Tag Archives: beauty

Creativity Week Wrap Up

Posted on June 29, 2013 | Leave a comment

Each day this week I posted a new idea on aspects of creativity.

I have gathered all the links for you in one easy place for you to catch up. I would love to hear what you have to say on creativity.

Monday – Create Useless Beauty

“Create a piece of art because it has no other function than to beautify your presence, illuminate your thoughts, elevate your attitude, satisfy your creativity, to please only yourself.”

Tuesday – Creative Dichotomy

“Make art from the beautiful and the ugly;

From the joyful events of life and from the circumstances marked by sorrow.”

Wednesday – The Bridge Between Imagination and Reality

“Creativity is the bridge between imagination and reality. We live in a divided state of how we see the world as it is and the vision of how we see the world as we want it to be.”

Thursday – Birth and Death in Creativity

“Creativity is a birthing act. Its genesis lies in the conception of an idea and by a word it is spoken into being.

And in the end we see that it is good.”

Friday – Creativity is the Mother Tongue

“We speak our mother tongue verbally and artistically. For some, we need to find our voice again. For others, it is strengthening their voice. Creativity is our mother tongue. Let people hear your voice.”

Have  a creative weekend.

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Create Useless Beauty

Posted on June 24, 2013 | 3 comments

Create Useless Beauty

Take a gander around the natural world and you will see a remarkable diversity. Even in the depths of the oceans where the creatures are nightmare fodder there is incredible diversity and beauty.

I’ve had the phrase “useless beauty” stuck in my head since I read Franky Schaeffer’s book, Addicted To Mediocrity (*) as a teenager. In reference to the diversity and beauty of nature he cited the jellyfish as an example. It exists within the ecosystem simply because it is. It exists because the creator designed it to be there. Therefore, it is beautiful.

What I mean by “create useless beauty” is this:

Create a piece of art because it has no other function than to beautify your presence, illuminate your thoughts, elevate your attitude, satisfy your creativity, to please only yourself.

Create a piece of art you can throw away or give away. 

Create a piece of art you can leave behind on a park bench or a cafeteria table.

The Beatles sang, “I heard the news today, oh boy.”

Every day we are surrounded by examples of the negativity, despair, the depths of depravity mankind can conjure and inflict upon one another on a daily basis.

However it does not take much searching to find the beauty of humanity in a shared experience of creativity.

And it begins with each of us creating useless beauty.

  • Write a short story scribbled on a Post It Note
  • Draw a random sketch on the back of a serviette
  • Record a hastily composed melody on your phone
  • Learn a favourite song, record it and post it to your blog or youtube
  • Fold an origami flower or a crane or a boat
  • Draw marginalia in the borders of the book you’re reading
  • Deface magazine pictures with a permanent marker
  • Take a picture a day (of the same spot, of something interesting you see about your day, but please don’t make it a selfie unless you’re making a documentary about yourself)
  • Decorate your office desk (or someone else’s desk).
  • Make a model aeroplane like you did when you were a kid.
  • Bake a cake (packet mix cakes are perfectly acceptable)

Make it something you would willingly give away, throw away or delete (don’t throw away the cake, eat it. Better yet, share it with others over a cup of tea).

Creativity is about communication.

Communicate first with yourself then communicate with others.

Practice random acts of creativity.

Create useless beauty.

(*) For those of you who have read “Addicted to Mediocrity” I realise I am taking a different angle to what Schaeffer was proposing, that of excellence in the arts. I believe in excellence in the arts, but I also believe in creativity as an integral part of the human experience. Excellence comes through refinement and dedication, learning and education in the arts. Schaeffer is addressing a cultural issue; I am addressing the need for creativity to be an important expression of our humanity.

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The First Line Conundrum

Posted on August 10, 2012 | 6 comments

Scattered around writing blogs is the sage advice along the lines of “3 Ways of Writing a Killer First Line,” or “The Top 10 First Lines of a Novel” or “How to Hook Your Reader in the First Line.”

I have a problem with this. I don’t read the first line of a new novel and stop, judging its worth and merit on a single sentence alone.

I liken it to looking at a Van Gogh painting and focusing on a single brush stroke and missing the beauty and grandeur of the night sky.

A great first line can hook you in. But it’s when you understand it within the context of the first paragraph, the first page, the first chapter through to the closing line of the novel that its true power and beauty is revealed.

I read beyond the first line. I want to be caught up in the artistry of the writer, from the first line to the first paragraph to the first page to the first chapter to the closing line; to have the sentences form sedimentary layers over me as I delve into the artistry of the written word. Or like being covered in a large bucket of spaghetti, tangled in the complexity and power of words (you chose which simile works best for you).

The first sentence encapsulates the power, breadth, beauty and depth of a novel. It retains its power because the remainder of the novel bears out the enormity and scope hinted at in the first line.

But every sentence must work for the reader. Every sentence must be crafted as delicately and intricately as the first.

Stand back and admire the beauty of the whole. Then step closer and examine the individual brush strokes to understand why it has captured your imagination.

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