5. Move

This tip will be no surprise to anyone who is a regular reader. As much as I denied it for much of my life ('cause I am also somewhat klutzy  -- OK quite uncoordinated, see bruises --and not gifted at movement patterns -- ie can't learn a dance step to save my life), I am a highly kinesthetic being -- and movement is an sensory experience that deeply feeds my creativity. But, as a person who hates routine, having an exercise routine has been difficult, until I discovered NIA about 5 years ago. Although I rarely make a class now (when I do it's at the incredibly fabulous Synergy Studio in San Antonio) because of our out-in-the-country life, Linda and I try to dance for at least 25 minutes each morning. From NIA's website:

"Nia is a body-mind-spirit fitness and lifestyle practice. Through expressive movement—The Body’s Way—Nia empowers people to achieve physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being.

Life lived in a body the Nia way is life lived in relationship to the sacred geometry of life.

"Our philosophy “Through Movement We Find Health,” means we believe in the power of self-discovery through movement. In practicing Nia you fall in love with being and moving in your body – you experience the power of Self-Healing."

Another movement exercise I like is the one in Tywla's Tharp's The Creative Habit called "the egg." Briefly, one compresses into an egg shape on the floor (or even in a chair if your mobility is limited), and expands into a different shape of body with a title, like "exploded egg," or "sleepy egg," or "upside-down egg." Try it, its fun. And the book is a great one on all matters of creative routine building. 

Frankly, whether you like to walk the neighborhood, climb rock walls, dance the tango, shimmy up trees, put yourself though a rigorous session at the gym or jumprope, movement is one key to creative thought and accomplishment. Our brains (as well as our bodies) need to move, and no matter *how limited your movement abilities or proclivities, start today, and in a year, you will have more movement under your feet, and, I think, more ideas in your work. I know I work better if I take time to dance or walk up the hillside outside my front door.

*I recently read of a study about a group of people who were told to imagine themselves lifting weights with their arms while in a relaxed self-hypnotic state. At the end of the 6 month study, these subjects tested with stronger bicep strength than before the study. All they did was IMAGINE themselves getting stronger by lifting the weights.  From the site Peak Performance On Line:

"Despite differences in the pattern of activation, imagery has the effect of priming muscles for subsequent physical action, and this clearly has potential benefits for the performance of many sports skills. It is also evident that the neural impulses passed from the brain to the muscular system during imagery may be retained in memory almost as if the movement had actually occurred(2). The implication of this is that physical skills may be improved even during periods of injury when physical practice is not possible. Moreover, there is growing evidence to suggest that a combination of imagery and relaxation can accelerate the rehabilitation process following injury or surgery(5). "

2. Advances in Sport Psychology (2nd ed), Champaign IL: Human Kinetics, 2002:405-43
5. Rehabilitation Psych 46:28-43

JUST IN: A recent post on Shape and Colour provides more wonderful inspiration vis a vis movement. 

4. Travel.

OK, every year can't bring a capitol letter Vacation (like last year's 3 week trip to northern Italy). Every month can't include even a weekend outing to someplace a bit closer to home (though I apparently think so with April's trip to Rockport, June's to Corpus Christi and this month's trip to see my sister in Salida, CO). BUT, even with gas prices what they are (and I don't want to hear another word about that as long as y'all are out there drinking bottled water), travel is truly broadening and amazingly good for the creative juicer whether it's in real time and space or a virtual trip across the universe via web sites and other-people's-trips.

Think about these possibilities:

 First of all, whichever trip you take, take a sketchbook and journal, ideally a digital camera, along with you. Collect ephemera and souvenirs, take photos, better still sketch and watercolor, interview the experts and the locals. Be adventurous. Don't stick to the tourist destinations, but find out how people live, what they create with their hands, what is eaten, what it' s like to live under that sun. Write in a cafe or under a tree. People watch. Try the contour drawing trick (Pt. 2 of this series.)

Then: 

Prowl the downtown and tourist destinations in your own community. I am never more flabbergasted than when I ask San Antonio residents how recently they have visited the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park and hear that its been a.) years, or b.) never. Hey, some people pay big money and take lots of time to come visit some place you drive by every week. One little day trip or weekend outing can cost little in time and give you an enormous boost to creative visioning when you travel with that intent in mind. You can even take public transportation to a lot of these sites.

