Portals to the creative zone

It seems like (maybe since covid) that the world has just started to realise that making things is good for you! There are books that tell us so!

"The science of why art can transform our health" "The creative brain" The creative Cure" and there are podcasts "Creativity is the Cure" and as we all hurtle towards the future it feels like making (and growing) things is the only answer.

As a kid, I was academically rubbish and making things was all I could do. Luckily I was allowed to follow the arty path, and although it hasn't lead to riches, whenever I have felt lost, my creative brain has come up with some hair~brained scheme to solve everything! and these words, along with the idea that everyone can find their own Creative Portal, is one of them.

Printed versions, created along with graphic designer & illustrator, Jack Taylor are also available.

Creativity and joining in with the arts or creative pursuits, can provide solutions for well-being. Helping with self-expression, telling stories, problem-solving, and tackling stress.

But how do you get to that zone, where making things happen?

We are all creative! We’re all travelling through our lives and creating them as we go. None of us enter this world with a perfect blue print of the life we end up leading. We’re born into our bodies, community, culture and

environment. We grow, change, learn, challenge, make mistakes, change and adapt, alongside the people and places we have around us, seek out, or that come our way. It’s a creative process!

Being creative is as old as the hills, humans have been capturing ideas and telling stories since those cave paintings 40,000 years ago, it’s an integral part of being human.

Our own creative culture, bubbles away inside us, engaging the senses, Sound, Vision, Taste, Smell, & Touch, and informing how we respond to the world around us. Your creative culture begins when you’re a kid, full of

curiosity, exploration and endless questions!

Don’t be put off if school steered you away from creativity, the culture still bubbles away inside and it’s always worth having a go at something creative because a lot of excellent things happen to the mind and body when we’re engaging with the arts. Scientific research indicates that creativity can reduce stress, boost brainpower, and fosters emotional well-being by stimulating neural pathways, lowering cortisol, and triggering the release of dopamine and serotonin.

Enjoying a creative pursuit can feel energising!

Listening to a brilliant song or staring at a nice bit of art can spark your own imagination and inspire you to make something yourself. Maybe it’s just a jam sandwich but it could be a painting or a teleport system!.

You have now entered the creative zone!

An idea can buzz around you until you find someone to share it with or find a space to write or draw out your thoughts.

Your creative zone is the place you go to think and explore the idea. This could be a physical place or a state of mind, a place of cosyness and solitude, or a bustling, people place.

Can you carve out space for yourself, separate from the constraints of life? What's a good frame of mind for being creative? Do you need to be in a good mood? Or does a stormy mood make you want to paint or write a song?

What holds you back, what conflicts or barriers do you have? Time, space, motivation? Does the thought of following your creative idea fill you with Imposter syndrome??

It’s good to be aware of these thoughts if you have them, but if you can, after you’ve noticed them, let those thoughts float away, and just

MAKE THAT THING! without judgment. Mainly, have fun and enjoy the experience.

Get your brain and your hands working together. Hands can translate for the brain, drawing or writing down ideas. Other times, the act of writing or doodling helps with stress, either by freeing difficult thoughts or by mulling over things to work them out.

TRANSLATOR PEN

With a pen and a blank sheet of paper , start by writing ‘I am writing down words’ … then just carry on writing down everything that’s happening, with your arm, hands, brain, eyes, face, body while your pen is writing words. Where are those words coming from? Write that down. Then after a minute you might notice what else is going on. . . Are you speaking the words in your head as you write them down? Is your mind wandering? Is this how you speak in conversations? Or is this a different voice? Try closing your eyes and writing.

DRAW A SQUIGGLE GUY.

Creating a character from nowhere. Draw a squiggle or a scribble or a doodle.

Stop, look at it for a minute, put some eyes on it. Add more features, a mouth, ears, horns, a beak? Give it some limbs. Who are they? Give them a name which suits their look/shape.

Remember that our marks made on a paper are unique to us, honed by our bodies, brains and environment over the years. They are exclusive to this moment.

WE ASKED THE ARTISTS AT GOOD THINGS STUDIO, 4 QUESTIONS ABOUT THEIR OWN CREATIVE PORTALS...AND WE LOVED FINDING OUT HOW DIFFERENT EVERYONE IS !

We asked... "What's your favourite frame of mind for being creative?"

"Calm - no immediate things to worry about / Free - no expectation on the outcome."

"Unguarded / Easybreezy / Open /Relaxed. Not fully polished. A bit messy. Open to the process, space to get it wrong, make mistakes, discover. Physically grounded - the body often unlocks what the brain can’t force."

"Walking, foraging, collecting, cooking, planting, moving materials around."

"Grounded."

"Upbeat! (Sometimes sad works too)"

"Open and alive to the world."

"Bored, usually."

"Enthusiastic."

"Excited / Curious."

