It’s summer and it’s time to practice some creativity play!
Sometimes writing is work. Art can be work.
There’s a myth about the creative person who is “living the dream” and always enjoying every moment of what they do- but in real life there is always some measure of toil involved.
There are mindless tasks, tough decisions, and times when we don’t want to keep going. There are goals and deadlines that we push ourselves towards. And these goals are important! They help us finish our stories and achieve our dreams.
But sometimes it’s nice to just take some time to play.
It’s important to remember the joy in our work, the delight found in art, and the curiosity that fuels our writing.
This play is a form of self-care that keeps us healthy both body and soul.
And it’s important to fill our creative wells so that we can be pouring it back into our creativity.
8 Ways To Practice Creativity Play
1- Make Bad Art
This is a creativity prompt from Austin Kleon who says to create intentionally bad art. It doesn’t matter what type of art! Write the worst story opening you can think of. Create the most boring song. Paint the ugliest picture.
This can actually be loads of fun and it lets us just mess around with art.
2- Try Something New
Whether a different type of writing than usual (ie: poetry, essays, song lyrics, children’s fiction) or a different medium altogether (ie: painting, sculpture, song, pencil drawings)- trying something new gives us a chance to stretch our creative muscles and to let go of the pressure to be any good.
3- Make Art With (or For) Kids
Kids are great at being messy!
Making art with or for kids is a great way to remember not to take ourselves too seriously. To throw the rules out the window. To just experience the art and see what happens.
4- Create Blindfolded/In The Dark
This is an art challenge that can encourage a different creating experience. What will we create? Who knows!?
5- Make Art In 30 Seconds
Another challenge pushing us to do and create without thinking too much about it.
The point is to just let go and have fun with it!
6- Listen to Loud Music
Pick a favorite song or choose something random and upbeat and see where it takes you! It may not be your most productive work environment personally but it can be a good change of pace.
7- Create in a New Location
Again, you may not want to mess with your ideal work environment all the time, but once in a while it can be healthy to move somewhere else to change things up a bit.
Write outside your front door, get out to the library or coffee shop, go sit in a park or in the woods. Make yourself a blanket fort on your bed or just sit on the floor of the kitchen!
8- Copy Famous Art
This can be a fun and time-honored way to learn and create, without the pressure of coming up with something new.
Whether it’s copying Starry Night or trying to write in the style of Dickens, imitating famous art can be a fun way to experiment with new things and just play around.
Basically all of these are to let us not take things too seriously! To take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!
Art should be a bit messy at times.
We may find something great among the mess or we may not- either way is fine.
Our worth and our creativity isn’t always measured in our output. It’s important that we take some time to play.
I hope you find some ways to have fun with your creativity today! 🙂
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