dustbunniesproject

Quest for Creativity Day 25, Lesson 25: It might be a self-conscious effort, but it’s my self-conscious effort…

There’s something about the shape of a bunny that lends itself to crafts. In my eyes, anyway… Which is why today’s effort to be creative resulted in a bunny bulletin board. All it needs is a large magnet on the back and it’s good to go on the fridge, snuggled between the zombie toaster- and colourful sheep-postcards. I’ve also imbued it with voodoo powers, just because no bunny should be without a touch of dodginess. And this one lends itself perfectly to being stuck with pins.

It’s been a pretty unproductive week as far as being creative goes… Sometimes, it’s hard to find inspiration. Or, more accurately, it’s hard to really see inspiration even while you’re wading through tons of cool stuff on the web, reading good books or listening to a rocking song. The biggest challenge then is to snap out of the mind funk, take a step back and just breathe… So you’re not Salvador Dali when it comes to art, you’re not going to be responsible for a Shakespearean piece of literature, you’re not the next Tom Waits… But you still have your own way of looking at things. And if it involves psychotic bunnies involved in an epic battle against the evil that is tomatoes, so be it.

When you google “creativity”, you get about 47 100 000 results. Wikipedia defines it as “the ability to generate innovative ideas and manifest them from thought into reality”. There are books and steps and guidelines on improving your creativity, images that illustrate creativity, companies that claim creativity as the core of their value system… Mind mapping, illustrative videos, tests to determine how creative you are, cure-all secrets, probably even a 12-step program for people finding themselves drained of all creative thought.

And quotes, of course:

“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.” – George Bernard Shaw (I’m willing a holiday on a tropical island somewhere…)

“The imagination imitates. It is the critical spirit that creates.” – Oscar Wilde (I’m pretty sure my critical spirit would admit that the rabbit’s ears are wonky.)

“No great thing is created suddenly.” – Epictetus (What, 31 days is not enough to become a creative god?)

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” – Scott Adams (I’m a hoarder. I keep everything.)

“But, if you have nothing at all to create, then perhaps you create yourself.” – Carl Gustav Jung (So that’s why I change my hairstyle so often…)

“Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.” – Ray Bradbury

Okay, so dear old Ray basically dashed the whole point of this random quest of mine with that last quote… What I’m doing is pretty much a self-conscious effort to reach a point where the “simply doing things” comes naturally…

I’m thinking when all’s said and done; being truly creative is simply about finding something brand-new to do every day… A challenge on a whole different level, that one…

Tags: Carl Gustav Jung, craft bunny, Donnay Torr, dustbunniesproject, Epictetus, George Bernard Shaw, improving your creativity, mind mapping, Oscar Wilde, quest for creativity, Ray Bradbury, Salvador Dali, Scott Adams, Tom Waits, William Shakespeare

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 25th, 2010 at 19:20 and is filed under Personal ramblings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.