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Embracing Limits in Creativity

Rebecca McVicar

Have been playing with this idea to embrace limits in creativity through unusual constraints. I remember from art school the almost exciting nature of forced ingenuity that came from only being allowed to work in grey marker renderings or having an almost impossible time constraint on a design or not being allowed to use an eraser on a pencil drawing in our illustration class.I have treasured memories of constraints in art and working through the challenge of setting interes ting limits just to see if it could be done.

Sometimes I offer the challenge to my children too, if they accept it is always an enjoyable experience as they get a buzz out of it too.

Not having endless possibilities means that one has a starting point to actually do something creative. There is no writers block or staring at a blank canvas/page. Within the restraint is where the mind begins to tick away. It's no longer lost.

Things like seemingly insignificant journaling prompts create images and words within the mind and they get drawn out in literally hundreds of ways by any number of different people because all of their experiences leave a different impression in the minds eye, even those who think they are not creative can flourish within the creative constraint environment, it's facinating to watch, especially in the kids who start off thinking it's impossible and end up wih something they love.

Please do watch the linked TED talk too. It's pretty groovy.

http://m.fastcompany.com/3027379/work-smart/the-psychology-of-limitations-how-and-why-constraints-can-make-you-more-creative

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