For those creative types out there many of us experience the ebbs and flows of the creative process, its highs, lows, frustrations, and also its excitement, fulfillment and ultimate rewards.
I'm creative in all sorts of ways. When I was young I just wanted to be a cartoonist; I had a close friend who loved drawing and creating with me in primary school and we still create together (when possible).
I loved arts and crafts growing up and constantly made family members pop-out cards for their birthdays and all sorts of dioramas as presents for special occasions.
I used to love building things out of wood and painting them with my grandpa in his old dusty garage on weekends, and showing them off to Dad when I saw him the following day. There's something extremely satisfying about the whole creative process.
I still create (less pop-out birthday cards nowadays, of course) and find much enjoyment from my creative pursuits now, as I did growing up.
I do graphic design as a side business, where I create flyers, posters and logos. I've even invented fake businesses for friends; creating mock business cards or T-shirts just for laughs.
I create graffiti stencil art and clocks out of old LP records, and lately I've been getting back into an old nerdy habit of painting wargame miniatures and building miniature scenery pieces from scratch. I'm not short of hobbies, if anything, I have too many!
Fueled by adrenaline
In all areas of the creative realm we find different but similar journeys. Inspiration is the adrenaline-charged fuel for creative types. When inspiration hits ideas begin to form and flow; excitement builds with all the possibilities flying through your head at any one time.
Sometimes it helps to intentionally write or sketch these ideas down to give them some kind of order or purpose, otherwise they get lost in all the colourful chaos!
This is the wonderful part of the creative process. When inspired we can paint, create, sculpt, compose, sing, write or dance for hours and a lot of ground is covered. Strangely, times like this often hit me at odd hours like midnight (when I have to get up in the morning) and I just have to start sketching—or I can't sleep.
Pushing uphill
Other aspects of the creative process are less 'flowy'. When little (if any) inspiration hits, or we suddenly (instead of creating from our own impetus) have to create due to some work-related deadline—at times like these the pressure means we don't feel as 'free' and the creative process becomes a chore. It loses its spark and colour and, oddly enough, we go to it reluctantly even if it is something we love doing.
Some have termed this push uphill as 'resistance'—an invisible force we have to consciously push through to once again feel the creative flow. It's a hard slog sometimes, but in order to gain the creative results we have to push through.
This can feel counterintuitive for creative types, because we naturally feel we should be inspired to 'pick up our brush'. Pushing through this resistance and continually moving forward without 'feeling it' eventually brings us to the place of 'flow' and we gain inspiration (albeit slowly). As we push through, ideas form, our hands move without thought, and we are creating again.
When in 'flow' hours become minutes, our first coffee turns into our fourth and we are so absorbed we have little recognition of even what's going on around us, we are in our element. When we finally reach our end point we look at what we have created and say 'Wow... that's actually really cool!'We are strangely warmed, fulfilled and excited by something we have created.
Creating with the Creator
This is why I believe it is not only us who participate in our creative process. I believe God's Spirit is there with us (even if we have no knowledge of Him). God loves to create, and as such, it is He shares His love through all fields of artistic creation.
God loves painting, he loves composing music, he loves to dance, he loves sculpting; He loves it all so much that he wants to share his passion for these things with us, along with the joy of creation!
When you are in the creative flow, God's Spirit is present there with you, He's intimately involved in the play of the creative process. This is why children are so open and close to God; they are constantly playing, in wonder, and are always in the realm of play and creation.
Let's not lose the play, the wonder; let's create, sing, dance, sculpt and build in ever-increasing measures and know the heavenly Father is there with us, creating with us and sharing His joy and His wonder.
Tim Everton is a youth worker and designer who has recently started a diploma of counselling on the beautiful Southern Coast of South Australia. In his off-time he pursues various artistic passions including: design, photography, nerdy creations and art. He also loves the beach and seeking out his next best cafe latte—both in equal measure.
Tim Everton's previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/tim-everton.html