Harvesting Creativity

Here is the follow up to my last post about ways I try to nurture my creativity. It was fun exploring my environment and spending time thinking about how I try to live artistically and creatively in day to day things. These are a few I came up with; I'm sure I could think of even more!

I've always tried to create a warm and welcoming feeling in my home. I want it to be a safe haven for my family. We are all artists in my family and so being in an inviting and stimulating environment is important to us. I love to decorate and through that share my own unique style. I also love to surround us with color and art on our walls. Above is just a little snapshot of a vignette on top of my kitchen cabinets.

Of course painting is one of my creative outlets. Here are a few of my in-progress pieces waiting to be finished. I find I enjoy having several going at one time in different stages. This allows me to work on whatever part I'm feeling drawn to at a given moment. I'll post these when I finish them up!

Scrapbooking is part of my art as well and I love the idea of leaving a legacy of memories by creating pages that tell our family's stories. Of course I love the artistic and creative process involved and all the supplies, but more and more I'm enjoying the telling of simple, everyday moments that make up our story during this season of our lives!

This is my studio area. It is a studio/guest room and I really need to get in here and do some purging and organizing. I also do a lot of my painting at the kitchen table...so worried about messy spills on the carpet in here. Anyway, I look forward to someday soon painting the walls a yummy rich color, adding new window treatments and creating a space that is a bit more reflective of me and what I love. This is a good start though! And my kitties love the way the sun comes in brightly every morning!!

I decided to get creative with my hair recently and added some fun and funky highlights!

Love, love, love to read and this definitely inspires my creativity. I read everything from fiction novels, christian life books, magazines, and art/scrapbooking related books.

I enjoy music as well and feel like it helps in creating a creative atmosphere. I listen to a wide variety including rock/pop, 80's classics, musicals, praise and worship and contemporary christian.

Finally, I try to harvest creativity by nurturing other's growth and interest in the arts. That is why I became an art teacher!

I truly enjoyed exploring the everyday ways I try to harvest my creativity! It is nice to think through an idea or concept and see how you are actually living it out in your life! :) Thanks to Stacy Julian for the great idea!