What is "Creating Fearlessly"?

A little background information first. My mother is bi-polar, and my sister and I grew up with very different personalities and coping mechanisms. We were (and still are) like night and day. My sister is very logic driven, very controlled. She likes her life safe and predictable, because we never had that growing up. I, on the other hand, embraced my craziness a little bit too well, exploring drugs, alcohol, rock and roll and everything else a bohemian lifestyle could provide. I figured that if things were going to be a rollercoaster, then I had better learn to enjoy the ride.

My sister does beautiful needlepoint and counted cross stitch. It looks so perfect it could have been done by a machine. Not me, I prefer to draw my own embroidery designs directly onto the fabric and let my needle and thread ramble along like an overgrown garden. Patterns? We don't need no stinking patterns!

Thankfully, I can say that I've calmed down quite a bit in my *ehem* old age, but I still tap into that delirious energy when I start creating. This, is my fearless creating. Being willing to push your materials past their breaking point, using them for things they were never meant for, in combinations that usually only occur in dreams that you can't quite remember. The trance state of transcendental absinthe fuelled bliss, but without the nasty hangover.

"How does one get there?" I hear you ask. Well, that is what this blog is all about. The crazy, the mundane, and everything in between. This blog is dedicated to the creative process.

Your first assignment is to try something new. If you work in silver, take some scrap and torture it. Wrap it around everything you can find. If you are using glue, try using it on anything you can get your hands on. Combine colors that you think are absolutely hideous together, and leave them overnight - see how you feel about them in the morning. Make a beloved family recipe, and *gasp, horror* CHANGE one of the ingredients!

If you are in therapy, it would do you well to record how all of this makes you feel. You'll be amazed at some of the emotions this can bring up. If you really pay attention, there may even be memories of being told "how things were supposed to be", where you got programmed into thinking that things only had to be a certain way.

A word of warning, though. Don't try this with materials that are so expensive that it would give you fits if they got ruined. If your are on a limited budget, don't try that new technique out with 14k gold, if sterling will suffice. The idea is to push your boundaries, not give you a nervous breakdown!

~Grace