Nature Time: Creating A Word List

Come along for a little nature time. Your task is to generate a word list to keep as a source of nature-inspired word prompts to engage your creative spirit. Bring along a sketch pad and a pencil, find an area where you can take in the pace of nature and let the flow of words begin. Notice which words are common in your daily vocabulary and how your response to them might change once they're associated with a natural environment. For example the word surface. What images come to mind during your morning commute with the word "surface?" How about if you scuba dive? Or take a walk in the desert? What about reading a topographic map? Think about the many "identities" of words as you do this exercise, you'll greatly expand your word-list and your opportunity for creative interpretations. Watch the video below to get started.

In this short video, my 45-word list was compiled during a 20-minute desert walk. I can refer to this list as a source of ongoing prompts for a variety of creative outlets. For starters, I decided to choose the 2^nd, 4^th, 8^th, 16^th, and 32^nd words off my list as random prompts for a poetry exercise (shared at the end of the video): velvety, patina, gravel, sky, surface.

How will nature inspire you today?

Happy Creative New Year

Realize that every time you make space in your life for creativity—even if it’s just a sliver of space—you’re making yourself a better person and the world a better place. ~Sandy Ackers "10 Resolutions For A Creative Year"

It's that time of year when we dig deep and shift focus toward new ways to fulfill the desires of our inner creative. Make this year the year of creativity! Resolve to honor your gift of expression through unique and inspired creative outlets. Explore, dig, excavate, unearth, rediscover, dust off your creative impulses and give them light and life!

 

In numerology circles, "11" is the most intuitive of all numbers, representing illumination and deep insight as well as being very sensitive and inspirational. Sounds like '11 is an opportune year to follow your creative intuition, and let your expression run wild to gain deep insight.  As I am always saying, make your creative time a priority. If you take the numerology fun a step further and add up 2011 (2+0+1+1), you're good to go! As the number "4" typically signifies the grounded nature of all things...think the four seasons, four directions, four elements--very powerful natural elements providing a balanced, stable home-base for your creative exploration! Protect and keep your creative time a priority as a way to get back to your creative roots, to maintain balance and center yourself--again each of these representing the symbolic meaning of "4."

 

It's all intriguing fun, but even if you're not into the numbers game, the point is to recognize the conditions are always primed for your creative journey. Start by making mistakes (release your perfectionist tendencies), try techniques or materials you've never worked before, make messes. Read Sandy's link at the top of this post for motivating ideas that will get your creative juices flowing. Then lose control, creatively speaking, be wreckless and wild and raw. Transform.  Always remember to be kind to and love your creative self. Exhale magical poetry, brush strokes, images...

 

When you're ready to grow creatively, then your moment has arrived to begin a new journey. Seek and you shall find inspiration everywhere. It will even begin to find you.

 
 
Image/artwork: M. Hedgecock, "Seastar Grow" mandala
Numerology source: spiritual-numerology.com

Found Faces

Found faces. Sometimes they just "pop out" at us with their smiley innocence, their surprised expressions or their sweet flat-mouthed,  resignation. There are Flickr groups dedicated to them, and many who document their whimsical presence. Try this yourself by documenting any naturally occurring found faces in appliances, faucets, architecture, puddles, rocks...the opportunities are endless. Look for a variety of facial expressions in man made or naturally occurring objects. Look up, look down, look upside-down. Enjoy your encounters and feel free to share and post what you find!

Photo: M. Hedgecock

100 Tiny Muses

So many because they are tiny—with big possibilities! Each of the random entries below is centered around a simple moment, or a small element of nature, and presented as a muse to inspire you. (For five ideas, please see bottom of the list.)

