International Creative Women

6 ways to fuel your creativity

Try new things, learn something new Learning something new has so many benefits. Every time you put yourself in a new situation, you push your brain to understand and process new circumstances and to develop a new set of skills.This new experience, whether it be gardening 1 or painting, can help you to discover talents you never knew you had. Imagine that you can dance, sew, cook, or many number of things- but never realised until you tried? You can also expand your social network as you will meet interesting new people during your new creative adventures. At Creative Town, we have several workshops to explore your creative and artistic side. Keep an eye on our social media channels to join our sessions. Have a weekly “artist date” This is a wonderful and joyful idea from Julia Cameron. She defines the artist date as a “once-2 weekly, festive, solo expedition to explore something that interests you. The Artist Date need not be overtly artistic– think mischief more than mastery. Artist Dates fire up the imagination. They spark whimsy. They encourage play”. Need some ideas? • Go to a thrift store. Give yourself 5 euros to spend and find something really great that you can do something creative with. • Ask a friend to send you a Spotify’s playlist. Take a walk while listening and expose yourself to new music.Make a list of thirty things you’d like to do before your next birthday. • Write a letter – longhand, on pretty paper – to an old friend. • Explore your garden or a nearby park with your camera- take photographs of leaves, insects or interesting corners.

3. Create every single day It doesn’t matter what you create, how big or small your project is or which technique you use – allowing yourself to create on a daily basis will help your ideas flow and spark your imagination. 3Last year, we met a very nice design student at Creative Town. We were in a meeting with him when his alarm went off and he excused himself for 2 minutes. He told us he had an alarm every day to remind him to take 2 minutes off, search for patterns and take photographs of them. He then showed us his collection of patterns and we talked about how this practice helped him to fuel his creative spirit. Try keeping a sketch diary, or get creative in the kitchen by cooking new recipes. Support other creators Supporting other creators will not only inspire you and help you generate new ideas, but it will also help you build relationships within the creative world. There are many creative communities out there, like International Creative Women, so don’t be shy and contact us. You’ll learn, be inspired, 4 and potentially create collaborative relationships with other creators. See yourself as a creative person. People tend to think creativity is binary- that you are either a creative person or not. But the truth is everyone can create, and every single person is creative. You may think only artists are creative, but creativity is both a skill and a process so it can be learned. And like any other skill, it’s something 5 you can get better at through practice and repeated use. Not seeing yourself as a creative person can limit your creativity and prevent you from generating new ideas or learning new skills. Embrace your mistakes Finally, don’t be afraid of making mistakes. Be happy about it, because that means you are trying. You are making new things, you are learning from the process, you are challenging 6yourself and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. Be proud of your mistakes, because you are doing things you have not done before. You are taking risks and exploring new opportunities. You are saying yes- you are learning and living.