CREATIVITY | POETRY | HOW TO
Ideas For You to Start Creating Something New
From images to words or a combination of both
During the lock-down period of COVID-19 in 2020, I found solace in creating.
Alone in my studio, I set about on a new project. To fill a sketch pad with not only with drawings, but poems to go with them.
I first filled the pages of that sketchpad with small bits of images cut from magazines that I then copied on my printer and glued to each page: An eye. A hand. A mouth. An arm. Two legs. A face.
A starting place for me to add to.
My experience with collage is the paper from magazines is too glossy and difficult to glue. So, I always make a copy, which makes the paper much easier to work with. The glue I use is Aleene’s All Purpose Tacky Glue.
For the poetry, I wanted to do something I’d not done before.
Inspired by Cento, a form of creative writing where a poet crafts a new poem based on the borrowed words of poems. I instead cut words from the pages of books.
Based on my experience with blackout poetry where you use an old book you are comfortable destroying. You skim through the words and pick out ones to create a poem. Once you have decided on the words, you black out the rest of the page.
You can also add images.
Again, deciding to add my touch and rules, I chose three books to use, and to only use three pages to find the words to create each poem.
The three books I chose: Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje, one from the Childcraft the How and Why Library, 1964, and a copy of my book, Ain’t Easy
This project ended up as 60 pages of art and poems. Below is one of them.
A close up of the glued words. I brushed on a layer of water-based polyurethane to place the words in. let it dry and later coated the whole page with polyurethane.
#23
Standing straight up, I didn’t know what to say.
Two minutes, six months down the road,
standing there like strangers, listening like skin.
I still had difficulty turning to eye millions of tiny bits
dug from the frozen replayed images between us.
Below is the mixed-media 9 x 12-inch sketch pad I used.
Creativity made coping with the pandemic and other stressful life events so much more manageable. A reminder to never underestimate the power of words and images.
Engaging in creative activities gives our minds a much-needed break from the demands of everyday life, allowing us to focus on something enjoyable and absorbing. This can help to reduce stress levels and promote a sense of calm and well-being. Creativity can also play a role in improving mental health. — source
I hope I have inspired you to venture into a little creative exploration of your own. Be it blind poetry or a cento poem. Drawing or painting. Following rules or making up your own rules. That is the beauty of creativity.
Barbara Carter — Artist and writer with a focus on healing from childhood trauma, alcohol addiction, and living her best authentic life.
