Capital C or small c Creativity

Let's broaden the definition of creativity.

When I think of my creative pursuits, I mostly focus on the big ones that I long to have huge chunks of blissful time for. Finishing a painting in one sitting, having a few hours to make substantial progress on a quilt are my Capital C things. In my daily life, that seldom happens. The old cat is needful of my time. “Stuff” needs to be done around the house or in the garden. I need to exercise to stay healthy. Errands need to be done. Meals need to be cooked.

I learned during my work life, which sometimes involved 4 days a week on the road or brutally long work days in my home office, to be satisfied with smaller creative efforts: if I could just make one quilt block on a weekend in between laundry, shopping, and packing for my next trip, that was it. I took small sewing projects with me to work on at night alone in a hotel room. I didn’t really take up drawing and painting again until after I retired. I see now that I should have kept a sketchbook in my briefcase during that time, so much time in the airports could have been put to better use.

So, my definitions would look like this:

• Creativity includes the big projects, either physically large or those that take up a lot of time.

• creativity includes small pockets of time devoted to the big projects, physically smaller projects (knit socks instead of a sweater or work on mini quilts) but it also includes things like doodling on a napkin or the back of an envelope, working in a small sketchbook, tatting (a very portable form of lacemaking that I once carried in my briefcase for use on planes), arranging the food you serve in a visually pleasing way, and even snatching a mindful moment arranging a still life for a quick photo. Unplugging and taking a walk to photograph some seldom celebrated view is also a great creative mini-break.

My week seems to have gone completely off kilter so the other day, when I felt critical levels of stress I grabbed my mini plein air bag and my smallest sketchbook and hastened across the road to the nature center. I knew that I needed a creativity break to reset my mood. My goal was to find a bench, breathe deeply, enjoy the view, and paint a quick watercolor and ink sketch. I sat down and savored the view across the big meadow, but the sky darkened and a damp chill wind blew up, so I had to work fast to avoid a quarter mile walk home in the rain.

It’s a real mess of a sketchbook page, isn’t it? I could touch it up to increase the value range, but I am leaving it as it is to remind me now good it felt to just paint in that small pocket of time. I made it through the rest of the afternoon in a more peaceful frame of mind.

What else would you do to add some small C creativity to a too-busy day?