What is creativity

Creativity is the expression of one’s imagination. This applies to everyday life, setting goals for your future or doing a new piece of art. I can imagine a better way to organize my bedroom closet, see my art hanging in an exhibit or touch a velvet and see the ridges and folds of rolling hills. 

Most people can imagine this same way. It does chaff me when people say they are not creative or artistic. This is because we all have the ability to image things, to daydream, to even draw a purple tree if you want. I do know that as in everything there are levels of ability. I certainly don’t consider myself a chief but I certainly can cook a fine dinner. 

I rely on my imagination, my creativity to see things that others do not. So can I say I am creative because I imagine things differently than others? I do believe I see things that others do not. Often when picking out fabric for my art quilts I am asked what I am going to make. I point to a color or drawn line that shows a sunrise, mountain ridge or lake front. Most reply they could see it now that I pointed that out but not before. I laugh when I say I see things in fabric. 

My current work is all imagined, an underwater seascape. I have done a series of these yet each is it’s own imagined world. I start with a commercial batik fabric as a background which sets the color pallet I will use.  Here is a picture showing the back of my  current work so you can see the turquoise, green and some gold I started with. 

 I lay loose threads, ribbons, speciality yarns across the fabric, trap them to the surface with a layer of toile loosly stitching this down. I had a wonderful moss green dyed velvet that I scrunched and folded in the foreground to emulate brain coral. A dark purple silk is next in front of the velvet along with another green fabric. Then layers of burnt out ribbon, more yarn and stitching. Lots of layers to show depth and interest. 

I have more to add to mostly the foreground on this piece but really enjoy showing how I go about using what I imagine to create my art. On a side note I have never dived and have not use pictures from divers for these underwater pieces. They are all from my imagination but have been complimented for the beauty of this work by those that do dive.