{Daily Creative} Make Marks Daily

My mantra for this year is to Create Daily, each and every day. It doesn't matter what it is, or if it's perfect or finished or exactly what I had in mind. None of that matters, as long as every day I am making exploring adventuring with my creative side. 

I meet people (at my workshops or at markets) who say they aren't creative at all. "I'm an accountant, I don't have a creative bone in me".... and such. I say bah! to that. I think everyone has the ability to create beauty in their lives. Every body has creativity, sometimes they just have to explore and discover it. And oftentimes we all have to push aside we preconceived notions of creativity having to result in something artistic or perfect, or exactly what we see in our head. Mostly it's not like that at all. 

Cooking a meal for our families every night is an opportunity to show some creativity, or arranging a bunch of flowers - rather than just plonking them in a vase. Even scattering cushions across a couch, or tying a ribbon in your daughters hair. All these things are creative. Humans naturally seem to be negative about their abilities (except for those that seem to over-talk their abilities!), rather than simply doing and not judging. It's important to take the joy in the doing and that in itself is creative enough. 

I wanted to share a few creatives who have been making marks each day, through their own journal-ling process. To not have any expectations of themselves except to "make marks daily". 

Claire Atkins is a ceramicist and artist who lives and works from her beach side home near Byron Bay, NSW. She works under the name Pinky & Maurice. She lives in a warm and handcrafted home - encouraging her two teenage children with their own creativity. Claire is working on a #makemarksdaily project through her Instagram feed. Join in with Claire's #makemarksdaily tag on IG, or perhaps through your facebook page or blog.

Belinda Marshall is a Melbourne based artist and surface designer, who works with colour and mark making line work in a beautiful evocative way. Belinda is currently working on a daily #arteveryday2014 project, creating a small piece in her diary each day. I am loving this approach to her creative artistic practice - to simply make, paint, draw "I have started a daily art project, just like that! Even if it's only this tiny and sketchy!" You can see Belinda's daily project on her Instagram account, or check out her bigger artworks on her website.

I aim for this series Daily Creative to be a fortnightly addition to my blog. I'd love you to join along if you're on a daily or even weekly creative making project.

* all images, except top one (which is mine), used with thanks from Claire Atkins and Belinda Marshall.