Expressing Creativity

The following writing prompt came to me via the NaBloPoMo site. Many great prompts are on this website that exists with the purpose of encouraging people to make blog posts at least once a day for a month. I have signed up for it, hoping that it will be the accountability that I need to stay on track with all of my blogs, one blog at a time, one post at a time. Here is the prompt:

“Tell us about three ways you express your creativity.”

I love to do many things, but the three that are the most obvious expressions of my creativity are my writing, photography/digital art, and fiber arts.

I have been a writer since I was a young child. I remember writing stories in elementary school with titles such as “How the Zebra Got Its Stripes” and other such stories. I do not know whatever became of them. As I recall, I also illustrated them, very roughly, I am sure. A sketcher I am not.

As I got older, I used my writing as a form of therapy. I could not express what was inside of me orally, so I turned to poetry. I would poor my heart into the pen and it would put it to paper. Some of the poems still to this day make me cry as I read back through them and remember the inspiration for them.

Now, I am blogging. This recent blogging addiction began as a response to the book One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp. It is about being thankful and finding joy. From One Thousand Gifts was born this blog that you are reading now, Random Thoughts. I also have one titled Heartstrings, which does not have much on it yet, but I hope for that to change. I have many writing outlets available to me now. I just have to be disciplined enough to use them. Sometimes that is about as hard as getting a two year old to slow down!

I have loved photography since I was a little girl. I used to follow my parents around the house pretending that my hand was a camera. I would click the “shutter” every time I caught them kissing.

My first real camera was a Polaroid One Step. I loved the instant feedback of it, but boy, did I have a lot to learn about taking pictures. First lesson: Be still! Haha

Now, I have an entry-level DSLR, the Canon Digital Rebel XSi . It was a gift from a friend that believed I had potential. This was a big esteem booster having someone that believed in my abilities to the point that they would go to such an expense to give me the best chance at reaching my potential. I was just finally getting to the point of understanding how aperture, ISO, and shutter speed work together and I got sick.

After a year of not touching the camera, I am back trying to get in the hang of it again and hoping that what I learn will stick. I have joined a scavenger hunt and a couple of other photo-related projects. I also continue to learn about editing and digital painting as well as creating fractals (pretty math!).

One of my projects right now is creating the “lazo” for the upcoming wedding of my oldest son and his bride-to-be. I have never seen a Mexican wedding nor do I know all that this will entail. I have never made a lasso before, either. I am working this in thread crochet using steel hooks. Boy, these things are tiny for these nearly-blind eyes, but it is fun!

We are of mostly Irish descent, so I am using an Irish rose motif to represent my son on the lasso. The bride loves butterflies and I found some pretty glass butterfly beads that I am using to represent her family. White satin ribbon is being woven through the two large loops (that go over the shoulders of the bride and the groom) and will be used to adjust them so that they can get a proper fit. I will add a picture of the lasso once it is completed.

Please be sure to check out the NaBloPoMo website. You will be glad that you did!