A little delayed, I know.  Here is the rest of the discussion continued from my post of April 18, where I was taking a look at the creative process and how our minds work with that.

I continue to be amazed at my own naivety in thinking I was one of  just a few( that I knew of anyway), who operated differently to the rest of humanity at large. Ahemm!

Well surprise, surprise, I am not alone in my ivory tower, out on the edge where we creatives seem to dwell.  It is becoming apparent that finally mainstream is beginning to realize the value of the creative process, to the forward movement of the human race.

The problem has always been that creativity, creative  thought, comes from the wellspring of  the feminine mode of thinking.  And well – here we are fully immersed in the results of a patriarchal, male dominated society which has been running for several hundred years.  As a result creative thinking has been squashed, sidelined, persecuted and ridiculed – the tools of  the left brained, dominating ruling plutarchy that is currently in place.

However there is a shift afoot at a grass roots level.  We have come to a point where there is so much competition, the Internet has opened up such an equality of information access that we are being forced into a new paradigm.  The future belongs to those with the abilities to access the creative/intuitive, non lingual brain functions, to those with abilities in pattern recognition and capable of non linear, quantum leap  thinking.  It is no longer enough to follow the rules, tomorrow demands that we break them.  The faster we progress the more we require these skills.

We are being required to step up and really begin to use all of our potential as human beings.  What might you be capable of  if you really listened to and acted on your intuitive, creative, quantum leaping, self? As someone famous once said – It’s not our failures that we are afraid of it is our successes, our magnificent powerful selves that we never quite let loose, that is what truly terrifies us!

Below is an in depth  video on creativity by Writer Amy Tan.  She is engaging, humorous  and interesting as she examines creativity, quantum physics, and the way we experience synchronicity during the creative process.

One week to go!  What a week it has been.  A computer crash the week before a main event is tragic. I temporarily lost my gantt chart with my whole exhibition plan and time line. Now THAT really threw a spanner in the works.

So apart from running around getting a new motherboard and re-installing all my programs, it has been a busy week with press interviews, gathering students works for the photo shoot, making last minute necklaces and earrings and generally attending to a bunch of  important details.  Add to this,  painting, running classes, travelling to Sydney 3 times and minding grand kids and well – time management becomes pretty important!  And to top it all off,  it’s Easter and everything is closed down till Wednesday – which of course means too much chocolate and not enough exercise!  Do I sound a little frazzled?  I do don’t I.  Ok – deep breath, stillness and – upward and onward!

A compilation of student works from the Vine Art Affair to be held next week.

My favourite season of the year is here!

Liquid Amber's Glory

It makes up for my motherboard dying today……. :(

Symphony of Reds

Shadows on stone….

Confetti in the grass……

‘Creativity and the Mind’ – this was the subject of a fascinating conversation between author Sue Woolfe and Professor Russell Meares , which I attended last week at the UTS (University of Technology) in Sydney. It was moderated by Bernie Hobbs.

This discourse examined not only the nature of creative thinking and the role it plays in our lives but also its importance in child development. They spoke of the research being done currently, which is looking into the very nature of this kind of thought.

It seems that the great differentiating factor is that creative thought contains no language. It is capable of making quantum leaps with unerring accuracy into unknown territory and is completely non linear in nature.

I was fascinated to learn that Sue’s creative process is in many ways similar to my own. It goes like this:

• Gather lots of information or in her case write what ever comes into your head
• Keep doing the above until it feels like time to do something with it
• Begin looking for patterns of information – allow the characters to speak and develop by themselves
• Get out of your own way
• Pull it all together.

Next post I would like to look at this process as I relate it to art and the painting process.

Works by these authors

The Metaphor of Play – Russell Meares -

In my Opinion The metaphor of play is a profoundly important book by one of the greatest contemporary thinkers and researchers in the field of psychotherapy. – Dougal Steel, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry

Leaning Towards Infinity – Sue Woolfe This book was named in 1999 in Australia as one of the most important books of the century.  It won Australia’s distinguished prize, the Christina Stead Award, for the year it was published, as well as the Asia Pacific Region section of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and was shortlisted for the Tip Tree prize in the US. It was short-listed for almost every major Australian prize.