CREATIVE PROMPTS
Thank you for signing up for the Creative Prompts!
This list may seem simple, but it’s actually a portal to deepening your creative practice.
You can use these prompts in several ways:
Follow the list of prompts and do each prompt each day for 30 days.
Pick ONE of the prompts and do that same prompt for 30 days and see how your work transforms as you focus all of your attention on it.
Print out the prompts and cut each of them out, fold them up and put them in a jar or a box and each day randomly pick a prompt to explore.
Make up another version that works for YOU!
You can’t do this wrong.
The descriptions after each prompt are meant to get the gears going in new unexpected ways of creative exploration.
You can take them or leave them.
I encourage you to look up the words definitions - and then go to the visual thesaurus to see what other words inspire you even more.
Take the prompt literally or metaphorically.
Use objects around the house to symbolize what your response is to the prompt if you wish.
Take Self portraits for each prompt if you wish.
It’s really up to you.
It can be the start of a daily poem or a daily letter to yourself or a daily painting or photo.
I can’t wait to see what you create!
30 prompts:
gratitude/ gratitude list / what you’re grateful for in this present moment. Look for the beauty, the miracles, the awe, the extraordinary inside the ordinary. Collect evidence of the treasures we often overlook that are all around as all day long. You could take this one prompt on as a daily photo of gratitude and use it for 30 days. Or just one day and move onto the next prompt. Up to you. Go with your flow.
a favorite view. a favorite view could be a person, a place, or a view out a window. Open up to looking right in front of you for what’s catching your eye and how can you create a beautiful image of that.
something blue. This could be the color blue or the emotional of feeling blue. Or both. How can you take this simple prompt and go deeper.
a secret. What if you wrote down a secret and hid it inside a photograph you take? Or maybe you put a clue inside the photo. How could a secret be planted inside your image?
a dream. How can you take a memory of your dream last night - or a dream that you remember vividly and create a photograph that symbolizes that dream. Maybe there was an object in the dream or a feeling that you remember in your being. How would any of that look in a photograph.
something warm. This could be the warm glow of light at sunset… or maybe it’s your cat that’s napping on your lap. Maybe its a favorite blanket. Or freshly baked pie you just took out of the oven. What is warm to you?
relationship. You can take a photo of someone you’re in relationship with - or you can go deeper and explore it even more. No one has to be in the photograph or piece of art for it to be about the relationship. Is there a symbol…like a butterfly or a feather or another object that reminds you of this person? How can you create something symbolic of your relationship with this person?
intimacy. Intimacy can be uncomfortable to explore in your artwork. But what if you looked at it as an investigation of places in your life where intimacy happens. Intimacy means different things to different people. I have a series of cyanotypes I created of bras and panties and slips that represent intimate moments in my relationships. I feel the threads hold the unsaid conversations that happened in those moments. I document and preserve this sacred time by creating time capsules of the energy that existed then. How can you create images of your own - in your own visual language - not mine - that can represent intimacy for you.
love. What is love anyway? ( This just made me think of a song from back in the 80’s by Howard Jones… you’re welcome… ) Well while I listen to this song it takes me back to when I was in high school dating Andrew. What song takes you back to remembering someone you loved wayyyyy back then… or maybe right NOW. Play that music and create something from that feeling.
connection. These prompts are the same, but different. Subtle and Deep. What is connection to you? Can you find it right in front of you right now? It doesn’t have to be a connection with a person. It can be something you see in your home or your environment that holds a connection to you in some way. I think of how 2 spoons cradle perfectly together. Or that feeling of laying next to someone you love and touching their leg with your foot. Or maybe it’s
a self portrait without you being in it. I believe every single piece of art we make is a self portrait because it's our unique point of view right now. SO… what’s you’re point of view right now?
a self portrait in a favorite landscape. Can you get out to a favorite landscape? And can you create a self portrait with or without you in it? This is more about how you’re feeling right now. How can the way you create this photo or piece of art express how you feel. How does this landscape make you feel.
a self portrait as medicine. What needs healing. What part of you do you judge the most. Is it time to soften and have more compassion? How can you use a self portrait to treasure that part of you?
