Starting a Creativity Circle...

I had been pondering the idea of bringing together a small group of women to create and have an inviting place to explore. I envisioned a monthly gathering called "Creating Eve" (most likely a week night evening) for a group of six women to meet at my home in our sunroom art studio. Each gathering would have a different theme or focus, such as "love," "gratitude," or "intention," based on the changing seasons or interests of the group. I would introduce a different project at each meeting, using varying materials or art forms, with no previous art experience required. Sessions could include creating visual journals or maps, rock painting, water color painting handmade cards, paper folding, jewelry making... We would sip tea, maybe share a baked treat, and settle in to a dedicated time just for us to create and connect. 

In February of 2017, five of my friends joined me in forming our first Creativity Circle! We decided to meet Monday mornings (rather than in the evening) for about two hours, once a month, when our children were off at school. We gathered together eight times (taking a break during the summer holidays) and truly benefitted from making the time and space as women to create and connect with one another. From our interactions and creations, new ideas and possibilities emerged. We became more clear about what brought us joy, what we were missing or yearning for, and experienced the simple pleasure of making something that spoke to our spirit and revealed another part of we were - beyond our many roles of mother, daughter, wife and friend. This year of creating together brought me such joy - I am so thankful to my lovely, courageous, and thoughful friends for joining me on this journey! I invite YOU to start your own Creativity Circle... feel free to use any of the ideas below as a jumping off point. I would love to hear about your experiences too - dash off a quick email, if you have the time!

February - LOVE

For our first meeting in February, the theme I chose was LOVE. To kick-off our Creativity Circle, I thought it would be inspiring to start by making a visual journal or map. I gathered a bunch of magazines for creative inspiration for us to tear out great images and quotes about what matters to us most, what we love, or what we may aspire to or yearn for. This is a fantastic way to recycle cards, magazines, bits of beautiful wrapping paper or memorabilia you've been saving. I provided large sheets of drawing paper and invited everyone to bring a bound or three-ring journal or sketchbook with blank paper, if they preferred. Some chose to organize their ideas by theme or color, others by emotion or life event. It's always telling to look back months, or even years later, to see what you were passionate about during a specific time in your life. I started my first visual journal more than 20 years ago, toward the end of graduate school, and I'm astounded at how many of the images or words I chose still ring true to me today and became a reality, as I had hoped...

March/April - INTENTION

Our March/April gathering allowed us to finally welcome Spring to Seattle! During this much anticipated time of transition, new growth, trees and flowers in bloom (and hopefully more sun and milder weather), I chose the theme INTENTION and selected an activity that was both grounding and expressive. We created and drew our own mandalas, which were a wonderful way to become more clear about our intentions for our life. The word "mandala" is derived from Indian Sanskrit and can be translated to mean "circle," signifying wholeness and for us was a reminder of our own Creativity Circle. Designing your own mandala can be both a meditative and spiritual art form, where you start at the center and work your way outward with shapes, colors, and forms that express your sense of self. We enjoyed watching one another's mandalas come to life as we first sketched with pencil, used assorted stencils, then added color and some chose to outline with black ink. Shapes were organic or geometric, colors were bright or muted - uniquely individual, like each of us.

May - GROUNDED

In May, we collected smoothly worn rocks from our local Puget sound shores for a down to earth, GROUNDED activity of rock painting. I pulled out all my acrylic paints, collection of brushes and ordered some absolutely fantastic new paint markers (Uni Posca fine point and Faber-Castell PITT black artist pens) for more detailed artwork on the stones. After thoroughly washing and drying the stones, each person took turns selecting shapes and sizes that really spoke to them. A friend and I printed out a number of diverse rock painting examples from Pinterest for inspiration and practice, and we dove in! (Note: I don't have room here to credit all the wonderful images we found, so please refer to my Pinterest page under Art + Design Projects, if you're curious.) We typically painted a base layer first, then added other colors or designs with paint pens, and detailed work and lettering with the fine point markers. Once the paint had dried, we used a liquid multi-purpose sealer so that we could display the rocks outside in our gardens or porches. Great for inspirational messages and as gifts!

