I only really gave into the creativity bug about a year ago. But with all of the resources online and just through my own experience, I've learned some invaluable lessons.

1 - Steal
     I know, sounds awful right? But apparently this is being done by other artists too (go check out Austin Kleon's book Steal Like an Artist). Now this doesn't mean copy and pasting someone else's work as your own. It simply means taking inspiration from anywhere you find it. That's right, you have permission. To be honest when I first got the idea of stealing inspiration I was horrified at myself. How could I do that to another artist!? After much thought and consideration though, it's perfectly natural. There are no incredibly new ideas, just different ways of putting them together. So go study your favorite piece of art and pull inspiration out of it. Like a technique a fellow artist does? Try it out. No two pieces can be exactly the same, but you can pull your inspiration from all over the place.

2 - Create Wherever You Can
     As I've said before on this blog, I am a single mother currently living with her mother and father while she goes through college so she can give herself and her son the life that they deserve. This greatly hinders the amount of space my son and I have (well, mostly me, grandparents are fickle beings who allow toys everywhere). Sometimes my room just feels way too crowded with toys, books, papers, art supplies, clothes, etc.. and I can't get into my creative groove. Lately when this happens I hop out my font window and go sit on the roof. This will probably pose a challenge as the months get colder and the roof freezes over, but for the time being it's very amicable. I simply grab whatever surface I will be drawing on, stick my supplies into one of my MANY bags, and hop on out. This way if my son wakes up early from his nap or I get a sudden craving for chocolate I can just hop back in my window and everything is as it should be. Plus I get the warm sun on my feet and the sounds of nature all around which always seems to help my creative flow. I've yet to lay out there under the stars, but I'm sure that's just as magical as during the day.

3 - Create on Whatever You Can
     Personally, I'm not rolling in the dough. This makes it difficult for me to have all of the materials I would like to have all the time. When tragedy strikes and I don't have enough change about to buy a new canvas, I simply paint on cardboard. Everyone has a cardboard box or two laying around (with my son still in diapers we have oodles of them). All you need to do is take a box cutter and have at it. You can make small surfaces or larger surfaces, you can even duct tape pieces together for an especially large area. It soaks up acrylic paint pretty well, and is, in my belief, as eco friendly as I'm apt to be in the near future. Plywood is also a cheap alternative to canvas that is readily available at your neighborhood Home Depot and can be used for a multitude of materials.

4 - Find Other Creatives and Hangout
     Hangout is not the word I want to use here...it's more of a...gathering? Sure let's go with that. Find other people who are just as nuts as you about your passions. Some of my greatest friends are fellow artists, actors, writers. It's not even that we're crazy about the same thing, a really good friend of mine is an incredible writer. We e-mail regularly and check out each others stuff. It's fun to get input from someone you trust and someone with a similar, creative, mindset as you. The same goes for my best friend. While we are both artists, we have drastically different ways of going about the same thing. While we may disagree on a lot, it's also good for me to get her feedback because I can see some of my pieces from a different point of view.

5 - Gather Inspiration From Everywhere
     You can take pictures of goofy street art, tear out pages from magazines, write down quotes from books, or even make a million pinterest boards like I have, but however you do it, gather your inspiration. I'm a gatherer by nature. Anything that inspires me I simply have to keep within my vicinity. I have a magnet board and a hold up board on my wall where I keep pictures and magazine pages that inspire me. I also will take pictures on my phone if anything particularly cool jumps out at me. To top that off I have about 87 boards on pinterest, all full of stuff that just makes me feel good. I even have two board special for inspiration (Art Inspiration; Inspiration Board). I love collecting things to help me get my artistic juices flowing.

If you guys are on pinterest (if your not you should be) go ahead and follow me at : http://www.pinterest.com/crimsonscarf/
I assure you I am CONSTANTLY pinning new stuff, so you'll never be bored. :)