Creativity and gratitude in all things

What is creativity to you? I wonder if you cooked for the holidays, and thought about what you were creating, not just what you were cooking. Or maybe you set a beautiful table. Or created a welcoming space. Or made a great playlist of holiday songs. I love how creativity and gratitude abound this time of year. What a gift they are, not just now, but, potentially in every day we live.

I thought about this while preparing for our Thanksgiving meal this week. I felt frustrated at first. Oh, no! I didn't do any art today! But quickly I saw that these days were packed with creative acts that empowered me as an artist. A pinch of this, a dash of that. This color next to that color. And I really didn't make anything fancy. But I was mindful about what I did make. That felt wonderful and transformed the work from a necessary chore to a creative joy which, as in our Zentangle practice, always began with gratitude for the ingredients and tools and people connected with them, and appreciation.

For this, I am grateful.

I did enjoy making these distress ink tiles at the beginning of the week.

I also completed another faux eco-dyed tile.

Yesterday, I relaxed with a YouTube video from lovelygiraffetangle, who calls this "Fragments Building".  I needed a long, high-focus lesson. It took me about 4 hours to finish it, but the repetitive and grid-like structure made for a lesson that was easy to follow. I may try to create a fragment building of my own!

How's your creativity doing?