Creativity -- Part I

Woman in a hairnet, 1938, Pablo Picasso; Collection of Julian and Josie Robertson, NY

Robert Genn's May 5th newsletter spoke about sterility. No, not anything medical. Artistic sterility -- doing the same thing over and over again. What once might have been original and new, becomes stale and uninteresting after a while. The key to artistic fertility, he says, is continually to try new things. He used Picasso's prolific career as an example. Genn then succinctly wrote up a list of tasks that can facilitate creativity. They are

"Change your media.
Mix your media.
Change your working environment.
Change your tools.
Exercise your body.
Study your favourite artists.
Jump around a lot.

If you are a slow worker, speed up. If you are a speedy one, slow down. Above all, grab something and get started. The learned ability of renewal is as necessary to the creative mind as holding a brush. And as brushes are often replaced, there can always be another love."

I've been thinking a lot about creativity lately and I've been scouring articles, books, newsletters and the like to help me along. I've read a few things in the past week that have struck a chord with me. I'm hoping that today, I can use at least one of Genn's suggestions -- I think it may be jump around a lot.