Choose a country, city, natural wonder or other vacation destination to study for a month or a season or even a year. Pick some place that fascinates you for its visual, historical or symbolic power. Check out books from the library, even audio tapes and movies. Go to museum exhibits and concerts that originate in your vacation place. Learn a little of the language. Start an imaginary itinerary. Keep a travel journal "as if." Draw from photographs, literally and figuratively for your muse.

Spend just a weekend at a retreat center, state park, or natural area, or an out-of-town workshop venue (like my El Cielo Studio retreats), or some place else that takes you away from your ordinary day and your ordinary city/suburban life. The place might be a spa, it might be a swimming hole or a river raft trip. If you can't afford to go further, spend an entire day at a city park. Take food, drink, books, a quilt to lie upon. Listen, look, experience the weather from dawn to dusk. Live in the natural world, so that means no cell phone chatter, no IM, no radio or ipods. I think of this as a trip away from technology. You can even do it in your own backyard or on the balcony.

Start planning and saving today for that dream trip next year, or the year after. Be realistic, but not too realistic. My experience has been that once I commit to a plane ticket, I will find both the time and the money for everything else, even with the EURO rates lately. It is all too easy to think you'll never have the money or time to see a part of the world that calls to you. First step (if your destination is out of country, get that passport this month). It always helps me to do this one with companions, then its harder to back out.

 Eavesdrop on someone else's travel. There are tons of web sites where intrepid travelers tell you all about their wanderings, and then there is Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations on the Travel channel. Another great trip I've taken lately has been with Bill Buford in Heat, a great audio book or read about his education as a cook with Mario Bateli and in Italy. You may notice a trend here, see the next suggestion.

Cook your way around the world. Try a different recipe from a different country each week. Seek out an ethnic grocer if you can in order to buy the ingredients, or order them from an ethnic grocery supplier online. Cooking and art go together in my mind. I think of ingredients the same way I think of colors. I like to look at new ones, and new combinations of them. I eat visually as well as with my mouth. Food is an amazing way to explore another culture, country or part of the U.S.

Then, what to do with all this input. Create with its energy. With the new eyes you had to have. With its content -- sketches, paintings, fabric altars and quilts, photo albums, amazing travel journals. Artist's postcards and ATCs, you'll figure it out!

In the mailbox today: a copy of July/August issue of Art Calendar; the business magazine for visual artists. Alyson B. Stanfield included some pictures of one of my workshops that Linda took in an article about promoting one's workshops.

10 Planning and Promoting Workshops
By Alyson B. Stanfield
Find the students, and fill your classes.

And the editor's used two photos: one with a nice picture too of Diane Sanfield, and another with two pretty indistinguishable images of Robin Early and Stephanie Stokes (they are both in dust masks, the worlds' most unflattering workshop gear). OK, here's the pictures -- you asked!

Alyson has also just finished a redo of her website that makes an easy link to her blog -- a great improvement I think, I love her site, but often found myself a bit lost in all the links and the navigation seems a bit easier now.

The Art Calendar's website seems to include some interesting features, too. It's worth a look! 

Detail art cloth, Shaman/Cruxificion 

3. Do something different.

Sounds like a no-brainer. But once in the studio it can be remarkably difficult to figure out exactly HOW to do something surprising, off-the-wall, out of the box. Our habits and patterns of work and technique are familar friends and stepping outside our comfortable tools and processes can make us feel uneasy.. or trivial... or unskilled ... or.... So these jumpstarts are designed for those times when what you are doing feels stale, repetitive or, dare we say, boring?

Try one of these to trick yourself into trying something new and different (Remember, no one said you have to  keep doing it, spend a fortune on new materials, show it to anyone, save it or even like it. This is about pushing your personal envelopes in  order to have something different show up in the mail box.)

1. Take $5 to the dollar store and buy somethingdifferent to make art with -- could be kid's crayons, a book to alter,  a dishtowel to include in a piece of art, a foam brush to shape or distress, a plastic basket to use as a stencil. Take new eyes with you.

2. Consciously take one of your visual ideas through one or more of these "unifying" concepts: scale (do the same thing larger or smaller), weight (add or subtract), progression and/or direction (could you do it upside down?), repetition and intensity.

3. Take a not so successful piece of work and add it to another piece, or cut it up and use it the pieces, or find just the part you like and edit to that, then expand into something new.

4. Consciously copy the style of an artist's whose work you either like or don't like - but change the medium.

5.  Look at your current work and write 100 questions about it. No answers, just the questions. See where this takes you.

