Creative ideas demand action

So what do you do when you get a good idea? Do you think about it for a while? Do you put it on the list of all the to-do-laters that you have hidden in your computer files? Or do you do something about it?

What do I do? I let it bounce around my brain for a day or two. If it is still there and it is exciting some passion, I start to talk about it and share it. If new ideas keep raining down to expand it, I commit!

This week I got a new idea and I did all of those things. Today the idea is in place and ready for action.

I love considering way-out abstract ideas on life. I do not like conventional philosophies and I certainly have no time for dogma. I love the thrill of letting my mind entertain ridiculous concepts and watching them twist and turn until they become imaginative possibilities. I have written a few short articles and produced a few DVD’s on these odd thoughts. (They have not been presented to the public as yet).

This was my idea: create a website that allows visitors to submit their own strange stories. Put a limit of 200 words (because we all have limited attention spans). Then go! The site encourages new perspectives on life. I won’t post any boring reruns or clichés. I am looking for new and imaginative, articles that take the reader into new ground.

The moral of the story. If you get a good idea, do something with it!
Have a look at my creepy site – undergrounddelights.com

Creative ideas demand action

So what do you do when you get a good idea? Do you think about it for a while? Do you put it on the list of all the to-do-laters that you have hidden in your computer files? Or do you do something about it?

What do I do? I let it bounce around my brain for a day or two. If it is still there and it is exciting some passion, I start to talk about it and share it. If new ideas keep raining down to expand it, I commit!

This week I got a new idea and I did all of those things. Today the idea is in place and ready for action.

I love considering way-out abstract ideas on life. I do not like conventional philosophies and I certainly have no time for dogma. I love the thrill of letting my mind entertain ridiculous concepts and watching them twist and turn until they become imaginative possibilities. I have written a few short articles and produced a few DVD’s on these odd thoughts. (They have not been presented to the public as yet).

This was my idea: create a website that allows visitors to submit their own strange stories. Put a limit of 200 words (because we all have limited attention spans). Then go! The site encourages new perspectives on life. I won’t post any boring reruns or clichés. I am looking for new and imaginative, articles that take the reader into new ground.

The moral of the story. If you get a good idea, do something with it!
Have a look at my creepy site – undergrounddelights.com

I was born to be a creative failure

When you begin, use cheap materials and be prepared to fill your rubbish bin with your early works. They have as much value as last years newspapers – okay for recycling or maybe for starting a fire.

Creative Ways to avoid frustration

During a long sparring session at my Tae Kwon Do class, one of my friends injured his toe quite badly. His sparring partner came up and apologised. N said no need to apologise, it was his own fault. I thought about this simple but honourable statement.

Since it is my choice to be in a group that likes fighting, then I am responsible for whatever happens to me. I’m the crazy old man who wants to spar the young heroes. If I am hit or kicked or whatever, then it’s my problem. (Apart from the fact that I should be experienced enough to avoid such uncomfortable situations).

Likewise in everyday situations, didn’t I choose most of the things in my life? Didn’t I choose to go to work, the type of work? Wasn’t it my choice to be married or single? Didn’t I allow my attention to be distracted just before I had the accident? Didn’t I decide to drive the car?

We are all responsible for our own lives. It is not your fault for many of the things that happen to you. It’s just that your decisions put you wherever you are. This is a hard pill to swallow. It is difficult to accept responsibility for every moment of your life.

It does not mean that you cannot blame others for something they may have done to you, but it means that you need to accept what happens to you and get on with it!

We all have difficult situations. Regardless of who caused the problem, it is your responsibility to accept the way the cards fell and deal with them accordingly. Accept what happens and then do something with it. Life is your responsibility, but not necessarily your fault!

With your art, you probably will not become the greatest artist in the world, life did not deal you such a fate. However, you can use what strengths you have and build on them. It is useless to think, if only…

Wishing will only make you frustrated and slow your progress. It is your responsibility to work with what you have, not with what you wish was true! Take responsibility for the situation you are in and develop your skills on that.

