If art is war, as Steven Pressfield would suggest, then ink is my weapon of choice. This is true even when I’m not writing. Working my way through Lisa Sonora Boom’s The Creative Entrepreneur
, a book about developing business ideas through the use of a visual journal, I’ve had the pleasure of dabbling with paint brushes, pencils, crayons, chalk, and charcoal, but the pages I’ve created with simple ink pens are my favorite.
Maybe it’s because it feels so familiar. I’ve essentially been using black ink to draw words in notebooks and journals for several years. Now, I’m adding shapes and curves and lines. I love the way the ink gently spills onto the paper as I move my hand, and the way even the simplest doodle stands out on the page.
There’s something about the flow of it all that allows me to flow too. When I’m feeling empty and void of ideas, I find that simply creating abstract forms with a pen somehow breaks something loose inside me.
Add some background music and I’m lost – in a good way.
I assume that some people feel this way about painting and others about knitting or whittling or even cutting and pasting.
What’s your weapon of choice? Do you know?
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
my favorite is watercolors & glitter. i like things with sparkle! i like that watercolor paint is the most ‘forgiving’…you can make changes, cover easily, blend simply. i like how it glides over the paper leaving a trail of color behind it…
really simple, reassuring, repetitive hand stitches always get me back in the flow. It’s where I find some of my best ideas.
I have to remember to stop whatever isn’t working and pick up something simple, it always feels indulgent even though more times than not it’s rewarding and dissolves the creative blocks.
Knitting…it’s the place I go that is all laid out for me. You knit, you purl…something useful or beautiful appears. I also like to sew/make banners/puppets. I can be careful or meticulous depending on my vision.