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Caffeine for the Creative Soul

~ Daily journal about art, writing, and creating

Caffeine for the Creative Soul

Monthly Archives: October 2011

Thinking Outside the Box

29 Saturday Oct 2011

Posted by timcoffeyart in Art, daily doodle, Thinking Outside the Box, Writing

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

Art, blog, Daily doodle, Inspirational, Writing

I started off wanting to create a concept to represent “Thinking outside the box.”

This first image, while cute, did not satisfy me. I thought what if the box had a label? What if the label was a little deceptive? So I started to think about replacing the cat with a lion.

I was also thinking about how the world wants to label everyone, but people are much more than the labels the world gives us (and we are more than the labels we give ourselves).

I felt this concept had improved, but I still felt it needed to be taken a step further. So, I doodled the final two panels below.

I felt satisfied with this concept. Ninety-nine percent of the time, I don’t revise my ideas for this blog. The daily doodles are almost always one shot drawings. However, it seemed appropriate for today’s theme to show the process of taking a simple idea and transforming it into a more “thought out” concept. Isn’t that what “thinking outside the box” is all about?

Sometimes Inspiration Needs a Little Help

28 Friday Oct 2011

Posted by timcoffeyart in Art, daily doodle, Inspirational Doodles, Writing

≈ 26 Comments

Tags

Art, Daily doodle, Inspirational, Journal, Writing

I’ve been wanting to draw a monkey for a few days now, but I didn’t know what to do with him until last night.

For me, inspiration is something I don’t have the patience to wait for any longer than a few minutes. If an idea for a piece of art or writing isn’t coming naturally, I just make a decision about where to start, and I force it to happen. It’s that process that gave me the idea for today’s daily doodle.

All the Time in the World

27 Thursday Oct 2011

Posted by timcoffeyart in Art, Blogging, Inspirational Doodles, Writing

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

blog, Inspirational, Time

Yesterday, I felt like I needed to rush everything. I went to my monthly art group meeting last night, so I lost a little work time, and I ran out of time in replying to comments on the blog.

The experience of feeling like I’m always running out of time got me thinking. This morning, as I searched for an idea for the daily doodle, I found the inspiration for this idea. What if I pretend I have all the time in the world, no matter what I’m working on? When working under pressure, I have a tendency to always be thinking about the other things I need to do. But what if I simply focus on the one task at hand and forget about all the other things that are waiting for my attention. When the time comes to work on those other things, I can spend all my energy where it’s needed. This idea sounds good at the moment, but only time will tell if it actually works!

Setting the Bar High

26 Wednesday Oct 2011

Posted by timcoffeyart in Blogging, Self Doubt, Setting the Bar High

≈ 28 Comments

Tags

Art, blog, Journal, Writing

I’ve been overwhelmed with the positive feedback I’ve received on the blog from so many people. I had no idea when I started blogging how rewarding this blogging experience would be. Thanks to all of your for showing such support!

I often wonder if I have the ability to keep it up. Somehow, I’ve been managing to come up with new writing and art every day, but the self-doubt continues to creep in at times. I think it’s natural for that to happen. I don’t think it’s possible to be confident 24 hours a day. And I know there will be days that I just can’t reach the high bar that’s been set on the blog. I think the most important thing for me is to keep things honest in this daily art journal, and things will automatically work themselves out.

Reaching for Dreams – an Inspirational Doodle

25 Tuesday Oct 2011

Posted by timcoffeyart in daily doodle, Inspirational Doodles

≈ 27 Comments

Tags

Art, Dreams, Goals, Inspirational, Writing, writing a novel

I was thinking about reaching for dreams and goals, and it led to this inspirational doodle.

When I was younger, I used to think of reaching for a dream as reaching for a goal. The other day I mentioned that I went through a phase of trying to build a writing career. I knew it was going to be the most challenging thing I had ever done in my life. I’ve always had a great respect for people who make a career out of writing. Many professional writers dedicate their entire lives to their craft. I knew competition is incredibly fierce. I had experience building a career in art, which is probably just as fiercely competitive as the writing field, so I had a bit of an understanding of what I was up against.

There came a time when I decided that traditional publishing was probably not right for me. I believe it happened when I came to the realization that in order to continue to pursue traditional publishing, I would need to start writing in a different genre that I didn’t have a sincere interest in writing. I spent three years writing one novel, educating myself at writing workshops and conferences, manuscript critiques, and viewing free online classes available at i-Tunes. (For those of you who don’t know, entire courses from Yale University and other schools are available for free online at i-Tunes – it’s amazing! Everyone should check it out – many of them have full video, and it’s like sitting in on the class).

What I learned in the process of trying to reach my dream of a writing career was that I didn’t need to actually get a novel (or anything) published in order to reach that dream. I believe dreams should not be about reaching goals. If I have a dream of becoming a writer, it’s really all about writing, the joy and pain of writing on a daily basis. It’s not about all those other things that people might associate with writing, such as fame, fortune, and endless accolades. People might think that my failure to achieve those things is a failure in attaining a writing career, but I don’t see it that way. The dream is really about writing and creating art, and I don’t need anyone’s permission or approval to do that. Just by starting that novel, I had already reached my dream.