We all have limitations, too bad, that’s just the way it is, accept them.

Creative abstraction

Art is a caricature, an emphasis on the essence of an ordinary, everyday subject. Everything around us can be seen as an ordinary everyday subject or any single thing around us can be isolated and its beauty and uniqueness revealed by close study. The character or uniqueness of anything is realized by focusing on it. This uniqueness is often characterized in art.

Characteristics are the credentials that give something its flavor. A caricature can emphasize many different features… form as in a sculpture, emotion as in a song, color as in a painting, line as in fashion.

The ocean is an ordinary blend of air and water mixed with salts, life and light. Yet a caricature can capture the essence of this subject, enough to charm the senses and to convince the eye of its nearness to reality. A caricature is made up of the key characteristics that summarize the subject.

My work captures the essence of beauty, that is peculiar to the sea. My art is realistic… but it’s not. It looks like the ocean, but then again… the ocean does not have lumps of paint in it. The ocean does not have wriggly white lines all over it, yet from a distance… it seems to.

Art is a caricature of life. My work is a caricature of the living beauty of the sea. My art characterizes a moment of the ocean's perpetual motion.

A caricature highlights the character, the individuality and uniqueness of the subject. Most people have very little character, they are only watered down versions of themselves. A character stands out as an individual and an object of interest.

People who are average, ordinary and careful have placed severe limitations on their own expression. They are not caricatures, they have made themselves into wisps of what they could be, confining their ideas to match the imagined expectations of an unimaginative society.

Those few in the world who are not afraid to be themselves, stand out as oddities. These are the creative individuals that are often mocked. They are misunderstood because their visions are not shared by safe society. Society functions on an agreed platform of mediocrity and blandness. There is no room for an individual in a safe society.

People with personality, or character, are full of their own being. They are not afraid to step into new ideas and to test non-conformist patterns of behavior. These oddities are the ‘characters’ that add light to an otherwise drab collection of unimaginative human beings. These people are the brightly-colored living art forms that offend the dreary gray masses around them.

My art is not the sea, it is a caricature of the sea. It is the essence of the sea. My art is a caricature of the ever-changing magnificence surrounding our planet.

My dark creative blog side

Hidden in the dark depths of your being, there is something waiting to be uncovered. There is a part of you that lies sleeping in the shadows. You need to face it and wake it.

It is not really hidden, just ignored. It is the naturally creative aspect of your character that you have not awoken yet. It is that part of you that makes you unique and special.

You have insights and talent in a particular direction that are peculiar to you. Peculiar because it is that individual part of your character that society will label as weird. Dreary, unimaginative society does not want to encourage your creative individuality, it likes everyone to be ‘normal’. Society likes conformity and predictability. It talks about individuality, but mocks it when it arrives.

You have natural abilities. You understand some things better than most do. It is most likely something that you find interesting. Something that you have already experienced or witnessed or learnt. There is something that you find particularly enjoyable and want to know more about. You already have an exceptional talent that needs to be awakened, to make you an expert in something.

Find out what it is! It will give you the direction you need to focus upon. It may be cooking cupcakes or helping old people or telling stories or even writing or drawing. Whatever it is, you need to make it clear to yourself. You need to acknowledge this hidden secret within and bring it out into the light so that you become the unique something that you naturally are!

When you recognise it, do something about it. It needs to be brought into your world and aroused through patience and practice. It is a revelation of yourself and since you will be working with yourself for the rest of your life, you may as well take advantage of it!

The dark side of your creativity is waiting for you.

Make some quiet time for yourself. Then ask:
‘Who am I? What do I love to do? What do I really yearn to be?‘
Wait in the quietness and listen, as ideas bubble up from the dark side of your creativity into the light of day. Do this often and you may be surprised to learn who you really are!