be creative

Since 24 Oct 2009 I have:

Nothing yet!

The Bucket

I have a bucket that I carry with me wherever I go. I collect things in it, hour by hour, day by day. Some of the things are ordinary like a piece of string or a broken watch, but other things are quite unexpected, like love letter or the lens of a telescope.

Yesterday I found a thumb tack on the bottom of my shoe; it went in the bucket, along with three dried chips of turquoise paint and an empty Coke bottle. While in the shower a bright yellow frog appeared by the open window, and I would have put it in too, but I left my bucket in the car, and by the time I fetched it, the frog was gone.

You have to be quick.

Often I will steal things, usually from my closest friends. They’ll be talking and a little golden coin will drop out of their mouth and tinkle on the floor. I’ll snatch it up when they aren’t looking and then call it my own. I don’t feel bad about it because they do the same thing to me. Just the other morning I spied a little porcelain bird that a friend had copped from my pail and had put into hers. I think she felt guilty, but I didn’t mind; in fact, I was glad that she could use it. I just couldn’t find a place for it anywhere, and it suited her collection perfectly.

I know people who leave their bucket at home most of the time, only taking it out when they think they need something. Of course, after just a few hours of searching they get bored or frustrated about not finding the thing they were looking for, so they put the bucket away. What they don’t realize is that you have to keep your bucket at all times and you can’t be so picky about what you collect.

Me, I’ll pick up anything.

Some people like fancy buckets made of tin, old-fashioned buckets made of wood, or electric buckets with flashing lights, but I’ll use whatever is handy. The container isn’t as important as the things you collect. You can use a cereal bowl or discarded Starbucks coffee cup, or even your pocket in a pinch. The mistake is to see something and tell yourself, “I’ll get that later, when I have more time,” because as soon as you turn your eyes away (from the bronze nail, the dead caterpillar, the silk yarmulke) it will disappear. You’ll never find it again.

Recently I’ve gotten in the habit of getting up very early and meeting friends at coffee houses. They bring their buckets too, and together we sort and sift and show each other what we’ve found. Often we trade: a rusty license plate for a silver toothpick, a rubber ball for scrap of shag carpet. It’s fun to share.

But most of the work I do alone, dumping out the contents of my bucket and deciding what to use, what to throw out and what to save for later. It’s really amazing what turns up if you keep your eyes open and you make sure to have your bucket with you.

For instance, while driving in my car, my cousin appeared in the passenger seat – not as she is now, a middle-aged mother of two, but as a child with fiery red hair and a doll that was missing its left eye. I didn’t know why or how she appeared, but I didn’t ask questions. I just collected her and her doll in the bucket as soon as I reached a red light, keeping an eye on her in my peripheral vision to be sure she wouldn’t vanish.

I sometimes put expressions in the bucket, like “posilutely splificated.” I put sounds in the bucket, like the popping of bubble wrap or the giggle of a barista. I collect attitudes, poses and gesticulations. I gather confusion and doubt. I pick up itches, headaches and ennui. I take things I don’t believe in, like ghosts or trickle down economics. It’s important not to be judgmental, and accept whatever appears in your path. Anything.

Do I sound crazy to you?

Well, if you haven’t guessed, I’ll tell you that the “bucket” is just my notebook. And the things I find are seeds: seeds for writing, seeds for filmmaking, seeds for acting, seeds for understanding, seeds for meaning. If you are an artist or creative person, you need to have a bucket, you need to take it with you everywhere, and you need to collect whatever you find. Whatever idea flashes in your head, write it down. Anything and everything.

Just put it in your bucket – it may look dusty and ordinary, but you may discover something rare and beautiful in it later. Don’t wait. Do it now. Right now.

Before it disappears forever…

- Sean Hood
(see more at genrehacks.blogspto.com)

well i consider myself pretty creative. but now i seek inspiration and motivation. i have a ‘to do’ list but nothing jumps out at me that i REALLY want to get stuck into. just things that would be cool to do ‘someday’.

any body got any suggestions for getting the motivational juices going???

Blegh. It seems like everyone I ever end up associating myself with is creative and artsy in some way. I always have friends who can draw and sculpt and cook and sew and crochet and knit and make models of motorcycles, but I can’t do anything. I made a Gollum-looking face out of clay once from some scrap clay in my ceramics class and it’s crooked and the paint is all wrong. He doesn’t sit flat on any surface and one of his teeth fell off. I am so proud of this stupid thing that I still have it. In the same ceramics class I made a replica of my own hand, which was to scale when I did it but I forgot about the 30% shrinkage and so the fingers look stumpy. I colored it blue for some reason and then glazed it, and I was way proud of that thing as well, except all the fingers broke off for the second time and I just got so sick of it that I chucked it in the trash.
I sometimes draw a picture where you can tell what the thing is that I’m drawing, and then I’m proud, but it’s by no means good. It’s just understandable. I am not creative at all and I never seem to have the money to go out and buy supplies to try new things with.
I put this desk together that I got from Staples. That was very fun and I felt awesome afterwards.

I can’t remember the last time I made a piece of art that was not based on a piece of art or photograph by someone else.

Writing is the only creative thing I’m any good at. I’m not talking about creative writing either. I tend to write drab opinion pieces on politics, sociology, and so forth.

My passion in life has been acting since I was very young. I started working at a young age and have been on and off with my career ever since. Life sometimes gets in the way and the last few years have been challenging personally and professionally. But I have made the decision to start on a new positive path and excited about acting again amongst other creative passions that I pursue.

I think so. I am creating something. Not always something pretty.

and not care what other people think about it

I am trying to create a fairy grotto i have a very large room for my creative photography project but don’t know anything about the history of fairies and how they live is it all together with a fairy queen or are they independent i have found fairy doors for the skirting board they are fantastic does any one know if fairy’s can be twins I want it to be magical so when you walk in you fell like you are part of there world