Summer Creativity

How is your summer creativity coming along? 👩🏻‍🎨

Are you one that has more time to relax and create in the summer? Or does your summer bring more running around, less time at home or in one place long enough to sit down and work on creative projects?

I like to think I have more time in the summer, that my schedule is more flexible. But the reality is I also like to travel as much as possible. Sometimes those trips, such as when camping, allow for time to create. Sometimes those trips involve being busy with family, friends or other planned activities.

The truth is… There is no perfect time to Create. For most of us, we have to prioritize taking the time to do it. Life, no matter what season, does not come with just empty time to fill. And time for creativity won’t happen unless we make it happen.

As I’ve talked about before, just making birthday cards for family can keep me busy creating all year round. It can be extra challenging when there are 5 birthdays in one week—and I’m traveling, or have daily rehearsals then performances at the same time as a week long online creative retreat.

But for me, card making is not my creative love. It’s enjoyable but not healing. It’s not what I do for relaxing, brain rewiring, and neuro-system reset. That comes from being able to be truly free in my creativity. To be messy. To be imperfect. To not have a deadline. To add layer upon meditative layer. Transforming the page/canvas as my soul is being transformed. Reflecting on life and God’s Word.

Soul-transforming Creativity is where you are changed. It’s where beauty comes from ashes.

As I wind down with my final music performances for this summer, next week, I’m squeezing in a bit of time for Encounters in Colour,* an online creative faith retreat, hosted by Jenna Burne. I’ve participated every year. The actual retreat is over, but you can still get a ticket for the replays. —I’m just getting started on my makes, since I was out of town during the actual days. My “pre-retreat” warm up exercise playing cards are pictured above. [*not an affiliate link]

Emily Henderson taught the first day, Look at the Birds, from Matthew 6:25-27. As usual, I took inspiration, but didn’t follow the instructor’s processes. Here’s my Day 1 page.

With my time crunches, and just because it needs to be done, I’m utilizing as many stash and scrap pieces as possible for this Faith Art journal. I started by reading the whole passage in Matthew, then began searching my backgrounds and scraps stash for what might work to portray what I was reflecting on.

The “backgrounds” were all in my stash, including the journal page background. The “tree” was a scrap of packing paper that had been stenciled on. I didn’t even alter its shape. The birds and wildflowers were cut from ink blended scraps. The words stamped on a cut off strip from a previous project. Having these head starts enabled me to finish this page in one evening. Adding ink splatters as a finishing touch of course.

I have 6 more pages to do if I choose to “complete” all the inspiration from this retreat.

In the meantime, another online Faith Journaling Collaboration will be coming up soon. I will be one of the instructors for it! I’m excited to show you my project I designed for it. We’ll start doing the promo for it soon, so you’ll probably see me in your inbox more than usual this summer. It too will be free—for those who only want access during the retreat. There will be a paid option, for those who want early access and ongoing lifetime access. But I’ll save the rest of that info for another day.

I also completed a Bible Journaling page to go with my last article, on Sheep, Shepherds, & Wolves. I made a video tutorial for the faith art journaling, which I’ll get posted as soon as I finish editing it.

Enjoy your summer creativity! And I’ll be joining you here, along the journey, more often over the next several weeks. 💖

💝

Living Coram Deo & freely whole
SDG!
~ Liberty—Life Restoration & Soul Transforming Creativity Coach

Empowering you to live a life that is Freely Whole—spirit, soul, and body—in Jesus! 

Connect with Freely Whole on Social Media 

Help keep this site ad-free.

💝