This week’s stack of books. Yes I am reading all of these. There’s a whole other stack of books I’m not actually reading. In the stack you will see hints of where I am traveling this year, hints about an e-book I am writing and the art I am making, the novel of a friend, and a book related to my overall goal of thinking more creatively.
I am such a book glutton and love how the books I read change my life in such a direct way.
My favorite coffee drinks
8″ x 8″ watercolor, ink and marker on paper. I love all three of these coffee drinks. I believe each one of them has a specific amount and should be served in a specific kind of cup or glass. When somebody serves me a cappuccino in a giant bowl cup, it drives me crazy.
From my studio
Reading and getting ready for the day before jumping online to work. I like this way to orient myself to my work week. Lots of student and client time this week, and also working on my new e-book and art portfolio. I love the variety in my days. Here’s to a great Monday and a wildly creative week for all. 🌺
When you don’t know what to write
Often we don’t do something because we don’t know how to choose or what to write. We either have too many ideas or don’t think we have any.
But I assert that we DO know what to write or create. We might just be afraid of it. Sometimes we let all of our ideas confuse us. With so many choices, we are often immobilized. We surrender our power to create when we let creative abundance stop us.
What I have seen for myself and my clients is that writing doesn’t happen in the mind beforehand. Writing happens in the process of putting words on the page. We begin with a seed and let the ink grow our idea into a fully formed piece.
This is why free-writing is such a powerful tool for all and any kinds of writing. Using your idea as a prompt, you can write freely all the thoughts that you both knew and didn’t know were inside you.
If you’re in the position these days of not knowing what to write, or which idea to choose from, try this. Set the timer for 10 minutes and free-write using this prompt: Now, I want to write….
Here’s to your writing flowing freely! There’s still time to join us today in The Devoted Writer classroom. It’s such a joy to write this way in community and we’d love to have you. Find out more here.
Greens and Cups
8″ x 8″ watercolor and ink on paper. It’s so fun to play with pattern and color. I love how this watercolor pattern in my 365 Cups series turned out.
More in the 365 Cups Series!
This one was really fun! I kept feeling that it needed some words along the bottom section but couldn’t find the right ones. Would you put words in and what would they be?
Friday reads – books that spark my creativity this week
This week’s reads. Just finished the novel Britt-Marie Was Here and starting Troubling Love.
Really enjoying When Strangers Meet – very important message for us now as we need to focus on our common humanity and not differences being used to divide us. Loving how Ways of Curating is making me think about art differently.
Beautiful Money is helping me keep my financial game healthy and happy. Urawaza is odd, funny and useful. The Island Japan book is a great way to see an illustrated adventure.
The Art of Vinyasa is my teachers’ book that I got last night at their signing. Can’t wait to dive in. What are you reading today?
Read This: Marina Abramovic’s Memoir: Walk Through Walls
I read Marina Abramovic’s book Walk Through Walls in three days. I couldn’t stop reading the story of this fascinating, powerful performance artist. Marina, from Yugoslavia, has traveled the world as an artist and explorer, collaborating with the likes of Tibetan Monks, the Dalai Lama and Willem Defoe.
Her performance at MoMA, The Artist is Present, gave her greater renown. She’s developed her own method of getting present for the sake of higher level of performance….or should I say more depth of humanity and truth. I’m inspired by her boldness, creativity and collaborative spirit.
Marina reminds me to dig deeper, be braver and stretch beyond societal boundaries. Thank you, Marina.
Going on a caffeine cleanse
First day without coffee! So far, so good. Maybe making coffee art will supplant my desire/need for drinking it! ☕️
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Thank You, Barak Obama
Thank you Barak Obama for being a true leader who cares about the world. I will miss you, your intelligence, and your grace.
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A deep way to commit to your writing practice
How to stick with a practice – a writing practice, an art practice, a meditation practice – this is the recurring challenge for all of us, isn’t it.
I got this question the other day and wrote out my answer here. I hope this helps you and would love to hear what this sparks in you. Feel free to leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Q: What is the best way to cultivate a true practice? I really want to do 2 hours a day 5 days a week. I do 15 minutes most days now but sometimes I don’t. I found this very easy in the past when I had so many free days, but now i’m running a business and life gets in the way. How do I build up and make this regular? does it have to do with regularity of time spent or a particular place to write or what?
This is a great question, and one many of us have. With many activities and priorities competing for our time, how do we prioritize our creativity?
Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a silver bullet or simple practice that allowed it to be easier? A set and forget it approach where we simply make a plan and stick to it, like a…robot.
Well, we’re not robots and I’ve learned that our practice must be as fluid as life itself. We crave routine but our lives don’t always bend to the structures we devise. Again and again, we fall short of our plans to commit to something regular. [Read more…] about A deep way to commit to your writing practice
Video: Peek into one of my 2016 Sketchbooks
A quick peek into my recently finished Sketchbook. Full video on YouTube.
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Artist's Tarot by Cynthia Morris
At the suggestion of a friend, I made a set of cards for the suit of cups in Tarot. Tarot is a card game that is often used for divination.
In the Tarot deck, the suit of cups pertains to the water realm, ruling the emotions. My cups suit depicts the emotional journey of creating. Cards one through ten lead us through the creative process and the Royal cards serve as guides. Making this set of cards was fun and I hope you enjoy.
Happy New Year!
My prediction: 2017 will bring out more powerful art than ever. At the suggestion of a friend, I made a set of cards for the suit of cups in Tarot.
Tarot is a card game that is often used for divination. The cups suit pertains to the water realm, ruling the emotions. My cups suit depicts the emotional journey of creating. Cards one through ten lead us through the creative process and the Royal cards serve as guides.
I’ve been using tarot for many years to guide me. Making this set of cards was fun and I hope you enjoy.Let’s start with one. One – The singular clarity of a new idea strikes like a bell. This feeling of creative inspiration gives us great joy and exuberance. 2017 is a 1 year, a time to initiate and act.
What will you make this year?
The singular clarity of a new idea strikes like a bell. This feeling of creative inspiration gives us great joy and exuberance.
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Celebrate your creativity this holiday season
The holidays are often stressful, with too many social obligations, too many presents to buy and too many conflicting things vying for our attention. We often come to the end of the year and feel disappointment for all the things that didn’t happen.
But what if we reframed it? What if this time of year were the chance to get really clear on what’s important to us? That’s the theme of holiday classic movies like It’s A Wonderful Life. What if we didn’t need a crisis or a holiday to live every day as our wonderful life?
For creative people, this can be a great time to assess our creative vitality. What did we put energy into? How did our actions fuel our creative work?
Take a look at your daily activities. Check out:
• what you ate
• what you read
• what you listened to
• who you hung out with
• what activities you did in your town.
Do these things align with what you care about and what you want to create? This isn’t meant to be an opportunity for your inner critic to bring you down; instead, an opportunity to recommit to doing what you can to craft an environment that serves your creative vitality.
When I did this through my annual review process, I saw a lot of things that contributed to my life as a creative adventure. And there were some things that detracted from my satisfaction with my life and work. It’s a chance to commit to new things next year that feed my soul and art.
Do you take good care of your creative self? If so, make this holiday season a chance to honor your creative exuberance. Whatever you did this year to write, make art, and make yourself the best version you can be, celebrate that.
I celebrate you and your creativity wholeheartedly. I’m raising a toast to you from Denver!