Collecting inspiration is June's fostering creativity theme. In my Google searches this morning an interesting comment showed up over at a blog called Design Shack by Joshua Johnson. His comment was "...overuse of inspiration can stifle your own creativity." This particular blog post was about apps for collecting digital inspiration (the post is 3 years old, so it predates Pinterest). He goes on to comment that inspiration should not be to do what's been done, but to do something new with it. It is easier to make someone else's pattern than to come up with my own. Though I rarely make a project exactly like the pattern. As much as I might like someone's project, I'd never use the exact same fabrics (I've never understood kits). But is that being creative, making someone else's pattern, but with different fabrics?
Shay over at Quilting in My Pyjamas wrote a post last week about her frustration with Pinterest, too many postings about the same thing and how spending time pinning kept her from achieving some very worthwhile goals (I'm very much in favor of the world peace one). Many of us have stepped back from blogging a bit because we feel we aren't able to fit in time for the things we blog about. I guess the trick is to balance the time we spend on "collecting inspiration" and actually using those collections to do something creative, however you define it.
I did spend some time in my sewing room, though in the last week, it hasn't been much more than 15 to 30 minutes each time.
Still six out of seven days isn't bad. I had a finish in there and made some progress on moving Calico Cats closer to being finished.
How did you do this week on finding some inspiration and acting on it?
1. Kate @katiemaequilts | 2. Marti | 3. Thea |
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7 comments:
Yeah, I've had times where I've had to step back from blogs because of inspiration overload. I pared down my reading list to the ones who really do consistently inspire me, and my time is better spent reading those. And I'm with you - I understand the purpose of kits, but I want to pick my own fabrics and make a quilt that's truly my own! (But I'm getting better at following patterns because that's easier than working extreme math in my head!)
I think there is a very real danger with us creative types of getting stuck collecting inspiration ..and not doing anything with it. Often when I pin or save a picture I'm doing it with the view that I'll make my own take on it- I rarely follow patterns.
As I read your blog...I have to agree with your comments from Joshua...sometimes I think I just need to unplug and get going on MY stuff!! Although, I do have a question...is your rose in your heading a picture you have taken and if so, would I have your permission to copy it to make a fiber art work from it..using it for inspiration? If not that is OK...I just really like it!
inspiration overload is not an issue for me. I just get lazy and accomplish nothing so my "inspiration" just builds up. I have to disagree though about the comment that inspiration is not re-doing someone else's stuff. well, maybe I don't disagree, but rather I recognize that my creativity has it's limits and re-doing someone else is about as creative and inspired as I get.
I've decided recently that I need to make some changes too. I'm not going to take a total blog break, but I am going to slow down and try not to spend as much time online. We call them inspiration photos, but I am seldom inspired to do more than admire and save them.
Sometimes I browse for photos, not for inspiration but to see how it looks when others do something I would like to do. Sometimes it's a little discouraging too to think I have an original idea and find that it's all over the internet. I would have been better off just to make my idea and live happily in the ignorance of thinking it was original.
My weeks of not doing much creative wise is still happening. I have lots of inspiration just no time at the moment and when I have time I am dead tired. We have had an ongoing injury issue with Squid and Maestro got injured at footy last week. Thanks to rain and deciding to give Maestro a rest this week from the rough and tumble of a game to make sure that he is well mended we have an unexpected free weekend. I have one more project to finish and write up a pattern for and heaps of study to do but I might give the study a miss and sew instead.
I've not made a quilt from a pattern yet (unless you count the tutorial i used from Elizabeth Hartman when i first started quilting and my "teacher" was the internet!) and I'm a relative newcomer. I guess the fact that I'm given scraps of fabric and orphan blocks and told to "do something with them" inspires my own sort of creativity. The RSC challenge helped too.
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