June - BEAUTY

Our June get together was our final Creativity Circle before taking a summer sabbatical, while the kiddos were out of school. I chose the theme of BEAUTY, which has so many powerful meanings... from being kind to one another, reveling in the natural beauty all around us, observing strength, and taking joy in creating things that are beautiful to us. With so many gorgeous flowers in bloom, I thought it might be fun to do some paper crafting and create different styles of paper flowers. We tried a combination of techniques, from paper folding and cutting, to working with crepe paper and wire. I hadn't made paper flowers since I was a child, so I spent a lot of time researching and watching online tutorials. Once again, Pinterest was an invaluable resource for exploring all sorts of amazing paper flower crafts. After creating our initial bright, colorful bouquets of paper flowers, one of our group had the brilliant idea to make extra flowers to present to teachers as end of year presents. My boys' teachers told us they loved receiving some gorgeous blooms that wouldn't wilt or fade...

September - FRIENDSHIP

It was a breath of fresh air to come back together after a long summer for our September Creativity Circle. I thought it might be fun to do an art project that reminded us of our own days of going back to school each fall and focused on the theme of FRIENDSHIP - but without all the homework! One of my fondest childhood memories was making "friendship bracelets" and with macrame and weaving being back in vogue, I found some really great tutorials for how to make lovely woven bracelets. We tried out two styles... first, we braided cotton or hemp string into a double loop and finished with metal findings. For the second, we practiced hand-weaving with long strips of recycled jersey/t-shirts in a neutral cream, gray with silver sparkly stripes, classic nautical blue and white striped, and a tie-dyed fuchsia. I think this second method was by far my favorite, because it was literally so "hands on" and fun to watch something woven appear in full form so quickly. That same afternoon, my nine-year old son easily learned the skill and made a handful as presents for family.  

October - HYGGE

Our theme for October was “HYGGE", a Danish word for a way of living best described as a combination of coziness, charm, security, familiarity, comfort, kinship, simplicity and contentment. I had recently read “The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living” by Meik Wiking of the Happiness Research Institute in Copengagen. It’s a gem of a book, quite small, yet truly speaks to what many of us crave this time of year as the days shorten, it gets cooler, and we spend more time indoors with one another. I grew up with a similar way of living in Germany called “Gemütlichkeit," so taking the time to create a heartwarming, convivial space has always been important to me (candles, baking, interior design). A perfect place to get more “hygge” in our lives was during our Creativity Circle! For our creative art project, we took our time painting watercolor cards, postcards, and bookmarks for friends and family, and then we used stamps and heat embossing to add texture and sparkle. We selected from metallic and solid powders that we sprinkled over the stamp and melted to reveal beautiful embossed images. 

November - GRATITUDE

Our theme or intention for November was GRATITUDE or "giving thanks," so it worked out perfectly that we met the week before the Thanksgiving holiday break for our Creativity Circle. A fellow member had some darling small papier maché pumpkins she offered to share with us and we had a great time creating our découpage “gratitude” pumpkins.  We decorated them with paper or magazine cutouts that we then adhered to the pumpkins with Mod Podge glaze. We discovered that painting a thin layer of the adhesive with the paintbrush first made for nice base, then we added two or three more layers to create a smooth matte finish. You can also choose a glaze with shiny finish, if you prefer. Several of us covered our pumpkins with all things “Thanksgiving” and used it as part of our home décor for the holiday. Another decided she wanted it to symbolize all the things she loved and was grateful for and gave it to her daughter as a present.  I was so thankful and blessed to come together with these dear friends each month to create! 

December - PEACE 

For our December circle gathering, which was right in the middle of holiday madness, yet also a spiritual time of light and joy, our theme was PEACE. I thought it would be lovely to make something that we could either give as gifts or stocking stuffers, or keep ourselves for pampering during the holidays when we needed a moment of quiet, solace and peace. We created our own handmade all natural beauty products: two lip balms (chocolate mint and raspberry lemonade), lip sugar scrub (brown sugar, coconut & vanilla), and a natural skin luminizer (shimmery white pearl mica glow for the holidays!) Together, we melted and mixed the organic ingredients (shea butter, beeswax, coconut oil, essential oils, etc.), then poured them into their molds/containers, and finally decorated the containers. I had some fun washi tapes and we designed our own brown paper labels. It was truly special to end our year together on this high note... When we met again in the new year, we transformed our Circle gatherings to an open art studio and got together every couple of months to explore new projects. Yay!