Suggested reading

PERSPECTIVES ON CREATIVITY

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I was recently interviewed by Doctoral Candidate, Dowell Bethea from University of Central Florida for her dissertation titled PERSPECTIVES ON CREATIVITY: THEORIA, PRAXIS, AND POIESIS.  She included some of my words about creativity in her paper and I wanted to share them.  

 

Christine Peloquin, visual artist

I have found that the ritual of the creative process can be very specific and is extremely important to well established artists. In fact, I believe that the sooner an artist develops their own rituals, the sooner they will meet with their own defined success. My rituals surround creating a sacred place and a mind of peace in my studio. My studio is filled with all my personal trinkets from my childhood and travels and the walls are covered in photos and art that inspire me. Weather permitting, I open all the doors and windows to bring the Florida sunshine inside. I usually need the place picked up a bit, then I play music, light candles and incense. I usually collage for days at a time, then draw and paint on the collages on other days. It all depends on my mood.

Many times, I engage my creativity by perusing through art books or Pinterest. Looking at others’ work and creativity can instantly get the energy flowing. I know that I need to honor not just the setting up of my studio space, but the setting up of my creative energies before I can expect any really good ideas to start flowing. I honor the fact that this can sometimes take more time than I wish! And that sometimes, it doesn't happen at all! I've learned not to berate myself for this, but to honor the blockage by taking myself out on an artist date... straight out of the fabulous book, The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. Reading that book and taking it as a class in my 20s completely changed me and made my creative process what it is today.

Artist dates are any venture from your normal routine that wakes up the curiosity and joy in you. Visits to museums or flea markets... farmers markets or picking flowers in a meadow. If you were dating your inner artist, where would you take her? It’s about treating yourself!

So in this busy holiday season, take some time to take your artist out on a date. Treat yourself! Happy Holidays.

Save Our Schools

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I am (again) honored that my work is part of the National Gallery of Artful Resistance on the fabulous web site and in the art show for Save Our Schools: On the March to Save and Transform Public Schools. A giant THANK YOU to Becky Smith for inviting me to be a part of the program. 

Imagine is a 2D Mixed Media drawing and painting on fabric and paper collage on wood panel. The boy is my oldest son taken from a photo from when he was 6 years old. The original hangs in his room. I painted it because I want both my boys to know that they indeed "can do most anything". I believe that imagining possibilities leads to creativity and that creativity leads to living a life of fulfillment and joy. I want them to know that they can identify their own talents and gifts and in doing so design and map out what they want their lives to be. My hope is that schools and most importantly, the politicians that run the school system, realize the importance of creativity in learning and that how kids learn, not just what they learn, is crucial.

Mixed Media May

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I am so honored to be the featured artist today on Mixed Media May!

Thank you so much Cindy Jones Lantier! Check out her amazing site and her facebook page too. I'm also part of her giveaway program, so check it out and you could win art prizes!!

 5 Note Cards of Painted Collages by Christine Peloquin with 5 EnvelopesThe pack includes all 5 envelopes and 5- 5″ x 5″ cards that read outside and inside:Hope…………i believe in you
I am loved……….i love you
Dare to be true……..dream big
Friendship………words can’t even begin to describe
We loved…….thank you

Soul Level- Matted Print on Archival Paper by Christine Peloquin
Print on archival paper and archivally matted to standard sizes.
8″ x 10″
Bagged in a clear sleeve.

Life as an Art and Art as a Game

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“The artist seeks the challenge, the difficult thing to do;
for his basic approach to life is not of work but of play...

Life as an art and art as a game -
as action for its own sake, without thought of gain or of loss, praise or blame -
is the key, then, to the turning of living itself into a yoga,
and art into the means to such a life.”

— Joseph Campbell

Indulgence.jpg

Slow Love

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"I begin to understand how nothing to do is its own state of grace, difficult to find deliberately, nearly impossible to recognize. Nothing to do means I can sit and look and let my mind wander, then empty, then fill again, with wonder or with grief, with anything or with nothing at all. 'Nothing to do' is not the same as 'Nothing can be done.' One is hopeless; the other, the place from which hope becomes possible." 

--Dominique Browning

Just finished reading this fabulous book by Dominique Browning. I highly recommend this one!! Here's another great quote:

"What's the point, he wants to know of working so hard and for so long only to see your career smashed? I try to phrase my answer in a way that makes sense to him: the pleasure is in the doing--- and suddenly I realize, amazingly, that finally I believe that too. So what if it ends? The adventure was WONDERFUL."