Sketching to music - Day Thirteen

April 3, 2013

One year in school (I can't remember the grade I was in) our music teacher played recordings of different styles of music for us.  She told us to draw or sketch what we "saw" when we heard the music.  I remember the excitement I felt producing a picture based on music.

I've asked several people through the years if they've ever done anything similar, and they tell me no.  I think I must have had a very creative teacher.

My daughter and I have tried the sketching to music activity a few times.  As she draws, I see her brain lighting up, almost exploding.

Hopefully, you'll try this wonderfully creative activity.

Today's Creativity:  April 2, 2013

1.  Choose music (you might want to choose music a little bit out of your comfort zone)
2.  Get paper and writing utensils
3.  Turn on the music and sketch or draw

I'll scan some of our sketches and post them here.

~The Nassau Nerd

Play - Day Twelve

February 19, 2013

We have a five-year-old daughter.  It's fun to observe how she processes the world around her.  We love to watch her play.

Just this week, she came up with a "knitting" dance and a "crochet" dance.  Each dance was unique, and in each, she choreographed parts for the needles and for the yarn.

That's creativity. 

Have you played recently? 

Today's Creativity - February 19, 2013

1.  If you have a child, spend 20 minutes playing with him or her.  If you don't have a child, play with a spouse or on your own.

2.  Reflect on how playing helped you see the world differently or create something new.

~The Nassau Nerd

Other languages - Day Eleven

February 18. 2013

My husband and I hiked this morning.  The fresh pine-scented air and the golden sunlight combined to make our time delightful.

As I hiked I thought about pine trees and how within one tree, an entire system works.  To me, it's similar to the way a sentence works.  Pine trees have bark, needles, cones, sap, branches and more.  Sentences have subjects, verbs, prepositions, adjectives and more.

If pine sap is the verb moving through the tree (sentence), then each tree is a unique sentence with an original arrangement of branches, bark and needles.  I'd like to think more about this.

Today's Creativity - Feburary 18, 2013

1.  Spend some time outdoors observing your surroundings.

2.  What unusual connections can you make between the natural and intellectual worlds?

~The Nassau Nerd

Gift-giving - Day Ten

Increasingly, I dislike gift registries.  It's not because I feel stingy.  It's because registries seem to remove creativity from gift-giving.

An engaged couple, for example, selects gifts from a specific store and then lets friends and family know where they can shop for them.  Just doesn't seem right to me.

So, I'm applying creativity to my gift-giving this week.  I'm heading to a baby shower today, and I'm taking a hand-knitted baby blanket (my first!) and an original poem I composed for the baby.  Now, I don't know if the mother-to-be will like the blanket and the poem as much as say, a diaper genie, but I hope she will.

Today's Creativity - February 16, 2013

Consider ways you can be creative in your gift-giving.  Can you make something?

Until next time...

~The Nassau Nerd

Valentine's Day - Day Nine

I have always loved Valentine's Day.  I think it's because of the red and pink hearts trimmed in lace we made as kids.  Something about the feel and smell of the construction paper comforts me.

Our Valentine's Day was busy this year.  In addition to preparing for a Valentine's Day party, I had a scheduled tutoring appointment in the afternoon.  The tutoring went very well, but the session lasted longer than any of us expected.

My husband and I discussed our options-go out to eat or cook steaks we already had prepared for the grill.  We decided to eat at home and then go show our love in a different way.

My father has been in the hospital this week for a bladder condition, so he received a "love day" visit from us complete with homemade brownies and a huge red heart-shaped balloon.

Our family chose to be a little more creative this Valentine's Day and take our love to the hospital for a little holiday cheer.

Today's Creativity - February 14, 2013

1.  Reflect on Valentine's Day.  Is it one of your favorite holidays?  Why or why not?

2.  Think of three ways you can show your love to others in creative ways.

I'd love to hear what you come up with!

~The Nassau Nerd

Perspective - Day Eight

To me, another aspect of creativity is the ability to think from different perspectives. 

Last night at our writing group, one of our warm-up prompts was to write about a battle among forks, knives and spoons.  I did not choose the prompt, but if I had, I would have enjoyed writing from the perspective of cutlery.  I remember telling my small daughter a story about a war between forks and spoons when she was two.

In any case, thinking from new perspectives can be challenging and fun.  Here are some "ponderings" to get you started: 

1.  What do mailboxes think about living outside protecting people's mail all day?
2.  Do houses get tired of sheltering their inhabitants?
3.  Do pens sometimes think "the grass is greener" for pencils and vice versa?

Today's Creativity - February 13, 2013

1.  Look around your home or office and list 3-5 objects.

2.  Try to imagine life from their perspective.

3.  Write a poem or a story or a memory piece from the perspective of the object you choose.

I'd love to read your responses. 

Flow - Day Seven

From what I've learned about creativity, flow is what creativity is all about.  "Flow" refers to the state in which a person is so involved in a creative pursuit that they lose the normal thinking-inside-your-head voice narrating every moment of your life. 

I most often enter flow while I'm writing.  Others I've read about find flow running, painting, cooking, etc. 

Flow is a relaxing mental state, but it's also highly productive.  Reaching flow in today's noisy, tech-saturated world is hard, and yet, it leaves one both relaxed and rejuvenated.

So, I'm going to try to reach flow today.  I have some writing to do.  Hopefully, I'll leave myself (figuratively speaking, of course) and enter creative flow for a while. 

Today's Creativity - February 12, 2013

1.  Choose a creative activity you love.

2.  Try to carve out time to perform activity with minimal distractions.

3.  Strive to reach creative flow.

I'll share my "flow" experience tomorrow.  I'd love to hear about yours.

~The Nassau Nerd