so much a cost, as it is an investment. Forbes says, “Creativity is the only investment that never fails.”

We’d love to have you join us from September 1-30 as we bring a little bit more beauty and light into the world.