6. Make a photo collection with your digital camera  in your neighborhood , or, even better, in a new (to you) environment -- drive to a different part of town, go to an industial park, seek out a water way or country lane. Take digital photos from the perspective of one of the sensory alphabet: light, color, sound, movement, rhythm, space, texture, line, shape, Edit to make a slideshow and use the photos to inspire something new. 

Sometimes it just takes a little down time! Lauri Panova Smith took this great picture of our dog Rodeo during one of her photo walks:

Next up:

2. Draw contours, blind. 

If you've ever taken a life drawing or other drawing class, the teacher probably had you work this way -- it's a classic drawing exercise, popularized by Kimon Nicolaïdes in his book The Natural Way to Draw (1941) and there are many examples and instructions on other web sites. If you haven't had formal drawing training, well, all's the better and no time like the present. Explore your own sense of line by spending at least 15 minutes (even better, 30) drawing the contours you find in a tree, a photograph of a person, your face in the mirror,  your non-dominant hand, a shell or piece of driftwood, any slightly complex natural object is more interesting I think than a manufactured something. Do so without looking at the paper, only at the object.

Use a large sketch pad or newsprint pad (you DO have one of these, right?). Choose a drawing medium that you like the feel of: charcoal stick, graphite, soft pencil, marker brush or pen. Something that doesn't have to be replenished or dipped in paint is best for this exercise.

Put your drawing tool on the paper and your eye on the subject of your drawing. SLOWLY trace the edges and internal contours with your pen (etc.). As your eye traces the subtle and intriguing "edges" keep your drawing tool moving ever so slowly on the paper. Do not look at your paper. If you come to the end of a "line, (or the page)" briefly look down and replace your pen on the paper to trace another line. NO JUDGEMENTS about whether this drawing "looks like" the subject. If you slowly embrace the lines, you will discover something new about the object, your hand, your impatience, and about line itself.

What I like about this exercise is the meditative place that it engenders. This is a good jumpstart for those days when everything is frantic, when you are off the edge of your chair and multitasking like mad. Seems a bit counterintuitive to slow down, right? But after even 15 minutes of blind contour drawing you will return to the task (forget taskS) at hand with a steady hand and eye, focus and discipline.

The photos here are from my Jumpstart workshop last weekend. The drawings were actually faster versions of this exercise, and I hope everyone who was present will try the slowed down classic sometime soon. Look on this link to see some  examples of blind contour drawing by article author Helen South. 

P.S.  The Natural Way to Draw and Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain are two of the best drawing courses you can give yourself. Both take discipline and steady work, but together you will find that you do learn to draw -- though you may not have an innate talent for drawing. Essentially drawing is a SKILL that helps one to connect one's eye to the page, not some magical gift that you were born with or not. As kids, we quickly assigned the label "artist" to the kids in the class who were "good drawers," (and most art teachers did the same). Unfortunately this meant that many of us with different innate visual and creative skills -- for color or shape or texture -- ended up deciding we weren't artists or at least not very good ones. After several drawing classes, I'm still not very good at it. And drawing realistically --contours and values and perspective and all that stuff -- just doesn't interest me very much and isn't a large part of my process. BUT, I also don't let it scare me anymore, and I enjoy the occassional side trip into its world of line.

Cindy painting to music. 

How easy it is to slide into routines, keeping our work (art or other) on familiar paths,  running on autopilot along rigid tracks or inside sight-limiting ruts. It takes a spark of creative energy to jump off the same-old same-old, and that's what this weekend retreat was designed to do.

Fly's painting. 

For the next five posts, I will share one "jumpstart" exercise from the many we tried on for size. Some are more-or-less original, others are certainly not mine, and I'll credit their source. Others are compilations of a bit of this and that, but all five of these were mentioned this weekend by participants as having helped provide a little spark of energy, a bit of creative juice for the soul. I think of these as ways to start my time in the studio, interesting "starters" for getting back into a piece of work or for shaking up my ideas when things seems stale, unexciting or too frightening to face.

Five Ways to Jumpstart Your Creativity , Part 1 

Jean's painting. 

1. Paint to Music

I think this was the universal favorite exercise for the weekend. And surely nothing could be simpler.

Squeeze out some good colors, and a range, of paints on foam meat trays or another unintimidating palette. Assemble an assortment of brushes in different sizes. Use some largish paper and either work on a table top or pushpin the paper to a wall or easel.

