{"id":37671,"date":"2017-08-25T07:35:52","date_gmt":"2017-08-25T14:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/?p=37671"},"modified":"2017-08-23T15:41:09","modified_gmt":"2017-08-23T22:41:09","slug":"creative-spark-17-inspiration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/2017\/08\/creative-spark-17-inspiration\/","title":{"rendered":"Creative Spark #17: Inspiration"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dolores<\/a>
Dolores Street Decoration<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first headline of this spark is \u201cFollow Fireflies. it made me think of my \u2018What If\u2019 game. The first line also sent my mind spinning. It reads \u201cInspiration is everywhere you look\u201d (pg.73). I had just been walking down a street I frequent when I saw the decoration\/gargoyle on a house. I thought it looked like a semi-wild cat. I like the detail (new houses have no character) and was amazed that I can still find things to see and be inspired by on a street I have walked down many times. I think having a\u00a0 camera in my pocket gives me incentive to look more carefully at the world around me.\u00a0 Bloomston also says \u201cit can be commonplace or holy. It can catch you unaware and take away your breath. It can leave you speechless\u201d (pg.73). I think I tend towards the commonplace \u2013 looking at the world around me, taking inspiration from the line of some bricks or some green growing in the crack of a sidewalk. At certain times of the year \u2013 not summer where I live \u2013 the sky and clouds can be quite dramatic. When I travel, I often find views and cityscapes that take my breath away. Architecture often amazes me because of the sheer scale of buildings built without computers. Noticing shape and line that inspires us is what Bloomston calls \u201cthe fireflies\u201d (pg.73). She says \u201cwhen we step into a life of chasing the fireflies of inspiration, we are more able to get into a creative space\u201d (pg.73).<\/p>\n

I find that I worry less when I am looking at the world around and making an effort to see the details \u2013 the beauty of the world around me. Carrie says that by getting into a more creative space \u201cwe create a fluency between our so-called normal life and our creative life\u201d (pg.73). I find that there is less of a difference between the lives or parts of our lives. That lessening of space makes it easier to move between the two. The author further says \u201cinspiration is often just a pebble thrown onto the path. It is up to you to stop, stoop down, and investigate it\u201d (pg.73).<\/p>\n

Ms. Bloomston has four suggestions: \u201cslowdown, daydream, unplug, have a net\u201d (pg.74). Unplug speaks to me today. I have been listening to many, many audiobooks. Lately, I have to think a lot and I can\u2019t keep track of the story, so I haven\u2019t been listening to as many audiobooks. I realized that, while I was very much enjoying listening to stories on audio, I was escaping and keeping my mind entertained so it wouldn\u2019t dwell on the political situation or other bad things with which I was struggling. Now that I have less time to listen, I am allowing my mind to wander a bit. It does go to the dark places, but not as often. By not engaging it with audio 24\/7, I am giving it space to think creatively as well. I am getting back into the groove of daydreaming. I think I am also learning to let my mind wander and touch on various topics, let it make connections between things.<\/p>\n

As usual, Carrie Bloomston has some worksheets (pg.75). Go get your copy and fill them out. Think about what you are writing as you fill in the worksheet and let it inspire your creativity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nota bene: we are working through Carrie Bloomston\u2019s book,\u00a0The Little Spark<\/a>. Buy it. Support the artist. Play along. There is much more to each spark than what I am writing. The original chapters will help you. Go buy Carrie Bloomston<\/a>\u2019s book, so you get the full benefit of her fabulousness! You can see my\u00a0book review<\/a>, which is what started this flight of fancy.<\/p>\n

You can find the\u00a0last spark on the blog<\/a>\u00a0a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first headline of this spark is \u201cFollow Fireflies. it made me think of my \u2018What If\u2019 game. The first line also sent my mind spinning. It reads \u201cInspiration is everywhere you look\u201d (pg.73). I had just been walking down a street I frequent when I saw the decoration\/gargoyle on a house. I thought it … Continue reading “Creative Spark #17: Inspiration”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[311,72,319],"class_list":["post-37671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-434","tag-creativity","tag-group-project","tag-inspiration"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37671\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}