Hi everyone,
Blueberry has given me the encouragement and the idea to start up a thread called 'Creativity Thread for Inner Children' - and so it's here for us all to contribute on expressing creativity - and sharing anything that any of us want to share.
Personally I have felt that my creativity has been stifled and held back, and infact 'frozen' in time - since the age of 17 years of age - and I've tried to do the occasional thing as an adult, but have never got very far.
More recently, I bought some pinking scissors to cut out some pictures from magazines, with the idea of using them in collages, or as ideas for painting or drawing, and so far that's as far as I got - I have a collection of nice photos and pictures in a folder.
So - I am hoping that I'll be popping back into this thread as and when I've started something, or accomplished something - and I am going to encourage my inner children to know that this thread is for them to play and enjoy and hopefully 'create' whatever they feel like creating...
Please join me, and contribute as and when you want to - and we can encourage and inspire one another.
Little Hope is already excited about this :cheer:
Here's to Creativity.
Hope :)
Lovely idea Hope, I'll join in :)
Hi Estella, Really happy you'll be joining in, and 'Welcome'! :)
Hope :)
Love this idea too Hope, tks for starting this and I'd love to join in. Must go and dig out my glitter and glue ;D
I love this Hope :cheer: Can't wait to join in
Yay, Hope! Pink away with those pinking shears! Great idea for a thread! All best, LittleBoat
Hi Kizzie, Elphanigh & LittleBoat - great that you're here too!
Kizzie - mentioning Glitter & Glue reminded me of how much fun it was to make cards as a child, using glitter and glue - messy but fun!
I also thought of school and enjoying putting paint on leaves to do 'prints' from them.
LittleBoat - you mentioned 'pink away' - didn't think of using pinking shears as literally 'pinking' - made me smile.
Having this thread available is already filling me with some excitement - and I'm hoping to do 'something' creative over the weekend, so I'll hope to write about it here - as and when it happens. I hope very much that I will be sharing that with you all - sometime soon, and in the meantime, look forward to reading about anyone else's creative exploits, as and when they happen, if you want to share.
Even just 'thinking about it' is quite a pleasant thing for me today - so thank you Blueberry for suggesting this thread.
Hope :)
I love that this idea has got going :) Just reading the few examples mentioned already has reminded me of things I did as a child - potato prints. My dad cut some simple pattern into the end of a potato or two and so did other playschool parents and then we little children dipped them into paint and pressed on paper. Of course now nursery schools will probably all be equipped with real moulds to be dipped in paint, no potatoes necessary. I also liked weaving paper together. What went on in playschool was very basic. But it was something. :)
I've done much more with my ICs since! Like foot-painting with finger paints, using plasticine, and then moving onto polymer clay. Also just plain old colouring in and drawing/painting. Sometimes my ICs would come up with a title for the painting. Often it was just a very quick thing I'd do in 5-10 minutes to help me process a feeling. I also did stuff I took a lot of time for. Like making pictures with coloured tissue paper. I cut little squares, big enough to wrap around the end of my finger, dipped in glue and then stuck to coloured paper where I'd drawn an outline e.g. of a flower. So the actual picture ended up sticking out a few centimetres from the paper.
Hope, I'd include doing dot-to-dots in this too. I know you do them, and I do too on occasion.
I would say I was helped quite a lot by Julia Cameron's book "The Artistic Way", though I think it needs to be used a bit differently than proposed when you add cptsd to the mix. Maybe I'll post about that under Books if I get round to it.
Hi Blueberry
I was struggling to find this thread, but then I saw it! Sometimes I can't see for looking!
You reminded me of Potato Prints - yes, we did those too at school or pre-school and it was FUN! I seem to remember I liked playing in a the sand-pit too. I enjoyed reading your examples of things you enjoyed doing, Blueberry - and I have also read Julia Cameron's book "The Artistic Way" - she writes really well and I found that book to be very inspiring and gave me some hope at the time. Of course, my usual procrastination ended up scuppering me from starting to do any Art, but I think it would be good to re-read her book sometime, to try to get that hope back again. I'd love to see your writings about it, if you do decide to post about it in the Books section.
Yes, Dot-to-Dots - I have found them to be therapeutic and fun - I haven't done one for over a week now, possibly into 2 weeks - I must find my book of dot-to-dots and do another one. They seem to engage a different part of my brain, and it is a positive feeling when I'm doing that.
