How having pets affected my creativity

It feels funny to be publishing this post now as I began writing it three months ago! Life hasn’t been that easy for me recently and mainly because of my external hard drive broke and for a whole month I lost almost all the documents that I have. Luckily I’ve got them back now, so I can continue with my life and blogging of course, which I’m happy to get back to after a long pause (which by the way seems to be turning into a bad habit of mine). Lesson that I learned was that you always need to make backup copies of the things you have on your hard drive. It applies to you, too! Now, go make your copies and come back after you’ve finished!

Do you have your backup files all done now? Good job! (And if you don’t, shame on you!)

Okay, after that kind of aggressive prelude, let’s get down to the topic!

Ever since Sade and Töyhtis moved in with me in July 2017 I’ve wanted to write a little post on how my life has changed since then. If you’re new to my blog, Sade and Töyhtis are my precious baby guinea pigs that have been living with me for six months now. They’re not pups anymore, but pets will always stay babies in your eyes, right?

Sade knows I’m writing about them so she follows carefully what’s to come…

Because this blog is dedicated to art and such, I felt the best idea was to focus on how the art side of my life has developed with the presence of two guinea pigs. The changes I’ve noticed are some good and some not-so-good (bad is too negative for this occasion), and I hope that if there are fellow passionate crafters / hobby artists out there who plan on taking a pet will be warned in advance as to what to expect to happen to the creative side of their life.

---

 

Now that it’s been roughly half a year, I have noticed the following five changes in me. At first they drew my attention, but nowadays I’ve become accustomed to them and I don’t think about them so often anymore. The following list is quite short, but I guess there is no required length to a list of life changes. If you have anything to add, please leave a comment!

 

1. I have gained interest in drawing fur. 

And hair for that matter. Before the piggies moved in with me, I liked mostly drawing and painting various toys and inanimate objects, but observing animal life has awaken my interest towards people and animals. Nowadays I like to take the time to draw more expressive characters in my work and focus in bringing hairy textures into life. Drawing fur and hair is still hard for me but I’m slowly gaining more skill… At least I’ve now got the interest needed to develop myself!

 

2. I love to photograph/ take videos more than before.

We even did a Christmas card photo-shoot last year!

Perhaps this is for the same reason as the first one: I spend so much time observing my piggies. Living things inspire me much more these days, and it’s lead me into photographing my guinea pigs and recording their every day life. I also like to photograph other subjects more than I used to. What do I do with my load of pictures? I make them into collages and like to Photoshop them into even better quality ones. Lots of my piggie pictures go into their very own Instagram account.

 

3. I have less energy to draw/paint/sew.

Snow White has been on the making for a whole year.

I have started to procrastinate more than I did before. That is the only not-so-good thing on the list, mind you! Every-day caring routines of the guinea pigs take time and effort, and adding that to MA thesis writing, I barely have energy to express my creativity. Nowadays I can sit down and draw maybe twice a week, when before the amount was at least double than that.

 

4. I find myself daydreaming about new art supplies less often.

These supplies will have to do for now…

This is because having pets requires some money… And for a poor student there is no option for buying pellets, hay and piggie toys AS WELL AS lots of new media. Choice is simple, piggies come always first! Happy side is that when I’m not drooling after new paints and such, I get to focus on mastering the media I already have. (Disclaimer: I’m not sponsored by any of the brands seen above. They just happen to be some of the media I own.)

 

5. I don’t stress as much on dead lines as I used to.

Spending time with Töyhtis and Sade reminds me that there is life outside my creative hobbies, and I should enjoy it as much as my artistic endeavors. So they kind of help me keep my feet on the ground! Guinea pigs in no hurry with their life, and their easy-going attitude has sunk into me as well. They have taught me that sewing projects and drawings are secondary to being happy, and deadlines can always be put forward for the sake of spending time with loved ones.

 

So to conclude, having guinea pigs at home is no doubt one of the best things that has ever happened to me. Some days I start to wonder how did I manage to live without them in the first place, but then it comes to me that art and crafting have brought me equally as much joy, so perhaps they were my “babies” before Töyhtis and Sade. Despite my life is busier now with pets, creativity will always stay an enormously important part of it. So sewing and drawing will definitely continue long into the future!

Thank you for reading!

 

 

How do I find my inspiration?

Even though this blog is not that old, I’ve had enough time to abandon one whole category of posts – that is the category that was originally called Art. I felt sorry for this, so few weeks ago I decided to rename the category Art and thoughts and start (re)posting pictures that inspire me in one way or another. Posting mere photos would be dull, so to spice it up I will be writing about creativity and related topics with the side of my photographic masterpieces :D. (I’m trying to turn down the amount of pictures as not to bore you to death with mediocre shots.)

