Creative Compression Creates Juicy Flow
Getting juicy ideas for creative projects is easy during citrus season. Yesterday, my husband and I took our visiting relatives to Davidson’s Jelly and Jam Factory in Dundee, Florida. While the workers were on display making and packaging the delectable offerings, there were also a direct ship section. There customers can either send or grab-and-go whatever fruit is currently in season. The honeybells, named for both their sweet taste and their globed shape, were piled in displays for purchase.. We got a quarter-bushel to enjoy. And to send to loved ones up North. Interested in learning more about Davidson’s? Look here: https://www.davidsonofdundee.com/
Where to Find Inspiration’s Fruit
Inspiration is everywhere to compress into art. Look at produce, such as the crate of honeybells in the photo above. What ideas do they bring up? How can ideas be extracted – or inspiration squeezed – to help creativity? Perhaps sketch produce or write a haiku about the citrus bin. Also, I looked at the names of the jams, jellies, and candies. The term delicacies really says so much about the ways common candy can convey richness in life. Think about the way these products are made. The fruit juice and sometimes rind are slowly cooked down until it creates a given product. Creatives, too, write, then edit, and rewrite, until their product has jelled into a poem or flash fiction piece. Anything that tugs an emotional response is ripe for the picking to use for creative flow.
Your Turn
Every region is known for some kind of product or service. Take yourself on an excursion near home – Julia Cameron coined these Artist’s Dates. Notice a bagel bakery or a chocolate factory. Enter and take in the aroma, which may lead to some childhood memories. Jot them down quickly in a journal. Play with the words and phrases that bubble up. Then try to use them in a short form like a haiku or sonnet. Or, perhaps they might find their way into a chapter of a novel you are writing. Finally, treat yourself to a bagel, piece of chocolate, or other confection as part of your creative exploration. Eat it slowly to bring out the greatest satisfaction in the event.
Here’s to growing your flow,
Marisa