the light. the shadow. On those days when life feels challenging - can you become present to the light in the room or outside and how it’s wrapping itself around everything. Or how the light from the sun has a different hue at different times of day. In the morning it’s cool blue and in the evening it’s warm yellow. How can you create an image about the light? I notice that light creates shapes and shadows on my walls at different times of day and when it’s windy outside and my windows are open I notice the fluttering shadow and light on the floor that’s coming in from the eucalyptus tree’s leaves outside dancing in the wind. At one point I noticed a specific time of day when a specific shape of light and shadow moved across my art studio floor and table and I took a photograph of it every day for a month. It was so interesting to create a series of images like a time capsule of this time of day.
a portrait of a favorite object in your home. Create a beautiful portrait as if it’s a human. Put it in beautiful light. ( near a window is a good place to look for light or inside the front door. Open the door and see what it looks like right inside the door frame. Can you create something that tells us more about how you feel about this object? Maybe you can set it in different places around the house and in different scenarios. Take it to the beach. Photograph it in a field of grass. Photograph it at lunch out at a restaurant or take it on a picnic with you.
layers. Layers of clothing. Hair that’s cut in layers. Layers of meaning. Layers of truth. Take this and run with it. What do “layers” mean to you? How can you express layers in a photograph or piece of art?
something you find delicious. The light streaming into the house from your window. The smile of a loved one. Sunset. Sunrise. Tacos. Ice Cream. Your favorite seat in the house to lounge in. Kissing your love. A book you’re reading. A hug. A bath. What’s delicious.
a person you treasure. either a portrait of them or create a piece of art or a photograph that expresses how you feel about them or both.
releasing what no longer serves you. Write it out. Fold it up. SAFELY burn it. take a photo of the ashes. ( just an idea ) how would YOU release what no longer serves you and create a photograph or a piece of art about it?
pink. The pink in a sunrise or sunset. The pink lips of someone you love. Your lips with pink lipstick on. Pink flowers on a photo walk. The pink flowers you buy for yourself… the pink nail polish…pink pillows… what can you find around you that is pink.
a flower that reminds you of someone you love.
a favorite time of day at a favorite place in your part of town.
lunch. Could this just be a photograph of the edge of your favorite plate… a fork… a favorite glass… cloth napkin… a corner of a chair at a favorite restaurant… doesn’t have to be the obvious photo of your lunch… stretch yourself.
dinner. Same as Lunch only… DINNER. Push your edges… don’t do the same thing twice. How can you create something special here. Get closer. Get further away. make a gorgeous portrait of dinner.
breakfast. Same but different. Look at the light. Follow it. It could be the food… but what else do you see?
a favorite cup of coffee or tea. What is your favorite mug and where do you like to sit. Show us.
your morning. Do you have a morning ritual or routine? Can you look at it from another vantage point or create something sacred in a piece of art around your morning routine? Look for evidence of the beauty inside of it.
something ugly into something beautiful. Take something you don’t find “photo worthy” or worthy of your attention and look again. Make it Magical in some way. A cigarette butt on the ground. A crack in the pavement. a garbage can. weeds. clutter. laundry. dishes. bills… look at it again and find a way to create a beautiful piece of art or photograph of it.
intention. Create something that represents your dreams moving forward in your life - or what you’re intention is moving forward. What is it you’re craving more of. How can you show us that in a photo or piece of art? It could just be a color that is metaphoric of a place you’re dreaming of being or a feelings you want to have more of. Maybe it’s a tree that reminds you of where you’re heading.
medicine. What is your medicine? How would you describe the medicine that helps you live your life fully wide open? What helps you on this journey of living? Maybe it’s more than one thing. What if you create a series of artwork or photographs of all of the people, places and things that you consider your medicine. What if you create artwork about that medicine and those specific people or places aren’t actually in it at all. Art as Medicine - use this prompt to create sacred images you can turn to when you need to remember that you’re actually doing ok, everything is going to be ok, you know you’re heading in the right direction and that you’re right on time. Everything is happening FOR you rather than TO you. Create that image or images so you can SEE them daily to remind you of the medicine that’s inside of you.
THANK YOU for diving in! Don’t forget to share these pieces of art on social media and tag me so I can see what you’re up to! @cjust