Welcome to Making Creating Easier!
Do you ever find creating stressful and disappointing? Do you get frustrated and abandon your attempts? You aren't alone!
Even with years of art experience behind me, I still struggle when it comes to creating, and until recently, would often abandon my own attempts at creating. I'd find myself sitting staring at a blank page not knowing what to create, or I'd have an idea and then not be able to translate it to the paper in front of me. I'd walk away feeling fed up and cross.
I even tried giving up creating for a while as I determined that I'm obviously not creative enough! I couldn't make creating work for me and my life, and I was becoming more and more disheartened, so I decided in a moment of madness to give it all up! But then I couldn't shake the nagging feeling of needing to create because the reality is that I love creating when it works and not creating actually makes me miserable. I decided I had to find a way to create that didn't cause me more stress and anxiety than enjoyment.
Helloooo there!
I’m Monique, and I’m a mixed-media artist and graphic designer. Even as an artist I still find the act of creating a challenge as I don't like things going wrong or not working out as I hoped as it makes me feel like I'm a failure, (and no one likes to feel like a failure!). The fear of 'failing' has often stopped me from even trying to create something in case it goes wrong or isn't 'perfect'. Perfectionism is an ugly beast!
Through an enlightening experience on one of our holidays, I realised that I love to create most when there is minimal chance of failing.
I also realised that I love patterns - both creating them and colouring them - so I set about designing a system that would allow me to be able to create regularly and easily, without the fear of failure, using patterns.
I enjoy lots of creative endeavours, but they often take a lot of time and effort to do. They aren't something I can pick up easily, and with a busy life my goal is to be able to create regularly and easily even when I'm busy. Patterns are so easy and enjoyable to colour and even better, there is little chance of failure! They don't require a lot of equipment to colour them, and they also don't make a big arty mess (which I seem to be an expert at!).
I have designed a range of 30 geometric patterns to colour that I now use as the basis for my creating. Being a graphic designer as well as an artist, I decided to combine my love of design with my desire to create art. I am drawn to patterns in nature and to simple geometric shapes, so my patterns emerged from there. My patterns are not mandalas. They have no deeper spiritual meaning but are just a combination of geometric shapes repeated in a radial pattern. Each pattern is unique and exciting to colour. They have become the backbone of what I do and have surprisingly opened up a world of creative possibilities to me. They are so fun and easy to use and I’m never disappointed with the outcome. I love the patterns because I don’t have to think any further than which colour to use in that moment, and that for me is the key. They are super relaxing to colour and provide the perfect way to escape from the constant busyness of life around me.
By using the patterns as the focus for each piece of my art, it has allowed me to experiment with different types of backgrounds and colour combinations to discover more about what I enjoy, and who I am as an artist. I combine the patterns with different elements to create individual art pieces and it has reinvigorated my art-making in ways I never imagined. It has been an exciting adventure.
As well as the geometric patterns, I have created hand-drawn patterns that sit behind my geometric patterns. (These were so much fun to create!) I also have designed inspirational phrases to include on my work to remind me to create fearlessly and boldly.
I have created a 30-day kit that includes 30 geometric patterns, 30 hand-drawn patterns, 30 inspirational phrases and reminders, 30 colour combination ideas, a creative habit tracker and an accompanying 30-day journal. The only thing you have to source is a means for sticking everything down such as a glue stick or glue medium, and your choice of 30 backgrounds. There is loads of ideas for backgrounds in the Customer Hub as well as information on the best types of glue.
(Everyone who buys one of my products is invited to the exclusive Customer Hub which has additional information on how to get the most from the Calm Creation Kit, as well as behind-the-scenes sneak peaks, product recommendations and some fantastic free printables. The link to Customer Hub will be sent to you in your purchase receipt email.)
I’d love you to join me on my journey and see where the journey leads you. My patterns and the Calm Creation Kit are for everyone who wants to be creative more easily – seasoned artists and those of you who don’t yet consider yourselves “creative”. Everyone is invited!
