Explore your creativity

“BEFORE I STARTED, I DID NOT KNOW IF I WAS AN ARTIST” As a child, back in school, I remember drawing and having that deep affection towards drawing and painting. But I knew nothing about creating artworks.All I had was the love  to draw portraits and hence, I drew portraits of my grandfather, my brother, friends, myself and portraits of other people. I used to draw using a grid technique, which I learnt in a two months course during the school vacation back in 9th grade. It always gave me immense pleasure to draw faces.(Check out my class’ ANYONE CAN PORTRAIT’ on Skillshare to learn an easy technique through tracing to create portraits). As a college student, I loved fashion illustration and I was a fan of the world-famous fashion Illustrator Arturo Elena. But the funny thing was that I didn’t even realize that I had looked to him as an inspiration until I met Anna (a story I will share with you soon). I did not know that I could look up to someone like that for inspiration either and this realization took me almost 7 to 8 years until someone told me that. I never found books interesting unless I found good pictures in them. I was a visual person. Can you connect with me on that? My Acha (dad) bought me books as a child but I had not developed a habit for reading and never found them interesting except Harry Potter. The deep dark magical story of JK Rowling always inspired me to read her books and to watch her movies. Books became interesting to me after I found a meaning to read them, when I found Art in them. I love to read and look at illustrated books. I just love to buy & own them. I am learning about new people through them, new artists, new creatives, new authors. I now find books  interesting to read and learn as I have finally found my reason to read them. Art, illustration, and design are the topics that interest me from the bottom of my heart and help me to broaden my imagination. My Mom, Amma, used to tell me, “You have beautiful skills. Why don’t you create paintings and teach others? You keep searching everywhere for an answer like the Musk deer who searches the woods for a beautiful smell only to find that it comes from its own body”. Amma was right. We all are like musk deer. We keep searching for an answer without focusing on our strong skills which are deeply rooted inside us and without knowing the Artist in us. If you are an Artist, if you can create paintings, create strokes, create photographs, create music, if you like to act, if you can sculpt, dance, write, sing,what else can you think of? If you are a creator, then you are an Artist! Exercise: 1)So answer these questions. What do you want to be in life? What do you want to do in life?  Why do you want to do it? My answers would look like this  I want to be a successful Surface Pattern Designer and an Online Educator,helping women internationally, specially stay at home mothers to create artworks and designs, thereby creating a career for myself and helping others to do the same.  I want to create artworks, turn them into designs for products, teach women how to create artworks and designs, and work with clients internationally. Through which I want to build a career, have consistent income, be financially stable, bring my dreams to a reality and be able to take care of my parents and my family. What do your answers look like? Write them down one by one. 2) Draw or paint one artwork that speaks to you about what you want to become or related to what you want to do in your life

Being a woman, you shower everyone around you with love and happiness by adorning different roles, be that of a mother,wife,daughter,sister etc. But has it ever occurred to you that the most important thing in life or something to be considered as a priority is to start loving yourself. As a mother, you have been caring & loving your child, as a wife, you have been giving love to your husband, as a daughter you have been giving all the love to your parents and as a sister, you have been showering your love and care to your sibling. You have been giving importance to all the people around you, both family & friends and you have been treating yourself with least interest. But now it’s time to show yourself some love & care. Give some pat on your back and say you have been doing good. You have to tell yourself that you are beautiful, you are amazing, you are loved and you are a CREATOR. There were too many things I used to hate about myself. The list was huge. I used to say’ I hate my forehead because it’s too big’ or ‘I hate my jaws because it’s protruding when I smile’ or ‘I hate myself because I’m too short’.These were some things that I was made fun of as a child or even in my growing days. But one by one, I started working towards it and started turning that hate word into ‘LOVE’. I now tell this- “I love myself for the person who I am, the way I look  and for what I do and create. “I am a BEAUTIFUL CREATOR” When you find something is not good in you, find what it is that you don’t like about yourself, what it is that you want to change in yourself and what it is that you would like to see in yourself as a person in your personal & professional life. Write these down, so it helps you see things more clearly. To me, when my skin got worse with pimples, I worked on it through food habits and medicines to help it heal. I hated my flabby legs for which I started jogging and exercising. I hated myself for not being able to find a job in Germany and start earning, but I started teaching online & took small steps towards building my career, earning small incomes and I love myself for taking those small steps creating each of those courses & content for my students that helps them to find answers to their big questions through my explorations and processes which helped me in my work. Whenever I start my day, I make a cup of tea for myself to show some self love because it helps me relax and calm down before I start working on my personal projects & artworks. I make sure to apply some moisturizer to help my skin tackle winter dryness. Each time I find myself worrying about something, I make sure to tell myself ‘It’s Ok, I am doing great at what I am doing’. Help yourself by giving some self-love and care everyday, help yourself heal and help your inner artist breathe and live. Exercise: 1.Today I want you to write down a list of things that you hate about yourself. Write down why you feel that way towards yourself. 2.How can you change it and make yourself love what you do? What small deeds can you do for yourself to show some self-love and care 3.Draw or paint your self caring deeds

