Creativity Has Seasons

The last chapter in Austin Kleon’s Keep Going talks about respecting your creativity as it goes through phases. Like seasons, our creativity goes through different season of booming creativity and downtimes. This is probably one of my favorite chapters of his book as it tells us that in order to bloom, we must learn to lose something in order to recover as nothing ever stays the same just like the seasons.

There is a Time for Growth and a Time to Rest

For Corita Kent, creative work has seasons. Part of your creative work is to know what season you are in and act accordingly on it. She mentions that the trees may look dead, but we know that it’s a part of the process, and in the end of it comes spring and summer.

• Following Corita’s way of thought, we have to pay attention to the rhythms and cycles of our creative output and learn to be patient in the off-seasons.

• We don’t always have to be in our blooming season all the time. We have to learn to lose something in order to recover as nothing always stays the same forever.

• We celebrate early successess, and others do not even bloom until they’re older. Oftentimes, people who bloom the fastest often wither as quick as they bloom.

• The most important thing about creative growth is that people who have found the thing that has been keeping them alive have been planting their seeds, tending to it, and have grown into something that lasted longer than it ever was.

This, Too, Shall Pass

If you have been worrying about how chaotic the world is and how art monsters are consuming everything and leaving a destructive path along its wake, just remember that no matter what—this, too, shall pass, and they shall pass, too.

That is one of the things that are comforting to hear. As the world goes on moving forward, everyday has a potential to become something beautiful, and there will be less time to be in despair.

We are very fortunate enough to be born on this world despite the odds of misfortune are at an astronomical scale. We may not know how many days we have left in this world, but it’s much more waste of a time if we don’t make it count and keep on going.

To end my reading of this amazing book, I will quote Austin in his last few paragraphs on this chapter:

Keep Going!

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Quotes to Live By

Artist Feature - Giles Anthony Gevera

Today’s Artist feature is one of my closest friends that I’ve been with throughout my entire academic journey. He is one of the people that I look up to as he was the first of them who taught me how to use a DSLR camera as well as in graphic design.

About Giles

Giles specializes in photography and graphic design. His enthusiasm for music, urban culture and pop culture has always provided him with food for thought, which he believes fuels his creativity.

Design for Giles is making complex ideas more accessible by working around constraints and finding creative ways to satisfy them. He believes that inspiration can be found in spaces where you find peace in yourself, and the thought of channeling that into something tangible is what he's always curious about.

Words of Wisdom

If you want to follow more of his works, check him out on these links:

Facebook Page

Instagram

Behance

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