I looked through some magazines yesterday - and ended up cutting out recipes! I decided I'd like to try to do some cooking! I enjoy it, but tend to stick to the same tried and tested meals, and I'd like to be more 'creative with cooking' - so that's something that's surprised me yesterday - and I am excited about it already.
I'm feeling happier in myself today - much lighter. I hope this feeling stays with me for a while.
Hope :)
Quote from: Hope67 on May 26, 2018, 12:35:39 PM
I'm feeling happier in myself today - much lighter. I hope this feeling stays with me for a while.
:cheer: :cheer: :cheer:
Thanks Blueberry - I am happy to say that the feeling has stayed a bit longer - I've felt it from time to time today as well. This is good! :cheer:
I have allowed my inner children to 'play' a bit today - we have a new Dot to Dot book - and Little Hope enjoyed doing a few of those - she loved it. So relaxing. Good fun too.
Hope :)
Strangely, I found that when I had a shower this morning, that it was as if one of my inner children was there with me, and she was very giggly - and I literally laughed out loud whilst showering - it was as if she was joining me there, and was so thrilled at the way the water flowed and just the excitement of a simple thing like taking a shower. That's something that's not happened in some time. I feel sure it's due to allowing my inner children to play and be creative - I'm going to keep going on it.
Hope :)
What a wonderful idea! I've recently started rock painting and that's given me a creative outlet and helped me. My community alone has 3 Facebook groups to post your work or to post when you find one (after they're painted, they're hidden randomly for others to find).
Quote from: Hope67 on May 30, 2018, 02:15:15 PM
Strangely, I found that when I had a shower this morning, that it was as if one of my inner children was there with me, and she was very giggly - and I literally laughed out loud whilst showering - it was as if she was joining me there, and was so thrilled at the way the water flowed and just the excitement of a simple thing like taking a shower. That's something that's not happened in some time. I feel sure it's due to allowing my inner children to play and be creative - I'm going to keep going on it.
Hope :)
So happy for you, Hope. Enjoy the fairy dust. I'm so pleased that this thread is here. It is so affirming for the children within each of us. I have found that I've grown overly sensitive to color and light over the last couple of years, when, earlier in my life, I relished beautiful paintings, bright colors, light, itself. Ha! Maybe I should try finger painting. You know....Get right in there.
P.S.--Thank you for being so responsive to my posts, Hope. So supportive and caring. I do feel an affinity with you. It's a lovely thing. All best, Little Boat
Hi Three Roses - I am so happy to see you in the forum, as I've missed you! :hug: to you. It's great that you've been doing some Rock Painting - that sounds fun. Wow, that's a lot of Facebook groups for posting work to - just shows how much creativity is going on out there.
Hi LittleBoat - I love it that you said "Enjoy the Fairy Dust" - that sounds like fun. You're right, it's very affirming to the children within us. I've never tried finger-painting - like you say, getting right in there! Yes, feeling an affinity - that is exactly right - I agree with you. It is a lovely thing.
****
I did some Dot to Dots yesterday - it felt very relaxing to do them. I also think it's helping my coordination - as I am getting better at doing a smoother line between the dots - I rarely work out what the finished thing is going to be till it's almost completed - then it's a nice surprise to see what it is.
Hope :)
My SA-support lady suggested that she set up an appointment for me with the center's art-therapist in hopes that she can help find my laughter.
I am terrified and curious as to how this is going to work. I am (working on calling myself) an artist, so when it comes to approaching painting or drawing or colours there's always a reason behind it for me. Always an angle, and always a critisism, and always trying to learn something new. I don't think I can let go of my natural ways of critiquing (not in a negative way) the work. So, I'm curious - what will happen? If anything.
But also, I've gone back to basics. I'm just doing 1min sketches of poses from people. Trying to find the movement and the flow in each pose. Sometimes it's hard! Especially when the upper body is twisting around.
Hi
I was never allowed to get dirty hands as a child, I still freak out at 46 if my hands are dirty. Recently I took part in an art therapy class where I was encouraged to finger paint. At first it was horrendous and I had to keep cleaning my fingers off between each paint frantically. Then it suddenly became fun and it was amazing having my hands in paint. I did a big butterfly in all different colours out of finger paint dots. X
Yay for your butterfly :) and for moving from horrendous to enjoy in one session :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:
Also a warm welcome to the forum :heythere:
Younger you came out to play from the sounds of it :applause: Glad you were able to let go and have fun!