As said earlier, being a stay at home mom, our focus is mostly on our children and our family. We tend to not focus on ourselves. We give least preference for things we want to do in our lives. Before I started my artistic journey, this was exactly where I used to be. As time went by, I lost focus, I lost my confidence and stopped even believing in my own abilities. The only work I used to do is cleaning, cooking, taking care of the baby and mostly doing the home chores for my family. All of these tasks were important to me, but at the same time I gave least importance to myself. There even came a time, when I actually started getting frustrated with myself. I stopped talking to people because I felt I was not worthy enough. I started hating myself and eventually I fell into a depression. Depression is very common in women and I strongly feel that one of the reason for this is because we hate ourselves for not being able to be the person we wish to be in our life, for not doing the things we love and for not doing something for our inner self to make her feel nourished with happiness and a healthy creative mind. The reason it is happening with us, is because we are letting ourselves be that way. So it is of no use complaining or feeling that you were not able to do something in life because of somebody else or people around you. Just forget about the past of what you were not able to achieve, but start right now and focus on the present. ‘What can I do today & how can I start today?’ are the questions you need to ask yourself. What can you do to help yourself start with a creative work & nurture your inner Artist?   To nurture your inner artist, you could do anything, for example- spend some time at the lake, or take some time to write down your thoughts,& creative ideas, or find some florals to draw from the garden, take a walk to find some twigs & branches to paint and draw. It could be anything to give yourself a small incentive and help yourself feel good & happy about.  This process will nurture and help your inner artist get started with ideas and creative sparks. It will also make you feel good about yourself for taking small steps towards your artistic journey. Doing these small steps could also help you heal any wounds or scars that have been lying deep within you. Just observe things around you, plants, trees, leaves, flowers, stones, insects, animals, and all those small things that you could draw and paint.   Exercise: So today’s exercise for you is to get started & nurture your inner artist to give some care she needs. For example, my list would look like this, Going for a walk and find one inspiration to paint Get outside my studio, go downstairs to find a flower to draw. Clean up the balcony and fill up with some flowers to make myself feel good about that space. Make a good cup of tea for myself to help my creative brain relax & flow with ideas and creativity. Do meditation first thing in the morning & journal all my thoughts in a book. Now what would your list look like? Write them down Create an artwork from any one or more nurturing activities you will do today or in the coming weeks  

‘Have you ever felt the way I did?’  “Exploration can always lead to new possibilities and it has the magic to open a new unknown world.” – says my experience. Exploration is one essential part of every creative’s life. If you want a creative life, you have to explore and experiment. I knew nothing about exploration when I started out. I always had ideas coming in and going out. The moment I do it is when that idea comes to life. Being a creative person, it is important for you to keep your creativity alive and work with your ideas. I must also say that I have always responded to my creative calls. I was married off to a young chap right after my graduation. Having graduated as a Fashion Designer, I always felt that there was something missing within me. Although I loved fashionable clothes and dressing up well with red lipstick, chunky bangles or neckwear with my attire, I always felt that I didn’t belong to the fashion world or felt that I had very little to contribute there. My journey of exploration started in 2013 after my graduation. I had a creative idea that struck me and soon I started exploring with different materials like embroidered borders in various sizes, brocades, chiffons, silks, cottons, all pretty materials that had beautiful prints and designs. I combined to create them into sarees and sold them to many customers who loved the “bright” combinations. Unfortunately, I had to stop this idea when I received my visa to go to Germany and join my husband. Being the new wife in my life, I was trying to get settled in a place that was completely new to me. Within a few months, I started getting bored as I had no job and did not do much. It was hard to find a job without knowing the language. I had another creative lightning that struck me at that time. I went to an Art store and took my inner self on a date (like what Julia Cameron speaks about in her book – Artists Way) Together, we found something new to experiment with – Polymer Clay. Soon, I procured the skill to handle it and started creating cute animals out of it. Months later, another creative call came to me and I started creating jewelry out of it. This became a hit among my friends and soon I started selling them online through Facebook. I started getting product orders from The US, Dubai, Germany. Not much time had passed and “I got Pregnant”. I kept working on my beautiful Polymer Clay Jewellery until I was eight months pregnant. Then , just when I was about to pop, I stopped. Almost a year went by and I just did not want to start this again. I had lost my interest. There was no more life for that idea. I felt as though it was gone forever. No job, no income, no creative sparks and lightning. I was worried but was busy being the new mother of a baby who was now 8 months old. Upon realizing that I was not doing anything creative, I took out a large canvas, poured paint on a paper plate and started playing with my baby. He was excited to use the paints and crawled on top of the canvas spreading paints here and there with his tiny hands and feet. Finally, we created a painting together, completely filled with scribbled strokes which I later added a quote on it using a white paint which says “Life is What You Create” So, if you have been stuck with a creative lightning, or lately encountered a creative call, don’t fret and sit there scared thinking. “Get up and just go do it” I love what Elizabeth Gilbert says about leaving an idea unattended for a long time. Some ideas are patient, they wait for you for a long time and some just die or move on to finding other creative souls so that they can still be alive. So, never hold yourself from creating and exploring. It will open new doors for you. I believe in it! The question is “Do you?” When you dig deeper into your curiosity and explore, you end up with new beginnings and it can take you to the next level. This is one thing that I always had my spirits racing for. Creativity keeps flowing when you keep exploring and it could be anything. It could be learning new mediums to paint, trying to propagate your succulents, maybe baking cakes or decorating them with fondant or creating tiny figures out of polymer clay. Well, these are the things that I had explored and they were all the best things I created in my life as a creator. No matter what I did, they just helped me to keep my creativity alive and most importantly, they helped me to be “ME”. So, here is your task from today onwards, Ask yourself – “What will I start doing to explore my creativity and help it to stay alive without holding myself back?” Find one thing to keep it going and you will see the MAGIC happen!! Here are some things to explore and experiment to get started with your art journey. Paint mediums like watercolors, gouache, acrylics, brushes, markers, pens, papers, inks, digital painting etc. Let me know what sparks you to get started with and get your creativity flowing.   Exercise 1)      Ask yourself “What creative idea do I have at the moment? What materials do I need to get it started?” 2)      If you don’t find any creative sparks or ideas to start with at the moment, wait and watch closely, you might find one idea to get creative. Start with this. Write it down before you forget and start doing it before it is gone. 3)      Was there a medium that you had left aside for