ThirtyThirty CraftyNine –Day Four

To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong. –Joseph Chilton Pearce

True words. Personally, I HATE being wrong. But, I guess no one really likes it, right?

Sorry about my abridged post this a.m. as I was trying to get ready for work. See, I am a Plants vs. Zombies addict and I needed a fix … Until 2 in the morning … Which will always be priority. In case you were wondering, I did make it to work on time, and I am completely exhausted. Serves me right, right?

Today’s creative challenge is a little different, Phuktophiles. See, I noticed a pattern in me from a very young age. When I see something that just blows my mind, I feel the need to create. I’m probably not alone in that, either, but I can only speak for me here. So I decided that I am going to collect all of my mind blowing findings in a collection. I comb bound a quarter ream of ivory paper at work with a chipboard cover and I went to town downloading and printing photos, illustrations, and miscellaneous other tidbits to collect within its pages. Sometimes I need to see something amazing to super charge my overworked brain. I hope this will help.

Creative challenge day FOUR: celebrate OTHER PEOPLE’S CREATIVITY.

I know what you’re thinking, this challenge was supposed to challenge me to create something every day. Well, I am … An insurance policy, of sorts. Whenever MY brain won’t work, I can rely on other people’s to make things that I like to look at.

This journey I am on right now got me to thinking, why do I create? What makes me need to create? What is my motivation? It certainly isn’t money. I don’t think I can answer that, honestly. There isn’t any one thing that comes to mind. All I know is that if I am not creating, I am losing my mind. So, to all my creative friends, I challenge you to ask yourself the same question. What is your motivation?

Well, Phuktophiles, with that I need to sign off. I’m tired and these Zombies aren’t gonna kill themselves.

ThirtyThirty CraftyNine — Day one.

Hello, Phuktophiles!

I made a promise to myself that I was going to stop neglecting you as I have in the past. How am I doing?

So, in an attempt to quiet my inner monsters, I decided to construct a “playground” of sorts for my brain. September is going to be that month, Phuktophiles. Here’s the deal: I write pretty much daily in what was supposed to be a “therapy journal” from back when I was in therapy. I was told to write down symptoms, anything that I ate, emotions, how much coffee I’d had, and whatever else I deemed worthy of mention so my therapist could break down what triggers my mood swings. Well, I still write in it, but it is less about symptoms and more about all the things that make me want to snap. That journal, my friends, has saved my life, has made me want to die, and has shown me a lot of things about myself in free-writing and brainstorming that I wouldn’t have guessed about myself. As a matter of fact, when people tell me that they are going through some shit, I tell them to write it all in a journal. It is therapeutic, for sure.

Anyway, Phuktophiles, I have been writing for YEARS, wait Y…E…A…R…S…, about how I hate that I don’t spend enough time being creative and doing creative things. I’ve decided that September will be the month that I stop that.

I made a page layout for every day in September to put in my journal for inspiration on this thirty day journey (which will hopefully turn in to a longer journey). #ThirtyThirty means thirty projects/ideas/reveries in thirty days. #CraftyNine means crafty September. Now, realistically, I know I will not have time or energy to create thirty individual projects in thirty days. My job doesn’t really leave me with much at the end of every day, but I WILL do something … ANYTHING creative every day for thirty days. I have to. I have to challenge my brain. If I don’t keep my brain occupied on something, I get lost in the self-loathing and worthlessness that so often cripples me when I get depressed, which I have been feeling lately. So, without further ado, my page layout for September first.

No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If they did, they would cease to be an artist. — Oscar Wilde.

This one is pretty self-explanatory. It’s true. Well, true to an extent, I don’t think it is that black and white. That being said, my imagination far exceeds reality when it comes to good things happening for me. LOL

So, I shared with you the motivation, and I will share with you the projects. I haven’t done today’s yet (raining … not taking the camera out in that), but here is yesterday’s project: POLAROID.

Polaroid, Rose bush, September 1

Polaroid, Into the Morning, September 1

Land, September 1

The old Polaroid is still kickin’, over 50 years old and still kickin’ … though, it did take it a while to give me a usable image LOL

The weather then took a turn. I went for a 2.5 mile walk with intentions of going back out to shoot some more, but I got drenched in the storm, but managed these out of my digital SLR:

I also loaded a roll of BW film in my Elan II. Eventually, when I save up a couple rolls, I will get in the darkroom at Cleveland Print Room and develop these negs.

Let us not forget that I also put together a page layout after getting caught in the rain (Adobe Illustrator):

Reverie

So there we are, Phuktophiles. Expect quite a few posts in September as I get all these projects done. I hope you enjoyed your visit to the bouncy house in my head.

Kisses!