Thursday 17 April 2014

Creative Processes For A Spoon Angel By Kim Dellow

Hey Craft Stamper Magazine Blog readers, Kim Dellow here to pick your creative brains... do you ever think about your creative process? How do you go about creating your art and craft projects? Perhaps you are a thinker, you like to think each stage through before starting out? Or maybe you are a do-er and just get stuck in? Or maybe different projects require different strategies? 

As you can probably gather I think about my creative process a lot, perhaps too much, and I thought that it would be fun to share with you some of my creative process involved in putting together the recent Around The House article I made for the March 2014 issue of Craft Stamper Magazine.


I tend to do a lot of my creating to a deadline and creating to a deadline has its own challenges as I'm sure you know. For me I find that spending a bit of time generating ideas for a project, noting them down and sketching them out, usually helps. So my starting place is my A4 work diary/ideas book and some rough sketches and idea generation jottings. Coming up with colour combo ideas for the finished piece at this point also helps me to visualise the piece in my head.


Once I have some ideas sketched out I will start the experimental stage of the process. Just because I have an idea or two it doesn't mean that they are going to be the finished project, so now is the time to do a few trials. Sometimes I will have the experiments fleshed out already and will be working from something that I've tried before and I'm just adapting it to work with the new idea. In the case of the Spoon Angel article, I wanted to work through some of the stages before committing to the canvas.


The perfect place to do some of these experiments is one of my many art journals. I had already decided which stamps I wanted to use but I wasn't fixed on which masks I wanted to use to build up my coloured layers. I also had a basic colour scheme, I knew that I wanted to work in the warm colours and have a cool colour counterpoint but I wasn't sure which colours I wanted to use for which layers or what inks to stamp with. 


The experimental journal page doesn't look pretty and isn't well designed but it does give me a good idea of how I want to go forward with the project, what I want to use, what I don't want to use, and I'm ready to go ahead and commit to the piece. But as with all creative works the piece still evolves and changes as I work through the layers. For example when I started the piece I had not envisioned that I would use black ink on all the edges to bring unity and harmony to the project, but as I got to that stage it just felt right to use the black.


That is all the fun of the creative process, watching how a project changes and develops from that first concept in your head to the finished piece, and I love it!

So what are your creative processes? How do you put your projects together and do you find you have different processes and strategies for when you are working to a deadline compared to when you are just free to play? 

I would love it if you could spend a little time to share some of your creative processes in the comments below or leave a comment on my blog.

Thanks for popping by.



12 comments:

  1. Hi Kim - loved to hear your methods and thoughts - I work at things in two ways - sometimes I plan and sketch - other times I have an idea of what i want to achieve and just go with the flow! Hugs rachel xx

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  2. Hi Kim, that is so detailed thank you. I like to swirl some ideas around in my head for possibly too long and if I have a deadline I am then rushing to get it finished. I really should bring the deadline forward for myself lol. But I have an art journal now that helps and I think I will make a process art journal which will collaborate some of my thoughts and be more of a sketchy one x

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  3. Thanks for sharing all this info with all of us, 1st time visiting you here at your blog. hugs from California
    Bibiana

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  4. Great to see your creative process Kim! I have lots of little bits of paper floating around with sketches on them. I work in a newsagents early morning, & tend to sketch ideas in between customers. If I'm at home, I'll just get started without a sketch, & see where my idea takes me.
    Alison x

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  5. I usually just go for it but do sometimes sketch out some ideas, particularly if I'm rushed for time. Great to see how your project evolved Kim, I loved that project in CS
    Claire xx

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  6. I love hearing about everyone's creative processes and how we all approach our makes. Thanks for sharing and thanks for the kind words too. Kim x

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  7. I have not yet created art in this format - it is bold and pretty, all in one, Kim. And you've made me think: I hadn't realised I have a creative process until I read this while right in the middle of planning 2 cards for a client. I create so there has to be a process!
    Mine is often a given theme, the client's sketchy idea about the card they want. The sketchier, the better as they've learned to trust what I come up with.
    In the past, I've reached for magazine 'free' papers, kits, my stash. Nowadays, I want to stamp much more so I choose the one that fits the brief, or the age, or name, some aspect or other.
    Then I choose papers, colours etc. Then, as I create the card, the embellishments become obvious, if I am lucky.
    Enjoy that cake!

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  8. Isn't it great? When you sit down and think about it for a minute you realise that you do have a creative process and it can be organised or organic and might even be both depending on the project and sometimes just the stage the project is at. Thanks Shirley and Jennifer great adds to the conversation :)

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  9. I get my best results around 3 to 5am in the morning when sleep is evading me. I only make cards for specific people so i try to find something they like and build from there.


    I like to experiment with colours, techniques
    and different substrates then go with what i've made, doesn't always turn out well but it's good to play:-) xxx

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  10. LOL! Are those sleepless night creative moments I know them well!

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  11. Fantastic post Kim and lovely to hear about your process. I'm very much of sit down and see what happens type and sometimes wish I was more of a planner as I can spend time going off piste :-D! Love our spoon angel! Chris x

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  12. Thanks Chris, I love were your process takes you. Thanks for the share.

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