Creativity is journey

Creativity is a learned skill. It is true that some people have more imagination than others, but everybody can become creative. Interesting is that if you ask people to count their creative activities, most of them will think of objects... like drawing, painting, mosaic, or scrap booking craft, etc. This answer is understandable; however it shows our limits of thinking. And what if as creative activity we would consider as well innovative process of cooking, new solutions on complex technical problem, different dress up for special occasion, or just taking pictures of the same object from different ankles. So lets me ask again... how many creative activities have done in last 3 months?

Creativity is rather about the journey than about the result itself. The process of finding the idea, inventing the new ways of development, combining various materials and resources in unusual way or simply changing the concept in the middle of the project but still striving for the same objective.

 

Our latest creative activity with Karim was building our own table for the living room. As we could not find anything suitable in Parisian shops, we decided to create one by ourselves. First we bought piece of wood, wooden legs, thin pole and material for painting. Next step was to choose the picture for mosaic.... although as you can see we changed the idea in the middle and finally our small table is a crossroad of many journeys:-)

 

Tea or coffee?

I like IKEA. I do. My very close friends Lenka and Janka had a little tray from there. I remember many peaceful moments when we were sitting in their room, drinking tea and discussing about everything. And few weeks ago when we joined our friends going to Ikea, I decided to buy finally. So many times before I resisted!

And I found a special shop here in Paris where you can buy equipment for mosaic. It's called CHAMPIONNET CARRELAGES , So each time I go there, I buy lot of new stuff... I have already membership card:-) And then I have to use it somewhere.... so I took the little tray and decided to decorate it with the mosaic. This time I was not pressed by time, so it was a pleasure to continue any time I wanted. And here you can see a progress step by step with final result:

It started as something completely else, just trying colours and different shapes:

Working in the park was very relaxing, although many people are watching you:

Suddenly it started to look promising:

And when all little pieces of puzzle found their place, it was time to finish with gypsum:

....et voilà le résultat :-) here we go with the result...

So what do you want to drink... tea or coffee?

October... time for mosaic

October is here! Some would be sad because day is getting shorter, weather is getting worse and there will be fewer things to do. I would say it is maybe first time in my life that I am looking forward to coming autumn and bad time… because this means more time for CREATION:-)))

It was last autumn when Paris became busy with forums and conferences. One of those we visited last year was ‘Salon de la Creation & Savoir faire’ (this year it will take place on 19-23 November 2009). There I discovered the art of mosaic and got really passionate about these little colourful squares that create beautiful picture once put all together. I bought a kit for beginners including tools and I was happy to start new adventure. Few months after I tried it out and this summer when I asked my friend what kind of gift she would like for wedding, and she answered “something that even in ten years I will remember that this was your gift for wedding”, at that moment I decided to do big mosaic for her.

This was my second mosaic in my life! The first one was a kit for beginners as I mentioned already :-) Maybe you will not believe but I did it myself, hahaha... in 2 weeks! The time was short and mosaic was big… last days I was working till 2am! I would like to share with you here the progress step by step and have your opinion on the result.












PS: I found this amazing web-site related to mosaic art. You can find there really great pictures for your inspiration* http://www.mosaicartsource.com/

Paint me if you can...

Among many different art techniques, acrylic painting would be always my choice number one. You can create such a symphony of colours…. colours that shine, fix your eyes for few seconds and make you travel… Great paintings make me stop for few minutes and I can not take my eyes of the picture. My mind starts thinking and takes me away… I will always remember one movie where they painted with special brush that transformed the painting in the living picture. You could actually enter and become part of the painting. The problem was to come back to the reality… some people liked the imaginary world so much that they even preferred staying there and leaving behind all their beloved…

I would like to present you so far very small collection of my paintings… Each painting has its story behind, the source of inspiration, the aim of creation, and as I continue painting, you will find here always new arts:-).

"Our Identity" (Neli&Ka) October 2008 This painting is very personal… together with Karim we copied our hands, again and again… and created this puzzle of hands. The single hand drawings would not be so special but with the crossings of the lines we created many separate areas that turned the picture into puzzle. Each area was then painted with different colour. This painting is like our identity… our hands are the same, same number of fingers, one left another right, but we are so different as all those colours, our family, religion, culture. And the most beautiful is the combination of all that and it only proves that we are united in diversity.

“Happy Elephant” September 2008 Here is used the mix of various techniques – painting, mosaic, collage. Happy Elephant was a gift for my mum this year… on her birthday. It’s a shining picture, shinning as a sunny day, shinning as my childhood,… shinning as me when I am happy:-)

“Friendship Tree” January 2008 This one was a gift for a friend. Friendship Tree is a concept we used in AIESEC during conferences. We drew a tree and asked delegated to take post-its and write little messages for their friends. At the end of the conference, tree and full of messages and the room was full of new friends!

“Passion Garden” (Neli&Ka) January 2008 You can find this painting in Anna’s room. This garden is full of passion fruit flowers that grow one over another… but the most important is that they are all together…

“Bouquet” January 2006 This was my revelation… a re-discovery of my passion for painting and art after many years. I painted this picture one winter weekend at home… people were amazed how simple but beautiful the picture is and I was really happy how it turned out. It was my goodbye present for my lover when I was leaving France. I would never say that one day this painting will be part of our shared home.