Where in the World Would You Like to Be?

24 Monday Oct 2011

Posted by timcoffeyart in Art, daily doodle, Inspirational Doodles, Writing

≈ 29 Comments

Tags

Art, Eiffel Tower, Inspirational, Writing

I was going through some old photographs this morning, and I found a photo of the Eiffel tower I had taken on vacation.

It got me thinking about where in the world I would like to be right now. Ironically, I don’t think Paris would be my first choice. Paris was amazing, but if I could be transported anywhere in my imagination, it might not be a place at all. It could be a state of mind or a skill level or confidence in writing or creating art.

So, in choosing to draw the Eiffel Tower in my daily doodle, it’s more about what the Eiffel tower represents in my mind rather than a specific place. It’s an inspirational fantasy of a world where anything is possible.

Blogging as a Reflection of Who I Am

23 Sunday Oct 2011

Posted by timcoffeyart in Art, Blogging, daily doodle, Writing

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

Art, Blogging, Writing, writing a novel

I suppose it would be possible for some people to invent believable artificial blogging identities for themselves. But for me to do that would require so much time and effort that it would probably take me about 40 hours a week to just come up with one post per week.

So, blogging, for me is all about being myself and becoming the person I want to be. I have no choice but to write about things that are a true reflection of my current creative struggles and triumphs. I’ve attended writing and art workshops in the past where it was recommended to start a blog for the purposes of marketing the work. But I have a very successful career as an artist/illustrator, and it provides me with the luxury of not needing to market myself at all (I have an agent who does all that stuff for me). I went through a phase where I thought I wanted to become a novelist, but in the process of writing my first novel, I’ve come to the realization that I don’t want to make a whole career out of writing novels. However, I did manage to finish a first draft of my first novel, and it was a rewarding creative experience.

At the writing conferences I’ve attended, many of the speakers recommended to writers “Be yourself.” They didn’t recommend writing to the market. However, when I had the first ten pages of my manuscript critiqued a few times, it seemed to be largely about if and where my novel would fit into the marketplace. One editor told me it would be an easy sell to libraries, but a very difficult sell to the big box book retailers. And the main reason it wouldn’t sell into a chain like Barnes and Noble was that it was not a fantasy genre book! Talk about confusing!

Now, the funny thing is that I find myself blogging (a thing I had vowed I would never do), and I’m finding it just as much of an enjoyable and satisfying experience as writing that first novel! I doubt my novel will ever find its way onto the shelves of the big box bookstores, but I’m OK with that, because I’m not willing to sacrifice who I am just to make that happen. Plus, my blog is already published on a daily basis without the approval, criticism or paycheck of an editor or publisher. I can’t get any more true to myself than that.

Observing Something Again for the First Time

22 Saturday Oct 2011

Posted by timcoffeyart in Art, Creating Equals Playing, Journal, Writing

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

Art, Inspiration, Journal, Observing, Writing

A few days ago I saw the moon in the daytime sky. The moment I saw it, I knew I had to use the image as inspiration for this art journal blog.

The pale moon against a light blue sky has always been a rare and magical sight for me. When I looked more closely, I actually saw the man in the moon for the first time. I saw the vague indication of a face. I had never seen it before! I suppose I had never observed the moon closely enough to see it. It’s kind of an amazing experience to see something for the first time that has been there all along.

Creating art and writing has a lot to do with observation and interpreting subject matter. I hope this eye opening experience helps me to open my thoughts when it comes to writing and creating art.

The Whole World Writing, Creating Art, Music, Crafting

21 Friday Oct 2011

Posted by timcoffeyart in Art, daily doodle, Inspirational Doodles, Music, Writing

≈ 24 Comments

Tags

Art, Creating Equals Playing, Inspirational, Music, Writing

What if everyone in the whole world spent 20 minutes every day creating something to make the world a better place for everyone?

I have this idea that if people were focused every day on expressing themselves through writing, creating art, music, crafts, building, or performing, the world would be a better place. Maybe it’s just a silly, naive notion, and I have no idea how such a thing would be possible to orchestrate. But it made me feel good to think about the possibility of everyone in the whole world writing, playing music, sculpting, journaling, playing, singing, gardening and doodling every single day. I think it could go a long way to making people happier with our lives. It could be a cure for depression. Maybe WordPress is on its way to making that happen some day!

Total Art Wipeout

20 Thursday Oct 2011

Posted by timcoffeyart in Art, daily doodle, Inspirational Doodles, Writing

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Art, deadline, Inspirational, Wipeout, Writing

I spent yesterday creating art on a deadline and it totally wiped me out. But I have to admit it felt pretty good! I decided to make that idea today’s daily doodle, but I wanted to write something to turn a concept that might seem negative into an inspirational doodle.

I experienced this really nice sense of satisfaction in the quantity of artwork I accomplished yesterday. I finished an art assignment, and today I’m moving on to the next art assignment for another company. I think it might be another wipeout today – if I’m lucky and get a great amount of work accomplished. I might find myself writing about today’s wipeout experience tomorrow!

I think it all has to do with attitude. I could stress out about it and feel completely overwhelmed, but I’m trying to approach work with a new energy – like a surfer riding a series of waves. These wipeouts are exciting!

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