Jess tells us how she integrates Nature into her creative living in a city:
Living in the heart of a large city, I often have to work at making time to interact and explore nature. I grew up in the countryside, think fields and valleys with forests and streams all around, so as a child it was easy, just walk out the door and you were immediately squishing your fingers in the mud and smelling the fragrance of the garden.
I think every urban area has nature to be found, though, even if it does take a little more looking. And interacting with nature is such an important part of creative life that it’s definitely worth the extra effort.
Luckily, my day job is already pretty connected with nature. I’m a florist and own a flower shop, so I get to touch and smell beautiful blooms pretty much daily, and am often to be found with my fingers in soil planting things, all of which I know help keep my brain making new creative connections.
Outside of work, because I’m mostly surrounded by buildings, getting myself deeply surrounded by nature means going for walks to the city waterfront where I often will sit and watch the water as it ripples in the bay, listening to the ducks and gulls. I’m not lucky enough to have a city allotment, but I’ll often ride my bike to them and spend time peering over the fences taking in the mad mess of vegetables and flowers spilling over the plots, all framed within the grid of the city. I’m also obsessed with finding bits of nature that manage to sprout and even flourish deep within the concrete structures, stopping to snap photos of wildflowers bursting out of a sidewalk crack or a bus shelter taken over by vines. These images and this feeling of juxtaposition of nature and city and the tension of that, all seep into things I create. My daily sketch book is filled with colourful scribbles of neon city-scapes that have oversized birds and trees interspersed or crazy spliced human/animals.
When you think of exploring nature, you probably first think of it on a larger scale- hiking a mountain for example, but when you are in a city, sometimes you need to think on a micro scale! Even in the most urban environment, I guarantee you can find moss and lichen, whether on aged buildings or wooden electricity poles or on trees and rocks in a city parkland. Get down close and really look at these little mini ecosystems. It’s really amazing, the structures and colours of these tiny pieces of nature, and taking time to notice everything about them sets off all kinds of creativity in my brain- the texture, the shapes, the crazy colour combinations, how on earth they can grow where they do.
Also important to the conversation is the concept that exploring and experiencing nature isn’t about seeing something and then drawing it, the effect is deeper and further reaching than that. Immersing myself in the trees or lying on the grass in a city park, sitting by the water, all these things give my brain stimulation of senses that are helping it build new pathways that in turn help me solve problems and come up with new ideas. These are things that happen rather easier when we are kids, because rolling in the grass or climbing a tree is to be expected, as a grownup I have to really focus and practice the habit of touching, smelling, seeing and hearing with no “goal” or direct reason other than to experience.
Emily: I want to offer you all some insight into how we became the creators we are- meaning Jess and I, not people in general; that’s a whole ‘nother blog post! It might help solidify and support the knowledge and experience we are sharing with you if you understand the story of how we came to be.
We were born, as people generally are, in the seventies to Mum, Sue and Dad, Mike in a quiet area of rural south west England just outside Bath. It was the most idyllic place to live; rolling hills, fields, roman and prehistoric ruins, farms, and of course flares and long hair. We were exposed at a very early age to creative pursuits as a way of living, and when our parents weren’t doing that, they were taking us to living museums to experience the same thing in a historical context.
Jess: Wow, Em- looking back, we were basically children roaming pretty wild, weren’t we? At the time I wouldn’t have said that, but now as a Mom living in a city in the current age…boy, we were almost feral!
Emily: Dad, although he maintains to this day he isn’t creative, happens to be a creative thinker, doer and problem solver. He is an accomplished public speaker, I learned everything about speaking and presentation from him, particularly from his early involvement in politics (bet you never thought creativity and politics would appear in the same post!). Dad is a great gardener just like his dad, and my sister inherited their love of the green. Our garden always looked like one of those ‘English country gardens’ you see in magazines. Dad also fixed the drystone walls that are a feature of the area, and it is an art unto itself. Dad showed us how to appreciate a wide variety of music, from James Galway to the Rolling Stones, the Beatles to the Dubliners and the Wolfe Tones to Dusty Springfield.
Jess: It’s funny to me that Dad doesn’t think he’s creative at all, because when I think about our childhood and how we were surrounded by creativity, Dad’s always there in the thick of it with us. My parent’s group of friends were always having themed dress up parties so we got to see Mum and Dad create amazing costumes out of basically whatever they had at hand. And the village had a yearly Pram race where teams would transform a child’s pram into something magical and basically race from pub to pub along the main street. Mum would usually come up with the concept and creative details but it was Dad who had to think creatively and transform something ordinary into something it wasn’t, AND have it still function and carry a full grown adult inside.
Emily: Mum was a maker. She learned a lot of it from her mother; who grew up in an orphanage after her mother died when she was four. My Nan was a wicked cook, and made the best Barmbrack you’ll ever eat. Mum loves to cook, and we got to experience more variety than the average Brit of the era, from curries to cakes, baking to European stews and her divine Apple Charlotte and pavlova. Mum sewed most of her own clothing as a teen, much of ours as kids, as well as being a good knitter. She learned macrame, basket weaving and quilting for the fun of it.
Mum made our May fair costumes, helped us make Easter bonnets and set up and ran a volunteer playgroup five mornings a week so we would have friends to play with.
Jess: Yes! And remember, all of this was in a rural village in the late 70”s and early 80’s, so there was no looking for ideas and how to’s on pinterest, it was all from peoples creative minds and you couldn’t order the DIY kit on Amazon or anything, people were just using what they had but seeing it in different ways.
