iPhoneography: The Moon

Emerging from the deep waters of illumination and creativity to trip head over heels into a heap of laundry, a pile of receipts that need to be filed and a dozen and one other day-to-day tasks that I need to catch up with.

It’s the ebb and flow of creativity. It’s creating from the heart. It’s passion. It’s believing in what you do. Because there’s nothing routine about passion. There are no limits to illumination. There is nothing calculated about intuition. There’s nothing moderate about zeal, and desire is not halfhearted.

If you want passion in your life, you have to let the idea of balance take on a different, more long term role. It’s not the same sort of balance as the kind you can get in times when your days can be measured and divided up into sensible amounts of time spent in a variety reasonable areas. In times of passion, it’s ebb and flow. It’s a leap of faith. A deep sense of purpose.

Tags: celebration, completion, creative process, flow, joy, life balance

Life Compass

Isn’t it interesting to see how the creative process solves problems that crop up? Sometimes solutions come to me at an initial stage, while I’m brainstorming or mind mapping, which isn’t surprising since the whole idea with these techniques is to open up, be spontaneous, and gather ideas in a non-linear form. Sometimes I find solutions during the process, while I’m fully emerged in flow, working on a design, a piece of art or writing. But just as often I find ideas, or answers, when I step away from the canvas. Sometimes I can barely cross the floor to refill my mug of tea for ideas! I’ll burst out “oh, now I know”, and rush back to what I was working on. It seems to me that there’s no right, there’s no wrong, but the process itself is needed. And at the same time, it’s important to not get lost or too particular about the process or one would never leave the drawing board and one would have trouble accessing spontaneity and intuition.

Anyway, it was when I was trying to get another cup of coffee, that this idea came to me, “A Life Compass, that’s what it is”. I was talking (to myself) about my new Goal Kits. I needed a unified logo or symbol for them, an illustration and at this moment it arrived at me, a compass rose. Because the Goal Kits are a compass to guide you, to help you dream, plan, act, harvest, recharge and make your own chart. To find life balance and momentum and navigate through the seas of the seasons.

Tags: creative process, ease, flow, Goal Kits, goals, life balance, momentum, motivation, priorities, recharge

Have your ever lost yourself in what you were doing, so much so that you lost track of time? Felt challenged in a good way, and so fully engaged that time flew by? Then you’ve been in a state of Flow.

Flow is a mental state of consciousness. An effortless, automatic, ecstatic mental state when you step into an alternative reality.

You’re highly focused and concentrated on an activity when you have flow. Fully engaged and in control.

You’re so entirely absorbed in the task at hand that your sense of time is distorted, you feel part of something larger. It’s almost as if you don’t exist or as though you are one with what you are doing.

When a person is in flow, the activity, such as art, play or work, is a reward in itself. It’s worth doing for its own sake. It is its own reward. Experiencing flow makes you feel happy. Elated. Euphoric. Delighted.

“When we are involved in [creativity], we feel that we are living more fully than during the rest of life.” –Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

The term flow was coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, noted for his work in the study of happiness and creativity. Csikszentmihalyi teaches psychology and management at Claremont Graduate University, and focuses on human strengths such as optimism, motivation and responsibility. In this video Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi speaks about flow at this talk held at TED.

Which activities bring us flow? The other day my friend said “isnt’ it GREAT when you get into house cleaning flow!?” And then we laughed. But it’s true, so many different activities can give flow! What are your favorite areas for flow?

Tags: creative process, flow, focus

Cute Cat Icons Volume 2

The second volume of Cute Cat icons (and the first set of Cut Cat icons is here if you missed it) have just been released over at the Iconfactory. The collection includes six cat breeds: the Bombay Tuxedo, British Shorthair, Birman, Scottish Fold, Turkish Angora and the Havana Brown.

I can’t decide what to do for my next set for the Iconfactory. A set with cute dogs? Or something completely different? A set of icons inspired by the time and style of Mad Men?

Tags: creative process, desktop art, icons, illustration, Japan

Winter Swans wallpaper

Happy to present Winter Swans desktop wallpaper, two swans that bring a swirl of snow to your desktop!

It’s snowing. Big snow flakes that slowly drift down. Whirling gently, like on film. You’re walking down the street… Wait, is that really snow? What if you suddenly notice that actually, the snow is white feathers? And then you see that they come from swans flying above you, in the sky? Is that a dream?

This piece has gone through a creative process with numerous changes. In the beginning I drew the swans. They felt right. Next I created orange blossoms and filled the swans with the blossoms, almost like a pattern. And petals seeped out from the wings, forming a shower of petals. But something was wrong with it, I wasn’t happy with the design, it was too fussy. So I started over, this time I drew feathers and scattered them onto the birds, letting the feathers drift out to form snow crystals. Again, too fiddly. Too crowded. Cluttered. Scratch that idea. Snowflakes? I tried that, and now I knew I’d got it.

Do you discover an image or does it discover you? Do you dream a dream, or does it dream you? Does inspiration come to you or do you go out and look for it? Can something you create ever be finished, or do you simply have to decide when to stop?

< — Save this wallpaper to your computer.

This pack of wallpaper includes versions for fullscreen and widescreen computers as well as the iPhone, iPhone 4 and iPad.

Tags: birds, blue, creative process, desktop art, nature, peaceful, sky, snow, wallpapers, white, winter