What is Creative Flow and How Do We Get There?

Maybe you have heard of the term creative flow. It is when you are so immersed in the creative act that you experience a sense of flow where you are totally in the moment and the ideas appear almost effortlessly one after another. You feel so absorbed in the task that you lose a sense of time and place. It would take a fire alarm to drag you away from your activity. This is one of those things that you just know it when you're in it. I know what it feels like and tweak the conditions to get there regularly through my creative habits. Of course, some days your creative pursuit does not feel so flowy. That is OK. I keep it short on those days. But I still am in the studio. I never just give up. I may make something I am not happy with, but I just show up.

If you have found an activity that makes you feel this way, you are blessed. If you have not, keep being curious til you find it. Maybe it is not one activity but many activities within a general topic. Tap into your mental space, your imagination. There are 1000+ different things you can do to access creative flow. The sooner you discover what really lights you up, the sooner you have a fast-track ticket into the creative flow. If you still have no idea what to try, just remember Be curious. Keep an open mind. Consider wondering around the library or a book store. Here’s a list of some examples of activities to try: crocheting, knitting, embroidery, cooking, photography, painting, watercolors, piano, ukulele, illustration, hand lettering, scrap booking.  This list can be as big as your imagination.

All 4 quilts in my 100 Day series, 2015. The guitar is there for scale.

The first time I truly knew I was in a creative flow is when, you know I am going to say this… I started my creative habit. It started with the 100 day project in April 2015.  I have a visual record of the creative flow in the 4 pieces that I created during that experience. I loved being in the creative flow so much that I just did not stop. Next week will be my one year anniversary of my creative habit of making a fabric art square every day.

Two pieces of fused glass I have made at Hands On Art Studio over the years.

If you look around you, you will see people in the flow all the time. Children are pros at it. A few years ago my family was on vacation in Door County, Wisconsin. We went to Hands On Art Studio where you can make pottery, jewelry, metal work, fused glass, mosaics, and beading, etc. We have been going to Hands On for years and it is my favorite thing to do in Door County. You pay a nominal fee for the studio time for the whole day and then pay for the supplies you use that day. It is a place that embraces the concept of creative flow. My family and I were in the fusible glass studio. Fusible glass is a technique where you glue down pieces of colored glass onto an clear piece of glass.  Then Hands On staff put it in the kiln to melt or fuse together.  It was so crowded on this particular day that we were in the outdoor patio with just a roof covering us. It started to storm outside and rain flooded the patio. Everyone was so intent on their projects, I had to say it is too wet to work guys and your glue is not holding the glass anymore. They had not even noticed. We went inside. Then the storm knocked out the power. We all (about 15 of us) kept working in the very low light of the back up generator. We were all touching shards of sharp glass (including our children) in the low light. No one complained and we all kept working. We had a vision and we were in the creative flow. We were not stopping. The staff noticed more people kept coming to start a new project and I think they kind of wished we would all leave. After all, it was still really storming outside. No one left. Amazing. The power of creative flow.

My big take away from my past students is that they need this creative flow because it's central to their sense of balance in their life.

I write and teach to help people like you discover your unique creative style and give you mental tools and encouragement to create more.

Regular creative self expression is a mindfulness exercise that gets you directly into a state of creative flow. The calming effects of being present in the act of creating permeate every other aspect of your daily life. Being in the creative flow reduces stress.

 +creativity -stress  

How go we get into creative flow? We start by finding inspiration on a regular basis and then turning that inspiration into our art of choice through our creative habits. Creativity is a tool to get into the creative flow. Step out of time. Be in the moment. Express yourself. Live more mindfully. Clear your head. Bring peace to your day. 
So start a creative habit. Build a creative practice. Design one that fits into your existing routine. You will find your creative practice becomes a continual journey of self-care that feels good and keeps you present in the moment while being creative doing things that you love on a regular basis. More creativity. More joy. The benefits reinforce the practice. Our intention is to use this creative time as a stress reducer, a time of relaxation, like a meditation practice. Let go of rules. Let go of judgment. It’s all just self-expression. 

 

For every new series, I am creating a playlist on Spotify based on the series theme.  This one is Gulf Waters. If you like reggae, you'll like it. Click here to listen on Spotify.  
 