Emily: I believe the part of our upbringing that has the most impact on who we are today is the experiences our parents let us have. We did not come into our talents solely through genetics (that’s the other blog post); I draw and paint but neither of my parents ever really engaged in that. So creativity also cannot be put down to what I was taught, because most of my education in drawing was self taught using books, pictures and a lot of mistake making. I think the most important aspect of our creative lives was that we were allowed to give it all a go BECAUSE WE WANTED TO. Not because we were looking for someone to admire what we did. Not because we were particularly good at something (hey, I tried dance class), but because we just wanted to give it a go. Modern kids spend most of their childhood being told that every scribble they bring home is ‘beautiful’, that every effort gets a ribbon and that everyone will love and admire all they produce. This is counter-productive. Why try if it will always be brilliant? And why learn and grow when it’s always appreciated? Our parents supported our every effort; they let us dance with mum’s blue and orange nylon sheets to James Galway in the kitchen, they let us climb the 200 year old beech trees behind the shed, they let us drop rocks on our feet, hammer nails in trees, collect wildflowers and press them, make plaster casts of animal footprints, weave flower crowns, make hay castles, sled in a feed sack, cut their flowers for bouquets, stick our jammy fingers in their biscuit mix and generally have a chance to learn about everything. And through trial….lots of trial, and error we found the things we liked, and the things we are good at. And those are not always the same thing. I loved dancing in the dining room on the lino floor with the flutes playing feeling like a fairy in Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, but I am not a dancer!!. That is creativity. We try, and if it doesn’t work, we accept that, and either try again or move on. Our parents showed us how to do that- and indeed are still doing that today as they help us start businesses (there have been quite a few in the family), decide on career moves and build our homes. When you have someone (anyone) who supports you – and yes that sometimes is only yourself- but does not overdo the false praise, who helps you recognize mistakes and manage them, who offers a whole wide world of experiences just so you can be a creator then your creativity will bloom.
Jess: I agree, they were wonderful at just letting us do things and enjoy things, but also not making it have to define us. If we wanted to dance around the living room putting on “ballet” they encouraged us to enjoy it, but there was no pressure to be “good “ at it or need to learn to do it correctly. Somethings we followed through into later life, somethings we just enjoyed in the moment and then let go. I think our parents allowed us to learn lots of important life skills, but especially they sat back and let us fail at things , but also let us try again to figure it out. Em, remember when we would tramp down to the streams in the valley and figure out how to damn parts up to create bigger pools, and then we discovered the sides were clay and we could make use of that too? We’d play for hours, thinking we’d got it, then the water would overflow and the damn would be obliterated and we’d figure out you need a sluice gate to let off pressure so we’d start again.
Emily: So the lesson here is: support yourself (mental health matters), or go find someone who will do it for you. Make those mistakes. Try something new. Learn and create. Because that is what humanity was made to do from childhood on. It doesn’t die, it’s always there, and YOU have it too!
Jess: Yep! I’m trying to get back to a place of learning for enjoyment’s sake and allowing myself to not be good at things but still enjoy them, to make mistakes and take up the challenge of trying again. I really think that’s where most of the creative magic can happen!
Despite that fact that I work in what is considered a “creative industry, I’ve been struggling with a feeling that my creativity wasn’t there anymore. Or maybe, it was exactly BECAUSE I work in a “creative ” industry that I was having the problem in the first place.
I’m Jess, one half of the founding duo of Creative Cloud Gazers. I’m guessing, if you’ve found us here, that you’re probably struggling with the same thing I am, or at least some variation of the same: Why do I feel so unable to think creatively?
Let me give you a little more background. I’ve worked as a florist and floral designer for almost 25 years ( pretty much my entire adult life). I’ve owned my own business for almost 20 years. I “create” things pretty much every day. People come to me because of my creativity. Yet I still found myself at the end of last year feeling empty of creative thought. I even felt afraid someone would ask me to go ahead and just “be creative” rather than choosing exactly what they wanted me to recreate. And there in, I guessed after much frustration, lay the problem. I had over time, due to the nature of my “creative” job, ceased to use my creative thinking ability and creative talents, and had in fact begun to work by rote. The client told or showed me what they wanted and I recreated it for them. And recreation is NOT the same as creativity.
So I embarked on a mission to recapture my creative self. I began to follow creative people online. I began to read any and all books on creativity I could get my hands on. I started a daily art practice, where it didn’t matter that the art I made wasn’t good, it just mattered that I kept on making it. And I talked to my sister about my frustrations. And it was at that point, as I started to pay closer attention to what my very creative and super smart sister, Emily, was doing that I had my ah-ha moment. Creativity & creative thinking has to be practiced. And it isn’t about art.
Mind blown, my sister & I started having more conversations about common struggles with creative thinking. Emily works as an early childhood educator. She’s deep in the thick of it, working hands on with kids right at the age when they are their most creative. And even she was noticing how year over year, kids were coming in with less and less creativity, making her role even harder. Basically, Emily’s job is to be creative and think creatively EVERY SINGLE DAY….and to encourage and enable the children in her care to do the same.
And I realized other people I know struggle to be creative too. Over the years I’ve taught floral design workshops to many groups of people, and every time it gets harder and harder to convince the attendees to just try it out, see what happens. They in general always prefer to be told what to do at each step and how to all reach the exact same destination. Which gives a good feeling of “getting it right” but it isn’t creativity.
So Emily & I talked about how much we wished we could help people get past this idea, this lack of creativity and this need to “get it right” over trying something out. At first we thought, let’s organize workshops, like crazy sleep away camp for grownups where we tromp through the woods and collect things and create marvelous inventions from our imaginations for no other reason than to try it out. And then of course, COVID-19 happened, so inperson events went out the window. And Cloudgazing Creatives was born.
An online resource, where we can share our journeys through creativity and our exploration of what works, what doesn’t and what we know and what we don’t know. The sleep away camp for grownups might still happen, it may just take a while 🙂 In the mean time, let’s hang out here!
