Making room for creativity as it comes (and goes)
Some days creativity comes easily. On others, I can feel very far from flow. I am beginning to understand how quickly those feelings can change. Sometimes I seem to move through 2 or 3 creative seasons in one day, Ive also felt trapped and guilt from a long winter hibination.
A winter can feel long. Yet there can still be the odd summer day within it: a colour that catches my attention, a moment when I want to pick up a needle, an idea I find myself turning over. I can welcome that moment without asking it to last, as so often when the actual moment arises, the feeling has passed.
Reading Sami McKay’s essay On Opting into Creativity helped me put this into words. Sami explores the place of curiosity and the quieter intervals in a creative life. It reminded me how much happens in life besides the creative making.
The movie montage makes an artist’s life look so appealing. The ideas arrive, the hands get busy, and the work steadily takes shape. My own creative life includes much more stopping and starting. There is rest, and there is ordinary life to live.
There is also beauty to notice along the way. I might wonder how a flower opens, or enjoy the sweetness of an apple slice while putting together a simple crumble. Just touching fabric can be enough to bring me closer to making, even if I leave the stitching for another day.
I want the Studio Chair to make room for these small observations. A place where I can share what I am discovering, and where you can pause long enough to consider your own experience. You are welcome here in whichever creative season you find yourself.
A little room for you
How does your creativity change within an ordinary day, and what helps you recognise those changes?
What has drawn your attention recently, even if you have had little energy or time to make anything?
A small creative invitation
Spend a few moments with something that interests you. It might be gardening, cooking or crafting. You could touch a piece of fabric, look closely at a leaf or turn a treasured object in your hands. Notice what holds your attention. You can leave it there, or follow the curiosity a little further.
Thank you for spending a little time here with me. I hope something in these words gives you permission to enjoy your own creative season, whatever it holds today.
Would you like to stay in touch?
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Read this letter on Substack
Until we meet again,
Hugs Helen
