Things I’m learing from creating daily

This post may contain affiliate links.

I turned 50 a few weeks ago. I’ve never struggled with a birthday like this one. Honestly, it had me a wreck, I had so many feelings and thoughts about my age, my life, where I’ve been and where I’m headed. I decided to set a creative goal for myself and really dig into discovering who I am as a creative person.

You see – I consider myself a creative, my mind overflows with creative ideas and I know capability lies inside me, but I wasn’t walking the walk. Creators create. I wasn’t doing that. I was just thinking about it, not actually DOING it! So I made it my goal to do the work.

As I worked through the empty pages of my junk journal I learned more than I bargained for. What I thought would be all about techniques and mediums was about my heart, lessons, life, and everything in between. Art truly heals and moves and grows.

Here are a few of my findings. I hope they inspire you to challenge yourself to move forward in whatever endeavor is on your heart, trust the process, dedicate the time, and believe in yourself.

1. It’s not a waste. It’s critical to give myself permission to take time to learn, create, and grow. I have to pour in so I can pour out. I beat myself up about carving out time for creativity. Life duties call and I let them come first, but the last two and a half months I’ve put my creativity in the forefront. I made a goal to spend time in God’s word first thing and time being creative second, I’m so proud to say that minus a few days, I did it! The result is explosive in my peace and creative confidence. It’s been the best gift I could give myself.
2. It’s okay to cover things up, it’s not hiding it’s growing it’s covering and rebuilding sometimes you leave slivers so you can see what’s behind you sometimes it’s taking a rough foundation and making it stronger by learning from your mistakes and what you like and don’t like. Working in my journal involves a lot of layering. I’m guilty of wanting every part and piece to be seen. But the covering grew me. It was often painful to paint over something or layer paper over my work, but the end result was worth it.
3. Layers take time…leave them and come back. Layering is where the beauty is. This is true in junk journaling and life. But layers can be hard. Sometimes you have to peel them back and sometimes you have to build them up. It’s a process, often a technique that requires a walk-away and return approach. Fresh eyes can see the spots and holes, the needing and lack clearer.
4. Things come together with time, layers, and experience. This may sound like a repeat of the previous point, but it’s totally different. Often when I’d start a page in my art journal it would feel flat and disjointed. Only after time, layers, various mediums, and techniques would flat, dull marks on a page magically tighten up and become unified. This observation allowed me to be patient with myself. Often, I’d start to think what I was creating was awful, but it really just needed more time and attention to become something worthwhile. We live in an instant gratification world and learning to work longer at something has been a good practice for me.
5. Who I am, what I like, and how I lean. My artistic North if you will. I learned about ME, and what my style looks like when I’m left to my own devices. What a gift that keeps on giving, changing, and growing. This finding is key, it’s the element that really boosted my creative confidence! It’s important to know who you are standing all alone on your own.
6. What mediums I enjoy. I have a craft room FULL of supplies. But I wasn’t really sure what my favorites were, which ones suit my style and which ones simply aren’t for me. Being creative daily will funnel this out real quick! My go-to’s are acrylics, inks, pens, markers and watercolors. Plus glitter and shimmer, duh.
7. How my mediums work. After figuring out what mediums made me tick it was fun digging into how they work, making mistakes, trying new things and just getting to know the qualities and characteristics of my go-to supplies. So so FUN!!!!
8. How to take what I like from others and make it mine. I’ve always been able to put my spin on a project I’ve seen someone else do, but I really worked on this in my junk journal process. I took tutorials, and classes, and looked at tons of other’s work. I tried copying exactly to learn things and then migrated techniques and tips into what came more natural to me. Never stop learning, but always learn how to stop copying and infuse YOU into your work.
9. Use new supplies. I’ve been on a bit of a new supply binge that might be considered dangerous, LOL! I decided over this experimental timeframe to go all in on trying new things and going deeper into the things I love. It was fun. Not something I plan on doing forever, but the freedom to try, fail, and succeed with new materials was beyond exciting. I liked some new things and marked others off my list.
10. Don’t be afraid to use up your supplies, it means you’re creating. If you are anything like me, you save up supplies for when you might need them. Girl – what are we waiting for? USE THEM UP! Using your art materials means you are creating, remember creators create. How are you going to be a creator if you aren’t using what it takes? We aren’t promised tomorrow, so make the most of today, including your art supplies!

I titled this post things I’m learning from creating daily because I’m still learning. I learn something new every day I make myself a priority and carve out this sacred time to fill my battery. I’m pressing on with the goal of creating daily, after spending time in God’s word. Wanna join me? I’d love to hear what you’ve learned from your creative time and how you make it a priority in your day. All tips welcome! You can also explore my private community and courses here, I’d love to encourage you more!