Sewing and crafting are not going anywhere! I know I have tutorials on dressmaking to write but I got carried away by these pictures I took at the beginning of December in Sealife, Helsinki (it’s an awesome aquarium and probably my favorite place in the city :D). So fear not, they are the next thing I’m focusing on!

---

 

Because this is the first post in the updated category Art and thoughts,  I decided to write about the things that inspire me in general. Why do I want to share it with you? That is because I believe if we openly talk about the passion that drives us to create something – be that sewing, drawing, painting or crafting – we can learn from each other. And if we learn to see the world a little bit differently, it may help us appreciate the beauty around us even more.

I see this as a virtuous circle: I tell you what inspires me and you (hopefully) get inspired by it too (but in your own way). Then you share your new thoughts with someone else and get them inspired in their own way, and thus the circle is complete. (It’s what I call spreading the word of creativity. Deep, isn’t it?)

Can I build a wall like this into my apartment?

Inspiration is hard subject to tackle. What does it even mean? To me it’s the irresistible feeling to try express my vision, seeing anything interesting and turning it in my mind to something else, and then making that idea into reality.

Where should I start? How does this feeling come to me?

If I begin from the beginning, one of the biggest factors behind my drive to create is the world around us (surprisingly enough). I want to find new things and learn everything I possibly can. Do you know what plants are the most common in your home area? Google it, search some books, go into the wild. When you keep your eyes open as well as your mind and heart, you are likely to come across something new.

Exploring is the key. Whenever I’m bored I try to find a fresh perspective. “Yeah I’ve seen this statue a million times before… I wonder what it looks like from below?”

A poison dart frog.

Is it any good exploring if you are not the tiniest bit curious? I don’t think so either. I try to look at the world thorough the eyes of a child, even once in a while. You should give it a try too, it will do your creativity good, I promise.

Let’s take an example here. In Sealife there was a cute sand box for children where they could try out the role of an archaeologist and take part in an “excavation”. It looked fun, so I decided to join in (there weren’t any rules forbidding it, were there?). Sure it might have been weird to some people that a 21-year-old was the most excited one to dig, but I don’t mind. And look what splendid shapes we found! (This is what I call being inspired 😉 Once again it was worth following my intuition and heart.)

I was clumsy enough to drop my phone in here – the cleaning process was not fun.

Talking about seeing the world differently, I love high contrasts and bright colors. Brightness makes everything seem so full of life! Colorful spots are the first things to catch my eye, which is an effect I want my products/drawings to have, too…

So to put it bluntly, colorfulness is sufficient condition for me being inspired.

Speedy fish coming through!

(Seems like this post is going to be very unorganized, but I guess that is also one aspect to inspiration; thought runs more or less smoothly)

To add to the previous ones. imagination is also very, very important factor that strives me to create. What would I do without it? I’m a helpless daydreamer and I love stories. Like I wrote in the beginning of this text, inspiration (and creativity) for me means turning the ideas I have into reality. And ideas are free to come while dreaming!

This is what being mermaid must be like.

This might be little off-topic, but happiness helps me also to find inspiration… Maybe it’s because when you’re content, your mind is free to wonder. What this means in practice is that I like to wear something comfortable, listen to my favorite music and drink a cup of tea while working on a creative project.

It could be called “multi-modal approach to creativity”, but whatever it actually is, I’ve noticed it works for me. Provoking all the senses, not just the visual side, helps to focus on the thing at hand and keeps me relaxed. Plus, it’s also fun being happy.

Who else wants to touch this?

Lastly, being inspired requires also the courage to take chances. The biggest obstacle I have faced with the creative side of my life (and still struggle with) is the fear of making mistakes. Whenever I manage to let it go, I’m free to go wherever inspiration takes me.

Strike a pose!

Well that was a whole lot of everything, maybe also a little vague… So to sum this text up, this is how I find my inspiration:

1. Be eager to learn.
2. Keep your eyes and mind open.
3. Be curious and explore (with all your senses).
4. Follow your heart and intuition.
5. Remember to dream.
6. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes.

I don’t know if this helps you or not, but at least for me it’s good to see all that written down. Now I have something to turn to when I get my next art block ;). Still, if I should add a step number 7, it would be “don’t push it”. Ideas come and go and inspiration can’t be forced, which is something I have learned through experience.

500 shades of blue.

I hope this post gave you something to think about. As I promised, the next post will be on dressmaking, and it will up in a few weeks.

Thank you for reading/ viewing! And it’s still not late to wish you all a very happy new year!