Day 295: The art of looking

Check out this photo which I stole (with permission) from a friend on facebook.

I think it's brilliant. What can you see? What do you think it is? What does it remind you of? How do the colours make you feel?

I know it might seem like I'm just practising my counselling skills on you, but I'm trying to prompting you to look, observe, watch. I always find looking an inspiring experience. Not in a hippy way, but in a creative way.

Try thinking about this image in terms of your own creative work. Can you make any connection? Why? Why not? Does it spark any ideas?

If it's still not really doing anything for you, try making a list of all the things it reminds you of.

Here's a few to start you off:
Steam rising from a cow's back in the morning sunlight.
New York Night Traffic
Fireflies buzzing

So, how ever you choose to do it, spend some time looking today and see where it takes your creative thoughts...

Day 272: The New Gypsies, Iain McKell

When I was roaming around Mr B's Bookshop in Bath yesterday afternoon, I was enchanted by this:

This photography book by Iain McKell is full of glossy images of the new age traveller, living a sustainable life in horse drawn caravans, at one with nature and all it can offer them. As I turned to one picture after another I was struck by how beautiful they were, romantic and free. Not the glossy, airbrushed beauty you see in magazines, but real beauty. The beauty of living.

Bookshops are amazing places. They can take you to all sorts of places and introduce you to all sorts of people. When was the last time you got taken to another place you weren't expecting?

Day 246: Panasonic Lumix GF2 Camera

''Encourage creativity, whilst keeping things simple,'' says Panasonic on their latest creation.

Panasonic's Lumix GF2 is a new generation of camera with detachable lenses. It's the smallest camera of it's kind and it basically makes it possible for anyone to take a great photo without knowing anything about ISO, aperture or anything 'technical'. The camera does it for you.

Check out this promo video to see just how much you can do with it.

But what does this mean for creative types like us? Is this empowering the people, allowing creativity for all? Or is it taking away the results of true professionals who have studied photography and try to make their living from it?

What do you think? Should creative skills like photography be shared out amongst everyone? Do you think this takes creative value away? Is it a good thing that more people have the chance to produce good quality creative photos?

Should creativity be an exclusive thing? Should it be made easier for everyone to get involved?

All good questions for us creative thinkers to spend some time on...

Day 187: Shadow Catchers at V&A

Check out this amazing exhibition if you are into photography. These eerie images have been captured using shadows to manipulating light. What a cool idea!

Five contemporary artist/photographers are on show at the V&A Museum in London; Floris Neusüss, Pierre Cordier, Susan Derges, Garry Fabian Miller and Adam Fuss.

The V&A website has got more info, so that's a good place to start.

Shadow catchers...what a great name for a book...

Day 162: RCA Secret

Everyone likes a good secret, don't they? Well this one involves famous artists, illustrators and art students from all over. More than 1000 artists have designed a postcard, which go on sale this weekend at Royal college of Art in London to raise money for art students. The catch, you don't know until you buy it who it's by. What a cool idea!

Each postcard is £45 and you can buy a maximum of four per person. It's getting everyone excited about owning their pocket sized Tracey Emin or David Bailey. But you might get work by a student who could go on to become the next Picasso! How exciting!

What a great way to get the community interesting in art. Not only that but raise cash to help creative people like you and me get to uni and do what we love. With the way thing are going in government, we need all the help we can get, so thank goodness someone is sticking up for us, eh!

Check out their website for more info. If you live around London, you can go see them for free before the sale. Maybe you can guess whose is whose!

So, who'll get the postcards worth millions? We'll have to wait and see...

Day 103: David Nicholls got me thinking...

At the moment I am reading One Day by David Nicholls which I guess you would call an 'adult book'. One of the main characters is called Emma, which I find a little weird. Perhaps weirder is how much she reminds me of myself. Have you ever had that when you're reading a book?

Anyway, it turns out she's quite a thinker and a creative one at that and when talking about her play she's performing for schools she says, 'once again life is failing to imitate art.'

Her irony got me thinking. Unfortunately life doesn't imitate art (that's all forms of art, not just fine art), but should art imitate life?