(Donna's painting, right)

If you have an ipod or MP3 player, you might want to purposefully assemble a set of 4-to-5 minute songs ahead of time, but you can also just put a selection of CDs on the player and push "random." I like using instrumental music best, the words won't be too directive, and you'll find yourself forced into responding directly to the sound, notes, tempos and rhythms of the music. Initially, you may want to paint on a different sheet of paper for each piece of music, but you may want to try a larger painting to several cuts on the same sheet, too.

Diane's painting (below) 

Probably the best music to start with is something percussive and earthy, maybe some African drum music or Celtic dance music. But don't let your music stay too rooted to one genre. The joy of this is taking out those back-of-the-shelf CDS (even albums if you still own a turntable!) and putting on something unfamiliar. Some of  the music we tried this weekend: Yo-Yo Ma "The Cello Suites, Inspired by Bach;" "Mama" produced by the Drum Cafe; Grupo Romm, "Gracula's Internazionale" (A CD we bought on the streets of Florence),  "Concerto RV 532 for Two Guitars & String Orchestra" by Vivaldi, from a compilation album published by Williams Sonoma; "Caliente" by Willie and Lobo: and some Neopolitan songs from bass clarinet jazz musician Bill Colangelo's slef produced album "Grandpa's Songs."

Don't be too literal. Get out of your way. Just let your muscles respond to the music. See what happens. One participant found that for the first time she could work abstractly with paint once she released any idea of depicting a symbol or image. Another woman, a fiber artist, was reminded how fun it was to work in an unfamiliar medium. See what you come up with, and let me know your favorite musical selections for painting.

  Lauri's painting. (and it's upsidedown, sorry)

Cindy's painting, after 3 songs. 

Edutopia, the George Lucas Educational Foundation website, has creativity advocate Ken Robinson's  Apple Education Leadership Summit speech on its website. For a cogent argument for creative education -- and one that makes links between the education crisis and the environmental crisis -- see this 16 minute video on the link.

Which of your educational experiences do you really remember? Was it a worksheet? Didn't think so. I'd love to have a collection of some of your most meaningful educational experiences, so leave a comment if something comes to mind.

I was lucky enough to be part of an amazing children's theater program that reinforced the value of creative thinking that my parents nurtured in me and my siblings.  We were children of books read out loud, of museum visits, of trips across the country with maps and postcards and camping in state parks, of birdwatching and planting gardens, of paints and playhouses. Our dramatic adventures and inventions were watched and applauded. My parents spent hours waiting for me outside of the Baylor Theatre when rehearsals ran late. I took creative work and its value in the family for granted, only finding out that many, most perhaps, kids didn't have this luxury. And while my family was comfortable economically -- we weren't wealthy -- choices were made that didn't have much to do with trendy clothing, fancy meals out, or hotel rooms during those cross-country trips. But our values were supportive of education, of problem solving, of appreciation for the arts.

Baylor Children's Theatre, our own Waco Teen Theatre and later, college courses in the theatre and art departments at Trinity University nurtured my creativity, teaching me to use and reuse, invent and improvise with a sensory alphabet of elements of form: line, shape, color, texture, rhythm, space, light, sound, movement. When I go to the studio, I carry this alphabet with me. When I teach, these are the building blocks for creative exercises and invention.  So where Ken Robinson may define the problem, I like to think I am working on a solution. Later this summer, I hope to finally announce the publication of New World Kids, a book that my colleague Susan Marcus and I have been birthing for several years. We're close. Stay tuned. (The photo above is one of those in the book.)

One of my other odd-bin archetypes is surely the geeky techie one. So, if this archetype is anathema to you, just skip this post and come back when the fiber artist is in charge. Geeky Tech (or is it Techy Geek?) has been playing with a new browser -- Flock. (This is the new browser reccommended by Ed Dale, whose 30-day challenge --to make one's first $1 on the internet--is on my agenda for August.) Like Firefox, it puts a lot of tools and interactive media instantly in place on a customizable browser home page and has some nifty sidebars and toolbars that make all kinds of tasks instant and easy. I think most people are using it who want all their social networking sites easily accessible. Here's an industry take on the Flock browser from Technology Today.

So far, I like Flock a lot. If you have accounts with several web 2.0 sites and social networking sites like Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, etc, Flock puts them all in easy to access reach on the desktop, and combines all your "friend" lists on a live action sidebar so you can easily keep up with the conversation -- and probably figure out more easily who you don't want to listen to!