I love this idea! :) As a child I absolutely adored sticker by number books. I've been looking for something a bit more mindful to do rather than browsing aimlessly on my phone, so I've bought this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Paint-Sticker-Re-Create-Classic-Photographs/dp/1523500131/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1547471275&sr=8-1&keywords=paint+by+sticker+music+icons (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Paint-Sticker-Re-Create-Classic-Photographs/dp/1523500131/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1547471275&sr=8-1&keywords=paint+by+sticker+music+icons) Hehe, it was Ziggy that sold it for me. ;D
Fabulous to.hear everyone's creative ic fun...
Currently i am painting a little canvas of professor yaffle..he is a wooden wood pecker from one of my favorite animations when i was a child called 'bagpuss ' also in the picture is 2 mice and a frog
I haven't been back in this thread for a while, but it is great to be back here, and I am reminded that there are other ways to be creative - and my inner children would like that, so I'm going to think about what I could do on the weekend to enjoy some creative time. I'm going to think about it.
I was feeling tired, but reading this thread, I feel a bit of energy from somewhere.
Hope :)
I checked back here because I have a number of creative projects lying around that I haven't been doing and I had a third idea yesterday or the day before that I set in motion and then stopped. It is to make myself an Advent calendar, though not from scratch. I have a strip of cloth with 24 rings on it. You can tie a little gift to each ring, or - what I have done before in the past - is write a little message for myself for the day and hang on each.
What I did in the past was give myself a little gift voucher, which was sometimes to buy myself something small and special I'd been wanting for a long time but mostly it was little time vouchers - take time to sit and really relax with cup of tea instead of haring around e.g., or take time to do a little colouring in.
What I'm thinking this time is twofold: time vouchers again, probably with slightly different things on them and also bit-by-bit preparation for Christmas which in my case will be things like: clean this little corner; sort out 2 books and take to Neighbourhood Bookshelf; dust anywhere for 5 minutes. They are actually just suggestions so if they don't work on that day, it's OK. Before I've left them on my Advent calendar to do another day, maybe. Maybe I'll even write one saying "do 5 mins on one of those art projects lying around" because that would help tidy things a bit internally and externally ;D
I'm so creative and I just don't...
I've tried to push myself, set little projects, made it short.
When I start I love it...
I'm trying to just accept the block... Beating myself about not isn't good..
Just like beating myself about my room not being in order... I realised today its OK no one says it has to be.. Maybe this is how I want to live
Hi Blueberry - I'm only just reading this in 2022, and you wrote what you wrote in 2019, but I just wanted to say that I liked your ideas for creative projects. Reading about those things feels calming to me, at this moment, and makes me think once more of maybe doing something creative.
Hi Boatsetsailrose - I'm only just reading this in 2022, and you wrote what you wrote in 2019, but I related to what you wrote about the block, and just accepting it - because maybe accepting it might make it dissolve in time, and then you could enjoy your wish to be creative. I don't know whether you were able to do something creative in the intervening time since 2019 to now, but whatever you're doing, I hope it's been ok and hopefully enjoyable.
Hope :)
I just bought 120 amazing coloured pencils artist quality..
Star joy - gold
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Oh! What a lovely thread. I have just taken up colouring. It was a big step for me because my mother likes all things art and drawing and then colouring in her pictures and I don't want to be like her. Also, she makes other people look at her stuff and expects praise for it. My therapist was really pleased when she heard I had taken up colouring. Even more pleased when I said I had taken the plunge and joined a Facebook group where you can post pictures of your creations. I did not do it in order to get praise, though I expected a few polite remarks. I did it to see what it feels like. And, while I was pleased some people hit the "like" button, I realised I am not like my mother. I am doing the colouring for me and actually feel quite neutral when other people comment.
Now I can't get enough of all things colouring book, and pens, and pencils and paint. Boatsetsailrose - I've just bought myself a set of 120 pencils, too! :yes:
Little B wants me to share this for her. She drew it at a friend's house in February of 2020.
:applause: :thumbup: Well done Little B!
Ah i see kizzie under preview..
Thanks!
Hope u doing ok
:cheer:Thats great Narc!
Such fun...
I'm amazed at how many shades of colour are in a 120 set..
My inner girl is leaping with joy :cheer:
Little B - I love that picture. Well done.
Boatsetsailrose - having such a choice of colours is fantastic. And there are so many wonderful art supplies that weren't around when I was a kid. Glittery gel pens! OMG - the sparkles. I have splurged on more stationery than I care to admit.
Love it!! 💗
I haven't done anything recently. I did draw turkey hands for Thanksgiving.