Creativity is Messy
(14 of 50)
Things here at Lizard Lodge have been going along really well of late. We’re feeling a burst of creativity as the leaves pop out on trees and start loading up the chlorophyll. So many greens! I’ve been so amazed at the greens that I’d almost forgotten about the bluebonnets. But I saw some bluebonnets yesterday which reminded me that I need a wildflower fix and soon. The yards, fields, parks and highways are a riot of growth, colors, photosynthesis and life.
The boy has begun to explore iMovie and YouTube. At last. He’s been a video camera owner for a couple of years, but never showed an interest in putting it all together. But perhaps he’s been incubating. However, now, his desk, the dining room table and all available flat surfaces in his room are taken up with Bionicles who are the stars of his movies.
Spilling over from this Bionicle action is the construction paper prop making. In progress is a video about how to make …. um, Something … from green construction paper that fits on your arm. It requires just the right shade of construction paper, lots of tape and some markers, glue, maybe a modeling session or two.
Another work in progress occupies one end of the dining room table: several blobs of Claytoons and Sculpey figures or something. Might be a claymation movie in progress. I’m trying not to notice the thin film of red on the table from the brilliant red Sculpey that was pounded out and rolled and reformed. Ok, so I noticed it. I am trying to tell myself that it won’t stain. And if it does, I can rub it out. And if it doesn’t rub out, it will serve as a reminder of my son’s creativity.
We have an art stash: I keep on hand a large stock of Sharpees (wide and fine), construction paper, various kinds of tapes, that ubiquitous box of crayons, pencils, seven or eight kinds of glue, several reams of card stock, Astro brights, graph paper, watercolor and other art paper, acrylic paint, watercolors, oil pastels (those are crayons really), the regular kind of pastels, stamp pads, stamps, brushes, Xacto knives, scissors, pipe cleaners (now called chenille stems), polymer clay and tools…. and a bunch of other stuff too numerous and diverse for me to think of it right this minute.
All this was bought in various trips to Le Boutique Target, Walgreen’s, Michael’s, art stores, the random grocery store, clearance bins all over town and even the odd garage sale. When inspiration strikes, you do not need to go shopping. You need to get messy.
The dining room is a mess. No one can eat in there right now. The kitchen table is piled with the books and photo framing projects (mostly mine), the coffee table has knitting, books, games and the popcorn bowl from last night’s Dr. Who episode.
And what a happy mess it is! I have to keep reminding myself that creativity follows the 80/20 rule, where it’s 80% “mess,” 20% cleaning up. You do have to clean and declutter eventually, to clear the decks, to put the scissors back so you can find them, to prepare for new thoughts, new ideas, new projects. But when you’re knee-deep in that 80%, it feels like 100%! And maybe it’s more like 90/10, 95/5… who cares about a few scraps of paper on the floor?
As long as you can find the scissors. Although sometimes, I look and look for the scissors, only to discover that OH they are put away in this drawer. But there’s not where I want them. So I make a chain of cotton yarn and put them on a leash, so they can roam free on the tabletop without going too far away. (Is that too much like those horrible pens at the bank? I’m still considering this one.)