1. the feel of natural clay
2. butterfly’s flight
3. the smell of rosemary
4. beach combing
5. pounding surf
6. watching deer
7. blue ice
8. bird calls
9. wind caves
10. velvety rose petals
11. thunder
12. the octopus
13. sand dunes
14. meteor showers
15. smell of rain
16. icicles
17. texture of driftwood
18. redwoods
19. rainforest
20. the milky way

21. wolf howls
22. pine cones
23. desert expanses
24. beach sand
25. river stone
26. meadow
27. oasis
28. inside a volcano tube
29. tide pool
30. coyote yips and barks
31. summer monsoons
32. a rainbow
33. the sound of raven wings
34. shark
35. spider web
36. finding a tooth
37. whale song
38. the moon
39. watching sunsets
40. crunchy snow

41. powdery snow
42. animal tracks
43. campfire
44. dry falls
45. tree bark
46. pine smell
47. thunderous waterfalls
48. fog
49. lightning
50. starry sky
51. wind in the pines
52. soft rain
53. thorns
54. spirals
55. water
56. acorn
57. echo
58. boulder
59. feathers
60. natural hot springs

61. limestone
62. reef
63. descending a steep trail
64. flying fish
65. clouds
66. forest
67. deep holes
68. fossils
69. moutains
70. cicadas
71. bone
72. leaves
73. lush ferns
74. desert wash
75. roots
76. bloom
77. caverns
78. currents
79. lady bug
80. sea stars

81. dandelion wishes
82. wildflowers
83. highlands
84. native ochre
85. following a mossy path
86. spongy
87. sting
88. stalagtites
89. fur
90. lichen
91. quartz
92. nest
93. aurora
94. ocean
95. summit
96. canopy
97. marsh
98. owl
99. shelter
100. wilderness

Ideas:

• Grab your camera and pick an entry from the list, then head out to capture at least 5-10 interpretations of your chosen word(s).

• Chose a word/phrase and write an inspiring or informative tweet (140 characters or less), then tweet it!

• Pick a number (1 – 100) at random and doodle that entry for 5 minutes.

• Randomly pick 5 of these words and connect them (any order) through a 5-line poem.

• Choose a word as inspiration for creating a mini painting, illustration, sculpture, etc. Go at least 50% smaller than you are used to working.

Please add to this list by sharing your entries in the comments! Especially any creative works or posts any of these may have inspired :)

Push It!

My, my it's been a busy month. I cannot believe I've let this much time slip by since my last post--tsk, tsk. I have found myself to be wonderfully busy with many outlets of creative energy--which as you can relate, one must ride that wave as long as it travels! One thing I hope you'll notice in this post is that I am pushing myself beyond my boundaries, I'm moving past my comfort zones. This is a big deal in my relationships with clients--a willingness to stretch beyond our comfort zones--it is essential for our creative growth. Doing so makes me a better creativity coach, a better artist, a better teacher, writer, wife, mom, friend...a connected being with the inner confidence and motivation needed to follow my dreams. Here are 5 ways in which I'm pushing my comfort zones to keep me moving forward and growing in my creative spirit:

• For starters, I did something I was very uncomfortable about doing. For weeks, my anxiety and inner critic had their way with me until the big day came...and went. With no casualties. I'm talking about a radio show interview. My first radio show interview. It was for a blog radio show going out to the masses in the coaching industry. The show topic was connecting with nature for creative inspiration and I was very happy to be asked to speak about this. The 30-minute show will actually air in the spring, April 2011. Along with the air date, my interview will also be featured in Insights Magazine, an industry mag. Now, other than the moment it was happening, I have no idea how I came across. I will find out right along with you! I know I didn't crash and burn, but still a bit nerve-wracking not being able to hear it first, hehe. It was me in the exhilirating moment of living outside my comfort zone (yikes) and I ended up having a great experience! I'll keep you posted, be sure to tune in :)

• I've had the chance to participate in a show inspired by Dia de los Muertos (one of my favorite themes/celebrations) with a piece called "Spirit Messengers." I didn't know if my piece would be accepted, but I loved the theme of the show (called DEAD, Awaken), and I really like the gallery and the gracious encouragement of the gallery owner so I decided to make a call to find out. Turned out to be a great step forward as I'm thrilled to be part of the show. If you'd like to hear more about the exhibit, please check out where you can see it here. 

• I am also very excited about the countdown to the release of a new item I will be offering--only 2 days from now--a way to connect you with nature through a hands-on exercise designed to stimulate your mental focus and expand your creativity. This product is a fun, easy creativity booster based upon one of my most popular creative awareness exercises! Can't wait to go public with it on Oct. 22, 2010!