The Nitty-Gritty Details of my Daily Creative Habit

My view when I walk into my studio

Every day I make a six-inch fabric art square. When I walk into the studio, I turn on the iron. I see all the fabric I might use for the current series laid out on a foam board right next to my sewing machine. I start designing directly by laying out fabrics to figure out a design I like. I keep it loose and have no preconceived ideas at this point except for general guidelines I already decided for this particular 25 day series. Once I decide what I like, I sew the fabric pieces to each other one at a time, ironing after each seam is sewed. Then I cut the square down to size using a square acrylic ruler. I take a photo of the square and post it to my Instagram account. The last step is to clean up the studio. All the small fabric scraps are thrown out. The foam board with all the fabric is put back in place next to my machine. The cutting mats are put in order. The rotary cutter is put in its basket. Iron off. Ready for the next day. 

These are the things that make it a creative habit. I do the same things every day around the same time. No matter what your creative endeavor is, you can make it a habit. When you make creating a habit, you will create more. Guaranteed.

I would be lying if I said this all came about easily one day. I have fine-tuned this creative habit for a year to serve my need for consistency.  The framework is simple, not unlike doing the dishes every day or making lunches for your kids to take to school.

Seeing creative habits as a regular kind of chore takes the drama out of the situation for me. Just show up. Every day.

The steps in my creative habit may be simple but I have a whole system in place to serve this habit. My creative habit needs inputs like inspiration and fabric and tools. Some days, I am inspiration hunting for my next series idea as I described in this article Capture Your Ideas and Evernote to the Rescue. Sometimes I am focusing on the supplies I need like my new Juki sewing machine. In other words, there is a lot of supporting work to be done to create every day, the grunt work or a nicer way to say it is, the preparatory work. This preparatory work lays the ground work for you to keep up your creative habit without missing a beat.

It all starts with a creative idea of what to create. These ideas do not just drop out of the sky. As I stated in the article I mentioned above, I first turn to my Designs and Color Ideas notebook in Evernote. I decide on the color palette and the design. To prep for a series, I first select a variety of fabrics I can use.  Currently, I use solid colored fabric in the Kona cotton fabric line from Robert Kaufman Fabrics. The goal is to have enough fabric to keep the 25 days interesting  without opening it up to "the sky is the limit" thinking, which can be overwhelming. I prewash all the fabric using Color Catchers to be safe and to capture any extra dye in the wash. After the fabric gets out of the dryer, I iron and starch the fabric that I will be using for the 25 days using  Best Press starch alternative. I have found that the fabric sews together easier if it is stiffer from the starch. It is like working with stiff cardboard rather than a flimsy wrinkled piece of cotton. Sometimes, I pre-cut some shapes of fabric to get me thinking.  I feel it is easier to improvise with smaller pieces of fabric and then I can see the geometric possibilities. I lay all the fabric out on a foam board so I can see it all and move it around easily. I also have to maintain my cutting boards, rotary cutters, and iron etc. This preparatory work is key to walking into that studio ready to go. It needs to be done before I walk in as part of my creative habit.
 
This creative habit helps me get squares made every day. But the next step for me is to make the larger square 25 day pieces. I sew all 25 squares into 5 rows of 5 squares which makes a final square of 30 inches. Then I add a cotton batting and a backing fabric. The next step is to quilt the three layers together on my Juki sewing machine. Bind the edges. Make a hanging sleeve for the back. Add a wooden slat with hanging hooks and wires. The last step is the quilt label. As you can see, there are a lot of steps to completing an art quilt.

Due to technical difficulties with my Juki sewing machine attachment used for quilting the three layers together, I am way behind in making the 25 day quilts.  Now this is fixed, I can move forward. As I said, the best way for anyone to get a lot done is to make a habit.  I need to take my own advice and add a habit for Operation Quilt Catch Up. Stay tuned for photos of the quilt completions over the next few weeks! 

Has this article got you thinking about the details of your creative habit? Share in the comments below.

FYI. All these products I mentioned are not based on any affiliation with these companies. My intent is to only give you the nitty-gritty details of what I do every day in my creative habits.
 

Why start a Creative Habit?

I could write five different articles about the benefits of creative habits because there are a multitude of benefits. I'm just going to focus on a few benefits in this article to encourage you to start a creative habit of your own. First, a habit is performed regularly without even thinking about it. It is non-negotiable like brushing your teeth. There is no deciding to do it or not. Non-negotiable. Second, habits reduce decision fatigue. After making many important and non-important decisions every day, it is easier to do the things that have become a routine, a habit with no need to recreate the wheel.

