How to Spark Your Creativity on Demand

How many times have you been on deadline for a project only to have your muses leave you high and dry? No new ideas, sparks of inspiration…NOTHING! Sometimes, it is not enough to look through your favorite magazines or visit your favorite blogs for ideas. You need something completely out of the box to get your ideas flowing.
Recently, I found myself in this situation. Desperately in need of some new or revamped ideas, I went to my art area and started painting backgrounds in my art journal. Mind you, there is nothing in the art journal, because I am blocked, but slapping paint on blank pages gave me the necessary spark I needed to generate a few ideas. That experience started me thinking about some other ways to jump start  creativity on demand.
Be an observer of people. I love watching and listening to people. The lunchtime crowd is my favorite. Especially when you catch them on a warm, sunny day. Watching what people wear and how they mix colors together can be rather inspiring and good for a few laughs. I have seen unusual combinations of patterns I would never normally pair together myself. Overheard snippets of conversations can be just the spark you need to start a new project. People watching is very effective if you learn to be a good observer. There is a wealth of creative inspiration just waiting to be found out.
Find inspiration outside of your discipline. While I find a lot of inspiration in the photography, scrapbooking and crafting world, I tend to find the best inspiration in other disciplines. I love food photography because it covers many of my interests. Studying how to light food helps me improve my portrait photography. Analyzing the simplistic styling of a food photo shoot has helped me design my scrapbook pages better. Looking at a fluffy, frosted cupcake inspires me to sew fluffy pin cushions shaped like cupcakes.
Exchange ideas with friends. I like to call this “friendly brainstorming”. The purpose of brainstorming is to generate a bunch of ideas. Why not do something like this with a few friends? Some of my photography buddies will have a brainstorming session at the end of the year to generate new ideas for promoting their businesses the next season. One person’s idea can be the catalyst for your next BIG thing. Remember, if you have an idea and your friend has an idea and you exchange them, you both now have two ideas. That sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
Kill the excuses. That’s right, knock them out. Excuses are a messed up way to avoid taking action. I have a few of my own I use from time to time…”I don’t have time.”, “I am too busy.”,  and my favorite, “I am feeling blocked.” All excuses that distract me from moving forward. Instead of settling on your excuses, do anything that nullifies the excuse. If you are feeling blocked, create anyways. Who says it has to be your best work? Sometimes, the best way out of a block is to work through it. If you are too busy, get organized or delegate to someone else.  If you don’t have time (this is a good one for those of us who say we want to work out…), get up earlier or stay up later to get it done.
Acknowledge your hunches. Hunches can lead to some pretty good ideas, but if you are not prepared to record them, you can lose them as fast as they come. Carry a notebook with you at all times and write your hunches down. Those hunches, that seem unimportant at the time, can lead to some amazing ideas.
I hope these ideas help you to jump start your creativity and to get it going when you need it the most. As long as we do not forget we are already creative,  creativity will come easily to us.