"Relaxed and focused!"

"Late night, sleep deprived quietness."

"When I have lots and lots of different and fun ideas in my head that I want to translate onto paper."

"Playful."

"Things, ideas, space and time."

We asked... "What inspires you to be creative?"

"Being resourceful - using what is available to meet a need or make something better. Often, necessity or need triggers action. Then a process or trial and error with a clear sense of what’s required."

"Sometimes it’s purely a case of there’s too much stuff here , better use some of it or it will need to go to the tip."

"The world around me. Moments of interaction with people, places and environments in everyday life. These spark ideas whereby creativity becomes a response / intervention / experiment and the urge to create and make something overrides."

"String and oak. Then I get a little trolley, a bucket with wheels and a handle called wheely bucket, to help pull along the art. Wheely Bucket wheels his stuff with clown fish popping in one by one! Nora (age 5)"

"Translating the world through my lens."

"Life."

"Music. Life experiences."

"Natural systems and processes; more-than-human and human collaborators; conversation/correspondence, movement and time, interconnectedness - making connections between things, books, outside, great art, artists, following materials, following thoughts, spontaneity."

"Looking at other peoples work on pinterest or in real life."

"Friends and other creatives."

"Looking through picture books, seeing others making, visiting somewhere new, a walk in nature."

"People and community!"

"I'm usually struck by sporadic and random thoughts that urge me to be creative, and circle noisily in my head till I get them done."

"Everything around me, especially people watching."

We asked... "Do you have a go-to formula that helps you be creative?"

"Things, ideas, space and time."

"Not a rigid formula as such. I work across multiple disciplines and artforms but there's a loose pattern. My work / projects usually start with a tension where something doesn’t sit right with me — socially, structurally, politically — creativity becomes a response. Moves into gathering phase - sit with it for a bit let it deepen. Research, look at other artists, podcasts, books, photography, sketching, thinking, start collecting /gathering materials. Shifts into material or relational space. Make the idea physical. Create a metaphorical container. Rather than just making an artwork, it is often rooted in some sort of structure or model: a workshop, new initiative, happening, a proposal. A cultural vessel - conditions for the work to happen and interact with other people. Reflect and reframe. More research and interrogation. New ideas emerge. The pattern continues."

"I am currently painting a lot, and so I have to kind of trick myself into getting started. I make a coffee, I put on some music or a video of an artist, I look at some work, I maybe make a drawing, and then I’ll pick up a brush and splash some paint somewhere, and then I’m started."

"Play or doing something completely opposite to the way I usually paint."

"Music on and learning a new mindset."

"No"

"Yes. Don't think, don't hesitate. Just make random mark's, at speed and with wild abandon! Keep going without pause or the critical mind will cut in and call a halt to it all. Turn the work in different directions for new perspectives."'

"Meet up with someone else to share ideas and explore."

"I start by sketching ideas out in a sketchbook or on my iPad then rearranging them, if I’m totally at a stand still I pop out for a walk."

"A nice cup of black coffee, some chilled ambient tunes (like Bonobo or Hiroshi Yoshimura) and maybe some incense."

"Not really, it's very out of the blue for me."

"Not having any pressure on me to create the ‘perfect’ piece of art, instead focusing on the enjoyment."

"No, it can creep up on me, and sometimes can hide for weeks!"

We asked..."How do you get to the creative zone?"

"Put other things to one side - start, and if it’s not going well, walk away. Don’t push against the grain. Come back when it does flow."

"Go outside! Walk, roam, explore, discover.... The sea, forest, woods, sand, garden, lakes, mountains, visit a new city or town.."

"It’s just being in that flow where you aren’t thinking, you are using your intuition, and you are letting your art guide you, not you guide it."

"Play."

"I don't know! It just happens! Its a very organic process."

"Being alive in the world and being alive to the world

Switch off the brain. Act with the idea of making bad art that nobody else needs to see. It's only the process that counts. After a session of creativity I feel replete. Art is nourishment for the soul."

"Usually with others , have fun and play."

"To enjoy the process I need to be well rested and fed !"

"By researching projects and art that I find interesting and inspiring and making notes and of ways to put my ideas into practise. I like being methodical and planning each step I need to take to complete a project. Making tasks digestible and having structure helps me feel less overwhelmed and I am less likely to have creative paralysis!"

"The Creativity usually comes a creepin' to envelope me into an ocean of ideas. The only way to break the surface is to clutch the gleaming aura of a lighthouse beacon of making!"

"By just taking the simple action of picking up a pencil and seeing what happens. I feel like the act of creating takes me further and further into the creative zone."

"If I'm feeling stuck, I might look at my favourite Instagram pages and/or listen to music."

"I sometimes go places purely for a break away from reality and end up being dragged into creative thinking, and sometimes I start writing, taking."