Someone commented on one of my Instagram daily photos saying, "You just keep doing it. #determination." At first I was a little confused. Why would I not keep creating every day? What is the big deal?  It made me think about how you can build any habit so it feels weird to not do it. I guess that is the definition of a habit. Something you do on a regular basis. For about two weeks over the winter holidays in 2015, I took a break and did not make my daily fabric art square. It felt really weird. I felt like I was floating without my creative habit as an anchor in my daily activities. My daily creative habit has truly become non-negotiable.
 
I want to have an impact on how people see their creativity and discussing creative habits is the most powerful way to easily start creating more. The term creative habit describes something that helps you and builds you up, not like New Year's resolutions which may have the opposite affect. The bonus of a creative habit is that creative self-expression can actually be relaxing and fun. It's not about being perfect. It's really about joy. 

Fabric selection for Fractured Blue Sky series, 2015.

The motivation behind starting a creative habit is to discover your creative potential. It provides a sense of purpose and a source of playfulness. It’s not what you do, how you do it, or where you do it. These are just details. The important part is the dedication to yourself, the commitment to yourself. Once you commit, you will figure out what you want to try and then experiment. Be curious. Momentum builds on momentum. Seven days to 14 days to a month to three months to year. If you look back, it’s has become just a habit.

A habit helps you create more because it reduces decision fatigue. So what is the deal with decision fatigue? After making a 100 decisions a day, it gets harder to decide on things. In this case, habits are your friends. Setting a habit means you have a set time and place to do an activity. You probably know what you are going to be working on. So many of the decisions have already been made. You usually have a habit trigger like after breakfast or after the children are in bed. You have your materials ready. You know how much time you have available. Just create. Then come back the next time and start again.

I have set up my whole system of the daily squares and the 25 day square pieces to avoid decision fatigue. The idea of an overall 25 day theme gives me a structure.  So many of these big decisions are made up front but it still allows me the flexibility to enjoy creating every day. Each day has some freedom and some constraints.

Selection of 9 daily squares for Fractured Blue Sky series, 2015. Notice the variety given the constraints of color and design.

I pick the fabric to use for the 25 day theme up front and have it all washed and starched. I pick the general outline of a design.  Every day I deliberately push the boundaries of these themes by playing with the designs and mixing up some of the design and color choices to add variety to the finished 25 day piece. I have my studio all set up so I can get to work as soon as I get there. I have routines set up to organize the studio before I leave each day. Clutter is not my friend when I am in the studio.

To make your creative habit stick, set it up to be non-negotiable and make as many decisions as possible up front to reduce decision fatigue.

If you want to run a creative habit idea by me, you can contact me here.
 

Capture your Ideas and Evernote to the Rescue

Every 25 days I need to come up with a new series idea. The last thing I want is to be at day 24 and have zero ideas. To help with this, I use an app called Evernote which you can use both on your phone and desk/laptop. I have zero affiliation with the company but have become a super fan over the past years. Evernote is basically a digital notebook system organized with individual notes in each notebook you create. You can add photos, text, even a digital recording to any note. It is the best tool for organizing my thoughts. I have a notebook for each activity I do: Creating, Teaching, Learning, etc. I have different sub-notebooks stacked into these broad categories. For example, I have a notebook labeled Artists where I add information on artists that inspire me under my Learning notebook. Many people have written different strategies for organizing your Evernote systems. Just google it and you will be amazed. How you organize it is less important than just having a "brain dump" place to capture your thoughts.


I keep an Evernote notebook filled with ideas for different design and color ideas. I used to have one notebook for designs and one separate one for colors. Now I just throw the photo or written ideas into a notebook called Design and Color Ideas. It was too arbitrary to separate the ideas because the two aspects color and design really feed off of each other with a synergy. So I find it is best to keep them together in a combined Evernote notebook.


