Exposure
QUILTERS EXPOSE YOURSELVES! To inspiration. No one wants to see your bare skin.
Creativity loves to be spread and we can limit our creativity by shuffling through the small collection of ideas that our brain currently stores. Take yourself out into the world and seek creativity.
Everyone is going to find inspiration in different forms. A cityscape could be ignored by the daily commuter and mesmerize the painter who left his apartment to go for a walk. The gardener could curse a dandelion weed while the writer see’s ages of perseverance relatable to the human journey.
Leave the house. Tour a museum. Walk through a park. Watch a child finger paint. Your brain needs to stretch. Allow it to take in your surroundings and watch as your creativity is fed.
It is also important to view other’s work in your own craft. An inventor does not start from scratch and use the most rudimentary science but instead builds on other’s work to take his creation one step further than the world has yet seen. And this is how we must view exposing ourselves to the world in order to bring creativity into our art.
There are many places a quilter can experience other’s work to blossom the creativity
Quilt Stores - For me personally, fabric in its raw, uncut form gets me excited. Organize items in rainbow order and I am sucked in. ROYGBIV is my drug. Patterns and quilt samples are also very easy ways to get you pumped to quilt. Sometimes seeing the colors someone else chose can make you see a pattern in a whole new light.
Join a Guild - Being a part of the social aspect of a quilting will bring your work to the next level. Bounce ideas off each other, show each other tricks of the trade, and share your finished work. The power of many creative minds is unstoppable.
Attend a Quilting Retreat - A long weekend with fellow quilters is the most relaxing and inspiring thing you can do for your art. It is very beneficial to work next to a fellow quilter. You will be shocked what you will learn from each other. Taking yourself away from the hustle and bustle of life and talk quilting for days on end will bring you awesome focus. Also, it will make you want to spend your life quilting.
Pinterest/Social Media - Don’t worry, you don’t always need to leave your house to be inspired. Pinterest is an endless tunnel of inspiration. Once you fall down that rabbit hole you may not come up. Also, reach into the social media realm and follow other quilters and fabric designers. There is great content out there and it's much better to have your feed full of fabric and quilts than with your college roommate’s drama. Quilting magazines are another great source of inspiration.
Our creativity does not come from nothing. The Beast must be constantly fed and cared for in order to grow. Take to the streets and expose yourself to all the beauty that this life has to offer. Your art will be better for it.
*Read the other 3 Steps to the Cultivating Creativity - Environment - Experience - Emanate
