I'm buzzing here in the tree house this weekend. My creativity is at an all time *HIGH* and it is definitely a time to celebrate. Yesterday I participated on a fabulous celebration call with Jamie Ridler, special guests, and other participants in "The Next Chapter" book blog group. I had no idea when I signed up that I would have the staying power to work through each chapter and blog about it. I had no idea I would meet so many wonderful creatives. I'm so inspired and I love passing that inspiration along.
Our chat was about celebrating and the role of celebration in our creativity process. What a discovery! I hadn't made the connection of celebration as a step in the creativity process. I love to celebrate with people, with food, with creative parties -- but yesterday's call gave me so many ideas on how and WHEN to celebrate. Here are some of my notes:
Take time after an accomplishment to savor it before diving into the next project. Celebrations are relaxing and fun. Celebrating gives us a chance to take a break before revving up for the next project.
Celebrate with others. Invite others who know how to do the happy dance along with you. I've had some friends who have been jealous or like to throw rocks at my balloons. Now, these friends won't get invited to celebrate. It is important to know who your celebratory friends are.
Gift of solitude. For many of us artists we like our alone time. It is a gift and great way to celebrate to take some time to go to a bookstore or coffee shop, solo.
Pre-celebrations. Celebrating along the way at different check points is a great idea. I've always just celebrated at the end. Try celebrating after the preparation stages to refuel before hitting the finish line.
Celebration as self-care. Realizing how necessary it is to celebrate as part of the creativity process will help to build in the happy re-energizing points in our creative cycles.
Celebration shows our gratitude for what we've done and what we have.
Celebrate both the big and small successes.
Celebrate by commemorating the event with a scrapbook page, art journal page, or blog post.
Celebrating honors our work, validating it, acknowledging it, and lifting it up.
Celebrating feels so darn good. giving ourselves the gift of relishing the good feelings and nurturing the creative spirits is a way of saying THANKS.
Visit Jamie Ridler's blog to listen to the call. You'll even hear my voice a few times on the recording. Jamie also has a wonderful collection of audio recordings of the highly creative bloggers who were featured throughout the blog book group. CLICK HERE to spark your creativity.
More celebrations to come!
Mandala Eye Candy - Visit my True North Arts blog to see a wonderful selection of art from around the world.
Personal Map Making - Tomorrow I'm posting a new True North Arts post on making personal maps. The journal page that I made this morning and pictured in this post uses some of my altered maps. Learn about this and other map making techniques of the Collage Diva variety. The prompt also includes an interview with Marney of Artella.
Collage Diva 1-Year Blog Anniversary! - I can hardly believe that I've been blogging for one year already. My anniversary date is on Monday. Join me for my anniversary celebration. See what treats I have in store for you for this up coming year.
Congratulations! I appreciate your blogs as well-springs of inspiration and artistic fellowship. Thank you.
Posted by: karen | April 04, 2009 at 12:35 PM
Congrats on completing this journey, K. Celebrations are a wonderful thing. Makes you remember to savor all the good!!
Posted by: Shell | April 04, 2009 at 01:04 PM
this is great, thank you for sharing :)
Posted by: Vedrana | April 04, 2009 at 02:12 PM
Cool image! And sooo awesome to hear your voice on the call yesterday!!!
Posted by: Jennifer Lee | April 04, 2009 at 02:39 PM
Kathryn
I so love this!! You have such amazing creative flow!
Posted by: Malini Horiuchi | April 04, 2009 at 04:17 PM
Thank you for the notes! I was so overwhelmed I couldn't do anything but listen! Your art today is so amazing - it gives me energy just looking at it!!!
Posted by: megg | April 04, 2009 at 06:17 PM
Congratulations on completing the journey - fantastic journal page - love the use of the maps for the flowers!
Posted by: megan warren | April 04, 2009 at 09:49 PM
the artwork is really, really nice !
I love it all : the composition, the colors, the flowers, the use of the maps as flowers, the small stemps... It really is a visual pleasure to look at !
I could image it on a postcard or even a poster to hang in the house!
love your thoughts about celebration too : I can completely agree with them, although I admit I don't "see" or "do" it always...
hugs from Belgium
Inge
Posted by: inge | April 05, 2009 at 03:37 AM
Hi Beautiful!!! I can't wait to celebrate with you at Ville d"este!!
Posted by: Bobbi | April 05, 2009 at 11:12 AM
Hi Kathryn
I would love to express my thanks to you for inspiring me by giving you the lemonade award. you can collect it at my blog.
love
sema
Posted by: sema | April 05, 2009 at 01:14 PM
Congratualtions Kathryn on your one year anniversary!!! I just found your blog recently and feel right at home. Looking forward to many more of your awesome posts!
Mary
Posted by: Marya Geller | April 05, 2009 at 03:46 PM
Thanks for sharing your notes. I was away this weekend and not able to join in on the call but I'll head right over to Jamie's sight and liten in.
Posted by: GraceGal | April 05, 2009 at 03:55 PM
O my goodness, I adore this artwork, Kathryn!!
It was so great to hear your voice on the celebration call.
*I'm doing a happy dance for your blogiversary!* :-)
Posted by: leah | April 06, 2009 at 01:28 AM
here's to celebrating you!
... and the yummy-lovely journal page ...
... and the celebration notes, too. :)
Posted by: 3rdEyeMuse | April 06, 2009 at 10:50 PM