Not only does this help me feel somewhat more prepared to come up with a new series every 25 days, it also reminds me that I will not run out of ideas. I have a notebook full of them. Honestly, some of the ideas are @#!^. I have many photos of bathroom tiles that I will probably never use. But 1 out of every 10 ideas will give me at least a thread to hang on to. For example, looking through my current notebook, I have the following items:

Photo of the front windows of the Lincoln Center in New York City
Photos of rocks and minerals from the Nikon camera small world website
Link to Textiles from the Denver Art Museum

Photo of a printer error from my home printer which will lead to a series idea some day

You may think you will remember all these great ideas that you may have.  But I guarantee you will not remember them. The iPhone camera is my best tool for capturing ideas. I take a photo and add it to my Evernote notebook directly from my phone. Sometimes I write down an idea on a piece of paper and take a photo of the paper. Whatever works. You just need a mechanism to capture all your ideas in one place. I know someone who uses a mini field notebook he carries around with him everywhere to capture ideas and to-dos. Some people use sketchbook journals. Just find a way that works for you. I am a digital girl because I think best with minimal clutter. Plus the ideas are as close as my phone. 


If you feel you are out of interesting ideas for your form of creative self-expression, spend time this week refreshing your interest. If you see it as a form of play and document what you find, you will have a record to refer to when you need a boost and have fun doing it. This also helps you get in the habit of refilling the well.  We need inspiration to keep creating.


Set a goal to capture at least one idea a day and record it with your chosen method (digital or handwritten) for this whole week. To help you be accountable, email me or leave a comment on the blog at the end of the week and tell me which was your favorite idea and what you are going to do with it. Ideas are great but the next step is to take action. 
 

Design Choices and Bringing It All Together

Last week, I wrote about Color Choices and Context. The next step in the creative process for me is choosing a design and bringing it all together. Actually the process is not very linear at all. Sometimes color choices come first. Sometimes design choices come first. Sometimes the idea arrives with both color and design choices fully formed at the same time.

10 Blues Series, 2015.  Day 253, Stained Glass. 10 inches by 10 inches. Cotton fabric wrapped around stretched canvas.

Some of my favorite designs start with an inkling and some daydreaming. When I approach the studio, I have a hazy vision of what I want to do. For example, the piece Stained Glass from the 10 Blues series was an idea that I had been kicking around for a while with bright colors in a free-form chaotic pattern in a narrow band across a solid square of charcoal grey. The design was foremost in my mind. I kept that idea light in my thinking and felt free to experiment in the studio. It was fun to make and I thought of stained glass windows with the strong contrast between the bright colorful light and a dark interior.

I liked this design so much I modified it for my first 25 day series of 2016, Bits and Pieces of 2015. The design for that series was simple. Use fabric scraps from all of last year's pieces for the Every Day Project and sew them within a square of charcoal grey fabric. No other rules. I loved the freedom and the series has loads of variety from square to square.

Sometimes the color ideas come first as in the Sun Corn series. Once I had the colors in mind, I remembered the traditional quilt design of a square inside a square. I was bringing it all together, the color and design choice. I decided the large squares could be all different yellows and the inside squares could be purples, oranges or grey blues like heirloom corn kernel colors. However,  I never want to limit myself too much but just the right amount to give some structure. Perhaps I may want to choose a rectangle inside the square or add more colors. I need to have this freedom of choice to make it more interesting in the studio every day. See my daily squares in this series in my Daily Instagram Photos gallery.


I have trained myself to make decisions quickly. Decisions is my word of the year. I think this is one of the most important things the Every Day Project has taught me.

Nine squares in the  Bits and Pieces of 2015 series, 2016.  6 inches square each. Cotton fabric.

Make a decision. Pick the colors, the design and move on. Trust your instincts.  Get creating. Spend some time planning but it is more important to just start.


You never know where an idea will come from. One of my dear friends from high school suggested a design idea last week. Take an iconic painting, like a Matisse or Monet, break down the artwork into abstract squares for the series and then reassemble them.  Of course, I would not do it in any way anyone would probably recognize them as the original. But it gives me a thread of an idea. She also gave me another source for color inspiration, the commercial seed catalog from Johnny's Selected Seeds. Flowers, fruits and vegetables are a never-ending source of both color and design ideas. I am grateful for her suggestion. 

Thank you to the commenters on the blog for offering other sources for color inspiration like the book Interaction of Color by Josef Albers and ColourLovers.com site. 

Looking for inspiration and sharing that inspiration with others is a great way to get out of your head and discover new ways of approaching your creative outlet be it scrap booking, photography, collage, interior design, zentangling, or watercolors, etc.


You need to tend the garden of inspiration to keep ideas growing.


Keep the ideas coming!