At our May First Friday at Spark Plaza, we learned that anyone can draw. According to local artist Tom Root, the ability is there for everyone. When we are younger, we don’t worry about drawing perfectly or getting the picture exactly right because we let our creativity flow freely through us. We haven’t yet learned to be constricted and inhibited by all the “rules” of art.
So, Tom instructed us to look at a statue and draw an outline of it without looking at the paper. This is his way of letting us draw more creatively without focusing on getting the drawing “correct.” Tom also taught us about angles, another foundation of drawing that we use subconsciously when we are younger. Most times, drawing something that seems initially difficult or daunting can be as easy as seeing an angle, curve or line and putting them together to create shapes.
But how does all this creativity factor into daily life? And more importantly, your professional life?
According to Psychology Today, creativity works as a problem-solver. As adults we become used to a mundane way of thinking called “functional fixedness.” Letting our creativity flow can become a way to develop and inspire new solutions to issues that we face in everyday life and at work.
This inspiration is the final moment of a process marked by stages of creative problem-solving. Being receptive and being able to listen openly and well are crucial skills of that process. With luck, “immersion” and daydreaming lead to “illumination,” and all of a sudden an answer will come to you out-of-the-blue. To learn more about how your creative wheels turn, check out this article! https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/199203/the-art-creativity.
Again, thanks so much to Tom Root for helping us unleash our creativity! Check out some of Tom’s amazing work here: http://www.tomrootartist.com/, and then learn how he does it by singing up for one of his studio classes here: http://www.rootstudioschool.com/!