Saturday, June 27, 2026

The Saturday Morning Post: Challenge Your Creativity to Grow

I try not to ask others to do something, I am not willing to try doing myself. Well sort of, I am not going to try neurosurgery, or changing the doohickies in my car.  This year I led the committee that set the themes for the local arts council shows.  Some of the ideas were mine, some were not my idea, but for all of them, I agreed that they were good. That we would ask our creative community to create art for those themes. Under the policy of not asking others to do something I am not willing to try myself, this has pushed me to challenge my creativity. 

One of the themes is "Still Life and Real Life."  I have never painted still life works. If I am going to ask others to do so, I should try. And I have. Are they great works of art destined to hang in a museum for centuries? When I stop laughing, I know they are not, but they are the best still life paintings I have ever done. I enjoyed creating them. I learned and grew by creating them. Without this challenge, I probably never would have. 

Challenge yourself to create in new ways this week. 
There is a YouTube series where an artist challenge himself to create 30 paintings in 30 days. He outlined a plan for different styles he wanted to try his hand at. The video said 30 in 30 days, his follow up video explained that he worked on planning for a couple of months, and several of the works took several days to complete, he may not have created all 30 in a 30 day period.  Still he challenged himself to create 30 unique works, exploring 30 styles and techniques. He learned and grew by challenging himself to be creative. 

How will you challenge your creativity this week.

14 comments:

  1. They are the best you've ever done and the next ones will be even better.
    My creativity this week will also be painting ... walls and baseboard and trim. And then looking for new rugs to decorate the new floors.

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    1. Learning to cut in the edges around the trim, taught me a lot about painting.

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  2. Your still life is so bright and cheery! My creativity this week...culinary creations, starting my grandson's quilt for his "big boy" bed, getting ahead on blog posts. I like the idea of a 30-day challenge for creating.You've got me thinking. I have Zentangle supplies collecting dust...Have a good day!

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    1. We do enjoy shopping for art supplies.

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  3. Hey, nothing wrong with trying! I think the key is enjoying it -- if you liked it and feel like you got something out of it, you were successful.

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    1. We should all try, learn, explore, enjoy.

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  4. but WHY would you ask others to paint still life - even if you have done it?

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    1. Each Gallery Show has a theme for the art. The current show is 250 Years of Red, White and Blue, the next show after this is Explosion of Color. Then Still Life and Real Life, followed by Landscapes and Dreamscapes, and the last show of the year is "Unseen Images" a solo show of abstract art by a couple of resident professionals. We don't ridgely enforce the themes, we seldom turn away anything that someone wants to show.

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  5. I'm cross stitching bookmarks and looking for some new designs for that.

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    1. Summer flowers? Baseball? Fireworks? Hearts? Big red lips.

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  6. I have to work on something for my art challenge group's next meeting. I'll be figuring that out this week.

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    1. I wish out group would engage in the challenges like you do.

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  7. P.S. I like you flowers!

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    1. I am struggling with explosion of color.

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