When I was wandering from painting to painting in London (look at yesterday's post for more of that) I found myself getting really annoyed at how unrealistic some of the paintings were. Would Jesus really have white skin living in Israel? Are medieval science experiments really performed in a darkened room with only one candle creating dramatic lighting on the faces of the onlookers? Was the young Lady Grey really wearing a brilliantly white dress at her execution to contrast the drab clothes of the others present? Would farmers from hundreds of years ago really wear purple trousers to work? The answer is, probably not. All of these are artistic details to emphasize certain areas of the painting, creating mood, depth, colour balance...

Art is escapism, entertainment, meaningful representations...so does it have to replicate 'real life'? Not if the creator doesn't want it to. Then again, the creator can make it whatever they want. That's the beauty of art isn't it? Its an interpretation of the world or maybe an experimentation of what the world could be...

What do you want to say through your creations? Do you want to imitate reality, show injustice in the world? Do you want to create a safe haven for people to escape to? Do you want to experiment with boundaries or try something no one has ever done before? You really can do anything! So, go for it. Be inspired by what has come before you and make it your own. Being creative means, when you've got something interesting to say, you have an interesting way of saying it! So, what are you waiting for?

Day 47: Pick a picture

When we are being creative, I think it would be fair to say that most of us have a picture in our mind to work from; where we want it to go, how it will look post creation...

Writers (of all kinds), do you know what your characters, settings look like before you start? How do you know...? What about designers (fashion or otherwise)? Where do you get your ideas from?

Well, I am suggesting a 'tool' today to help you visually create your masterpieces.

Check out Flickr.com. Its' a sight where lots of people put their photos up and you can search through them all to find exactly what you're looking for.

For example, if you were writing a story where a character finds an old book, you could type book into the search and find it. You never know what picture's you'll see and how it will inspire your stories.

Or, type in your character's name and see what comes up...

This sight is GREAT for all you photographers too. It's a place where you can share your work with the world and get feedback. Who knows where that might lead...You can even set up a photo blog! It doesn't have to stop with photographers. Artists, sculptors put your work up too.

So, all of those needing a visual boost, you know where to go. Try it. What will you be inspired by...?

Day 27: A picture says 1000 words!

The next time you open a magazine, be it fashion, cars, computers, the big issue...find two random pictures which don't seem to have anything to do with each other. How do they link? How could you make a story/a scene/a dance piece/a painting using these two pictures?

It can be any aspect of the pictures that you chose to use. It's really up to you. Use it as a starting point...

To give you an example (which I so often like to do) take these two pictures:

I have taken them from this month's 'Marie Claire' Magazine. Is the girl - lets call her Sadie - looking at the sign? Is this where she is destined to go? Is this (the sign) what she wants her life to be? Is she an undercover detective, investigating the scene of a murder? Is she the murderer? Is she the next victim...or are they two separate things in the story all together?

Now, I am a writer, so naturally edge towards creating a story from these two images, but do whatever you like with them. Create lyrics, use the colours to inform your painting. Maybe it inspires your own fashion ideas?

Whatever you do with it, be creative. Find your own pictures and let them inspire you own creativity.

Go...

Day 24: Collaboration!

Today I want a talk about team-work-creativity. Yes, that's right, working together to produce a super inspiring creative masterpiece!

Who do you know? Dancers, musicians, painters, writers, actors, sculptors, photographers, animators, makers, breakers....Creativity attracts creativity, so get it together guys and gals. See what will happen if you combine your creative talents and passions.

This idea was given to me yesterday (of course) where there was lots of websites I could sign up to and collaborate with other artists. You know what I thought? 'What a FANTASTIC idea,' that's what!

Want some examples? Check out INFRA, a collaboration piece between contemporary dance choreographer, Wayne McGregor and artist Julian Opie.

or

Take a peek at this collaboration animation by David Ellis and BLU.

So, why don't you mix it up a bit. Dancers, get in contact with musicians. Artists, talk to some animators etc etc.

It's like my dad always says, 'two heads are better than one.' (I'm sure someone else said it first, but I'm going to give him the credit today!)