I was delighted to be invited to write a guest post for Britt Bravo, who has always been so supportive of my creative projects. This post was originally published on her Big Vision Consulting Blog, on October 6, 2016.
Today I want to share two strategies I use when initiating a new creative project.
1. Create a project bulletin board
I always begin a new creative project by clearing the bulletin board over the primary worktable in my studio. Over time, I fill this board with my own notes, author quotes, single words, images, and small objects – all of which are connected to the new series. It grows and changes with the project. New items are added, some things are removed, and everything gets reorganized. I love the immediate visibility of the bulletin board. It provides a strong anchor of meaning and inspiration.
Pictured here is my bulletin board as it looks today. There are quotes by Rumi, Terry Tempest Williams, David Whyte, Martha Graham, a feather, a set of angel wings, title ideas scrawled onto Post-its, and more. All of these are fueling my latest series of collages, called Invocations, about the benevolence found in darkness.
2. Find an object that represents your project
I will often select an object that becomes a symbol for the entire series I am working on. That object keeps my artwork in the forefront of my mind. For example, with the Invocations series, it is a feather (often propped up inside a nest). In my studio, I have a gold painted feather standing up inside a real bird’s nest in a corner near my main workspace. I also have a little felted nest (pictured here) filled with wooden eggs and a white feather on the ledge above the kitchen sink in my house, where I can see it every time I do the dishes. Even if I can’t be in the studio all the time, this object inspires me to think about my creative work. In the past, I have enhanced the symbol further by wearing jewelry with that symbol, or using a rubber stamp with that symbol — basically finding easy ways to keep that symbol close by, and thereby keep the project near me.
I share my thoughts here with the hope that they will be helpful for anyone who is initiating any kind of long-term project. I would love to hear your own ideas too. Please share them in the comments!