the water heater of creativity

last week, i had the opportunity to discuss the mysteries of creativity for an entire afternoon. and i got to pick the brain of a very creative person. who hates to be called that. because there's so much pressure in it, isn't there? and while you can generally be creative, you often don't really have that much control over it. much of what we discussed was about creativity and creative people's place in business and i'll be writing about that elsewhere. but something he said stuck in my head...he said he felt that creativity was like the hot water tap. when you turn on cold water, it's always there, but when you turn on hot, it's there, but eventually it runs out and has to be replenished.

from the great jacabunny photoshoot - by sabin

but the difficulty is in finding one's own inner water heater, isn't it? what is it that recharges you? i watch sabin, who seems to be able to be endlessly and spontaneously creative, all the time. she sees the creative potential in everything around her...from the box the veggies come in to some bits of fabric scraps, to simply taking 1335 (not kidding) photos of our growing kit lane jacabob collection. and she seemingly never needs to stop and recharge.

my inner water heater functions best when i have a change of scenery. i can get very bogged down if i remain in the same physical space for too long. even if that space is home, which is filled with people and cats and bunnies and things i love.  i don't need to go far, i just need to get out. and get new impulses, see new things, eat new food, breathe new air.  last week's winter holiday was just what i needed.

a new work in progress

i can always tell that the hot water of creativity will flow again when i wake up with pictures in my head of things i want to create, or when i can scarcely fall asleep because so many exciting ideas are going through my mind. these last two photos are a hint of the picture that was in my head when i awoke yesterday.

the space ships are coming!

i'm looking for a way to combine the things i love...photography and fabric. there are many, many pretty pictures out there now that everyone has a digital camera, so it's difficult to stand out from the crowd on etsy or big cartel. i think sometimes that the pictures are too pretty in their glossy perfection once you've had them printed, so i wanted to break the integrity of the photo down a little bit. i'm still working on it, but i'll back back later to show you what i mean...i've got to keep going while the water's still hot.