• More great news...I've decided to move forward with writing an e-book. As of now, it will include personal connections I've experienced with nature and how those encounters have guided my (creative) life. Along with themed chapters (possibly along the classic elements: earth, water, fire, air/wind, space), there will be related, nature-inspired exercises to do, each structured to open up our creative flow and expand our creative growth. Much material is gathered/written, but there is plenty to be done like the task of blending segments together, still plenty of re-writing to be done, and re-working of chapters! I've never written a book before, e-book or otherwise, so this will be a steep learning process for me.  Writing evolves as you write; code for these are the basic elements to my e-book,  it will be interesting to see how it truly evolves!

• I continue to experiment with new ways of creative expression and though I am often inspired by the mandala in work and play I have found another way to bring them into my art. I enjoy photography but only very casually. I have found an alternate way to integrate my favorite nature photos into my found art by taking images and creating digital mandalas. I've created some as prints, but I've also prepared others for unique found art frames or embellishments of which I'm really getting into these designs! Here is a mandala created from a picture I took of a flat of rainbow cactus for sale while at one of our Let Nature Be Your Muse meet-ups (this one from our latest, Moorten Botanical Garden "Sketch & Shoot"):

Nature continues to inspire...

International Observe the Moon Night



Hello creatives! Saturday, Sept. 18, 2010 is International Observe the Moon Night. Here in the Coachella Valley, the moon will rise at 4:17 p.m. and set by 2:17 a.m. Sounds like a great night for lunar-inspired creativity. Get your creative juices flowing with activities like sky watching, moon watching through a telescope or binoculars, moon haiku, even going on a moonlit walk! Here are a couple of other ideas you may want to try...

Visit the IOMN site:

http://observethemoonnight.org/

Sketch or write under the light of the moon, or come do it with fellow creatives:

http://www.meetup.com/Let-Nature-Be-Your-Muse/calendar/13347047/  

Get to know this ancient and historical muse with this moon map:

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/moon_guide-1.html

Write a folding poem (requires a buddy) about the moon, after spending time with it: http://restoreyournature.blogspot.com/2009/12/night-sky.html

Moon Meditations that inspire you to live fully, creatively:

http://thenaturecoach.blogspot.com/2010/04/happy-full-moon-moon-meditations.html

Enjoy the moon! Share you experience...

Spore Prints

I recently came across an easy, artistic family activity of creating mushroom spore prints. It's certainly not new, and I'm sure some of you are familiar with this technique if not already have tried your own prints. The simplicity of the process truly makes it a great opportunity for combining art and nature with your children. Artists and other creatives would surely find it irresistable and take inspiration from these simple spore prints, creating unique, altered expressions (like nature-inspired artist Chris Drury's Destroying Angel – Trinity).

Creating a few delicate looking prints begins with finding good mushrooms (please KNOW WHAT YOU ARE HARVESTING, SOME MUSHROOM SPECIES CAN BE DEADLY, always wash your face and hands thoroughly during and after handling mushrooms and do not inhale spores). Gilled mushrooms seem to be the easiest to get nice prints. You might get different colors per mushroom, depending on the species in your area. One source shares that very young or very old mushrooms do not produce spores, so try to collect growing, healthy looking mushrooms.

Slice off stems and place caps (reproductive) side down on paper. Some spores are light, some are dark; experimenting with light/dark colored paper helps, or do a little homework. One source below mentions you might be able to tell by looking at the gills (if they're light or dark spores). Place a glass or bowl over mushroom caps to protect spores from floating off by preventing air flow--even the slightest, and maintaining moisture. Let sit, undisturbed for 6 to 24 hours. Remove glass, remove mushrooms and admire your creations.

For additional examples and how-to, for preserving tips, guidelines, poisonous mushroom warnings and proper handling, please visit either of these links:

http://crafts.newarchaeology.com/spore_print_art.php and

http://resurrectionfern.typepad.com/resurrection_fern/2009/08/not-all-mushrooms-are-alike.html

I cannot wait to try this one! Now, where to find mushrooms in the desert...



Images: “blue spore prints” Craftzine and “spore print” Nova Scotia Canada Conservation