Creative Play

A creative pull

2026 seems like the year I’m craving more creativity, more exploration and play.

I’ve gone through seasons where creativity feels harder to come by and I know anyone in a creative field of work knows this. What once felt exciting sometimes loses it’s peps.

In these seasons where my creativity has felt lacklustre I think of the quote by Brené Brown, “Unused creativity is not benign. It metastasizes. It turns into grief, rage, judgement, sorrow, shame.” Given the climate of the world these days, it’s feels more necessary than ever to put our energies into something good, something that gives back. Creativity is one of the ways I do this.

Finding a means

One of my friend from my 20’s insisted she wasn’t at all creative. I think she, like many, thought it was only for the obviously talented. I called her on it and said she just hadn’t found her “thing” yet. The fact is, we all need creativity and it comes in many forms. A few years in she discovered she loved fibre arts like knitting and weaving and has since become a master weaver. Clearly, she was creative, she just didn’t know it initially. She surprised even me with just how creative she really was! I think it’s for all of us, it’s just a matter of finding the ways we connect with that creativity.

Anyone can feel small or uncreative when they see the work of others who are in their peak. But comparison or not some seasons feel like deep valleys… times when our own creativity feels elusive and here is when we need it most.

As someone who loves to create so many different things, I realised a couple years ago I had forgotten to fill my own cup with various forms of creativity like recipe writing, gardening, creating natural cosmetics, drawing or even just going back to basic study. But 2025 was the year I leaned into that need and allowed myself to come back to the person I’ve always been. It started with my garden and literally and figuratively “grew” from there.

A necessary framework

I remember one of my university professors telling us about one whole semester at the London College of Art just drawing eggs. As rote as the assignment was, the goal was to find as many ways possible to interpret it once they finally got over the monotony of the task. It created a creative opening. Sometimes the limits are how we find the edges of our own creativity.

So this fall I created a little framework for myself. I decided if I wanted to get my own creativity flowing again, I needed to stop thinking about the outcome. Being prolific is better than creating one perfect piece. I needed to get curious, noticing the world around me and be in the moment.

On one of my Wednesday walks while my daughter was at dance class, I wished I’d had my camera with me. I had found myself caught up observing random details as I wandered. So that became the starting line. My first photo walk would be about observing the colour green, then blue and finally textures. And one day I decided to pull out one of my lights and a few modifiers (umbrellas, reflectors, softboxes, scrims…) to observe the subtle changes in reflection or highlights from one angle, and one static subject never adjusting the intensity of the light just based on what I put in front or around the light. Time flew by, I was utterly caught up in the process of noticing the most minute details and they aren’t made for beauty, just observation.

Thoughts

But what happened is the ordinary stopped feeling so basic. I was present enough to observe, to document and to see the subtle details around me. Time started to slow down again and the news reel stopped feeling so loud and oppressive. Below you’ll find a few examples from these studies in creative play and hopefully you might try and see for yourself.

So please share with me if you have tried to lean into your own creativity or if you feel like this is the nudge you needed to give it a shot. I’d love to hear what medium you choose and the experience you have below in the comments!

Happy play time!