Creative ideas are often born not in the boardroom, but the shower.

Why? Creative ideas flow while in a relaxed state.

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New 14×18 oil

Brilliant minds and artists have sourced their creative slumber stream for centuries.

Einstein said “The greatest scientists are artists as well”. If anyone understood the mysteries of the creative mind, it was Einstein, who’s “insight did not come from logic or mathematics. It came, as it does for artists, from intuition and inspiration.” He thought in visuals before he ‘found the words’.

 new 8×8 oil

Quality sleep can improve your memory and make you more creative.

While quality sleep is ideal, you can also nap like Einstein and Dali to access creative rhythm.

 New morning paintings

Artist Robert Genn suggested painting before a “morning cup of joe”.

Routine can be essential to an artist’s productivity. Like a snow globe on a bright sunny day, it’s also good to shake things up to release the sparkle. Recently I have been experimenting with the morning creating concept.

So far, this exercise is quite productive, revving up my brush and quieting my mind.

To spark your creative juice, a few handy tips I have found along the way.

Regardless of your profession:

• Keep a journal bedside for instant morning thoughts, visuals, ideas. Write in point form, key words.
• Work in natural light only, or with as little artificial light as possible. Dress comfortably, or better yet, if possible stay in pj’s.
• Work before breakfast or coffee. I discovered it’s nice to have a warm cup of water with a drop of lemon.
• Write three pages of ‘gibberish’. Julia Cameron author of The Artists Way overcame writers block by writing a series of morning pages daily. Task is to write anything coming to mind, non stop, no punctuation. Julia used this method to purge negativity, and open up ‘space’ for creative thought.

 Artists:

• Have boards etc prepped the night before, so you can begin immediately in the morning.
• Paint non-stop, no fixing mistakes.
• Extra challenge: use left over paints on palette from previous day.
• Thou I prefer to work with music on, for these tasks silence is key.
• For those who usually have electronics nearby, leave the phone/laptop, watch, clocks etc outside the studio. If you are short for time, set the oven timer in the kitchen.
• Time Trial: I love my breakfast and morning run. For me, this exercise becomes a speedy time trial.

If these options aren’t available to you, it’s been proven pacing sparks creativity. Pace in your office, or outdoors, which will increase creative juices considerably.

You can even pace in the shower. :0)

~ “Nap time, the shut down that reboots” Robert Genn

P.S  New work will be titled, I just haven’t gotten around to ‘finding my words yet’. :)) To purchase work, please email. Thank you!