Have you ever had a creative block? I designed the T-shirt much less got one thank you very much... Have you ever wanted to be MORE creative? Do you need one more reason to paint or be creative? How about a logical left brained reason? I know, I know, how dare I suggest a left brained idea but bear with me here.

In reading various blogs by artists like Lori McNee, Alyson Stanfield and the Fine Art Views Newsletter I've come across the common theme of creativity begets creativity. In other words the more you actively create the more your mind will be creative. Creative ideas will start to just flow within you and you'll start seeing things differently. I used to be like that all the time before my hiatus and that thought process has returned again. Only it's returned like a spring time avalanche, I can't outrun it, I can't keep up with it and frankly it's almost scary. It's a steady freight train roar of oncoming thoughts directing me to paint this, paint that and "Oh hey, let's sculpt something while we're at it." Yeah, it's kind a fun. Daily life reveals itself again in a stream of input colored in magnificent hues, values and compositions. Now throw in a poem, a story or a "how can I make this a functional piece of art" thought for good measure. Creativity begets creativity.

For example, we went on our walk along the Spokane river yesterday and worked up no less than three paintings in my head in the hour we walked. The golden fields alight in the sun, the Red Tailed Hawk that's always there was joined by a partner and posed perfectly on the tree branches and the low river with it's reflections. My mind is constantly interpreting and composing what it sees into a painting. For you it could be a sculpture or a song.

Recent breakthroughs in how the brain functions have dis-proven the previous thought that your mind stops forming neural pathways. It's now been proven that you can reprogram and form new neural pathways in your brain.(one of many references on the subject ) So the act of creating on a regular basis is building and strengthening new and more creative pathways within the brain. As alluded to in a Fine Art Views post on the "Creative High", your doing more than getting a good feeling from creating your actually rewiring or reinforcing connections in your brain. Think of it as taking a two lane highway and expanding it to a 12 lane L.A. freeway. I wonder if I can rewire my brain into giving me Brad Pitts physique from Fight Club....

This then helps us come to the conclusion that to be creative, well... be creative! It's now a scientific fact, be creative on a consistent regular basis and you'll be more creative. Not that as Artists we needed a scientist to tell us how to be creative but for those of you struggling with your creative process there is hope. I believe in one of Alyson's blog posts she recommends painting everyday. There you go. Not only is it sound advice to improve your skills but it's sound advice to increase your creativity. The more creative we are the more we learn about ourselves, the more art we create and the more likely we'll create that Purple Cow or Blue Ocean Strategy if so desired.

Now put the keyboard away and go create something, you have new super highways to build to relieve that traffic jam of creativity!