Now if all of this sounds like gobbledygook to you, but you are still reading because some little inner archetype is actually a cousin to Techy Geek, I reccomend the videos at Common Craft. I'll embed their "social networking" explanation here, but if you go to the home page, you'll find similar simple videos that explain blogging, rss,  and other web phenomena.

I taught my first class at the Majestic Ranch Arts Foundation yesterday, with two interesting and adventurous artists in attendence, allowing for LOTS of individual attention this 6-week adventure -- both women with wonderful ideas and experiences to share in their work and with the group. Others are welcome to join in process (I suspect MRAF will prorate the tuition) and there is room for 3 more participants easily, so if you are looking for a beautiful place to spend a few hours a week on your creative energies, give them a shout. I promise to take pictures next week when I'm not so rattled about teaching a new class.

Just as much fun, and free of charge, the Majestic is hosting a couple of concerts this summer. I can't wait -- good singer/songwriters right in my own backyard (practically). Here's the advance info, so you can add them to your calendar.

Summer Concert Series

Ken Gaines in concert
Sunday June 22nd                             5:30-7:30pm

Making a triumphant return to Boerne, singer/songwriter Ken Gaines kicks off the Majestic Ranch Summer Concert Series with a live concert on the Pavilion.  Check out his new CD Catfish Moon.

 
Chris Pfeiffer in concert with Kit Holmes
Sunday July 13th                               5:30-7:30pm
Enjoy the acoustic folk rock of Chris Pfeiffer, together with vocalist and award-winning composer, Kit Holmes, at the Pavilion, Majestic Ranch.

Donations will be gratefully appreciated - all donations benefit the artists.
Bring chairs and refreshments!
For more details call 830-537-4654 or email: majesticranch@mraf.org

One of Sue Monk Kidd's short essays -- I assume written first for Guideposts -- has really stuck with me this week -- It's actually a story from another great spiritual storyteller, so now I'm making it third-hand here with some helpful links if you want more background. She quotes a story from a Rabbi (sorry, I can't find his name right now) who told about a dream that he had about standing in front of the Judgement Throne and, contrary to his fears of being asked why he had not lived as Moses or one of the Prophets, he was asked, "Why weren't you Rabbi ...?" And so, Kidd knows her question is that same one: "Why were you not Sue Monk Kidd?" not "Why weren't you Mother Teresa or Thomas Merton?" For those of us on the artist's path, the question for me is a parallel, "Why weren't you Susie McAtee Monday?" not "Why weren't you Pablo Picasso or Dale Chihuly or Jane Dunnewold or Gwen Hedley or Corita Kent or Rufino Tamayo or Joan Schulze, well, the hundreds of other artists whose work awes and inspired me. (and that's just the artists -- I've got an entire lexicon of writers, thinkers, activists, all -- I no doubt  imagine wrongly -- standing in line with their hands up: "You could be great if you were just like me!")

Finding our way to our true selves takes paying attention to our deepest longings. It means making choices about where we spend our time and energy and money and love. We owe it to our deepest selves to listen carefully to our guts, our impulses and our inner witness, the one who stands outside of the critic, the dictator, the people-pleaser, even the wild child who would like nothing more than to throw a temper tantrum and watch junk on TV all day, just to show you who's in charge.

The next El Cielo workshop on June 13,14,15  -- Creative Jumpstart -- is  planned to help me, as well as the other participants to walk further with this question of being true to one's self. The exercises will include "formal"  investigations-- ie, the natural sensory vocabulary that each person mixes and matches into a personal brew of style, genre, materials, methods and process. (This is the part of the weekend that will deal with one's own voice in line, shape, color, movement, sound, rhythm, space, texture, and light.) But we will also use journaling and reflective meditation to design strategies that get us into our work, building new habits of "being one's self," and in seeing and taking the next baby steps towards our creative dreams.

Fiber and mixed media artist Pat Schulz and educator/artist Julia Jarrell think and work during a previous El Cielo Workshop 

If you'd like to join the group, there's still room for one or two more. And of course, the retreat/workshop offers the beauty of the Hill Country and time to talk, laugh, share live's pleasures, swim and soak, sleep, take a hike -- even a Saturday night outing to Lake Medina for a picnic and kayaking, weather permitting. See the workshop page for details, price and time -- and send me a shout if you're interested.