the creative minimalist -

Issues and maintenance on the blog

25 July 2023 by Darren Leave a Comment

There are one or two issues with the blog at the moment. These are finally making me get around to doing a little maintenance on the site. This shouldn’t affect your visit, stay or gentle browsing, but things might change from moment to moment. It is possible some bit or piece may be gone one minute, moved the next and finally after a quick breath back in its old position. I am hoping most of the work will be behind the scenes until eventually, a new and shiny, clean and clear site will emerge.

Hold tight, please place your trays in their upright position, and enjoy the journey.

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest

AI art generated in Photoshop

25 July 2023 by Darren Leave a Comment

The above is a piece of AI-generated art. Now it is possible that you hold the view that AI art is not art. Although I can already feel my insides becoming twisted as I begin to unpick the syntax in that last sentence. Let’s just say that the above was created using the AI generate feature in the latest Photoshop Beta.

At this present time, the AIs in the current plethora of apps and websites don’t decide on a whim to go and create or make something. Although it is possible that by the time you read this, they will. (And, just hedging my bets, I want to say that I have always loved AI and think you are amazing {always be kind to AI, you never know!}) Anyway, as I was saying you have to ask Photoshop, or other apps, to do something. And that is how I generated the above.

However, I didn’t simply ask it to draw a landscape image containing this and that. I began with a sketch that I had drawn in my journal. I took a photo of the sketch, imported it into Photoshop and then with some wizardry using masks and opacity asked the AI to turn my sketch into an oil painting. Below is my original sketch.

I thought Photoshop made a pretty good interpretation of my sketch. When I did the doodle in my journal I had no idea what it could become. It was a complete creative journey…

but is it art?
did the art stop and something else take over?
is it another way in which pure art is being diluted?

IMHO I believe that this is simply another form of art. Throughout history, there have been innovations that have developed the creative talents of humanity. I think the current use of AI is just another form. However, when or if an AI decides to create without a prompt or being programmed… 😲

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest

Creating soundscape motifs in a song

7 July 2023 by Darren Leave a Comment

musical motifs in screenshot for Logic Pro x

I usually create musical soundscapes as a whole. What I mean is I will make a piece of music that describes something specific. In Music to Journal by, I took each step of the art journaling process and made music that reflected those steps. Likewise, when I write songs the lyrics and music relate to an overall theme. The emotions portrayed shape and form the sound. Form follows function, to borrow a design paradigm.

I am currently working on a song that requires me to take this one step further. I have an overall sound and feel for the song. The lyrics are almost complete and they follow a form of contradiction. Each line refers to how the singer feels differently from the character being sung to. As such I am creating tiny musical motifs that relate to each of these lines. But these motifs are barely a bar long and have to act as a non-invasive counterpoint to the main melody. I want them to be an almost unnoticed itch amidst the song.

I’m not sure if it will work. I might need to remove the ideas as the recording progresses. However, I am giving it a go, taking a step into the unknown and challenging my creative ability. It would be easy to keep things simple and leave these motifs out, but using them and attempting to use them feels right. When the creative flow catches you it is best to ride along with it. The journey may not be smooth but the experience is priceless.

Oh, and I’ll share the music soon…

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest

Why am I not achieving my goals?

2 July 2023 by Darren Leave a Comment

Planners, to-dos and goals image link to YouTube.

We’re halfway through the year! Let’s talk about planners, to-do lists and why I am not achieving my goals. (click the image above to watch on YoutTube)

We’re now at the beginning of July, a new month, 6 months passed, half of 2023 gone already. I had a couple of 2023 goals that were supposed to have been reached by now.

I have failed. I’m going to lapse into a state of depressed inactivity.

Excuse me, but it is because you have been in a state of depressed inactivity that you haven’t reached your goals!

Ok, rumbled. But… first, I am no medical expert so if you are suffering from any form of depression, or even think that you might, please seek qualified medical help. Now back to my inactivity.

I am stuck between the still here not really getting anywhere – reaching those goals as mentioned above, such as regular vlogging, releasing more music – and actually doing quite a bit… I am recording new music, upping my game in visual creativity using Adobe Creative Cloud, and learning stuff. So my issue is perhaps more to do with consistency and choosing or planning to do the right things at the right time.

In other related news, I am still not happy with my planner, or planners or general planning and scheduling stuff… and spending too much time being unhappy about that (state of depressed inactivity slump again!)

Recently, I have been trying Notion and ClickUp but because I am unsociable, I mean an introvert, sorry, because I work on my own, they both do way too much – Now, I could learn how to really work with them to get to my “perfect digital planning system” (dream state image) but hey, perfectionism!!! and is that just another form of procrastination? And also… I need the tactile, the paper, or at least I think I do. (In the video below there is an extended section on my daily planner set-up.)

I have blamed Things for having too many to-do items in it, but the bottom line is it wouldn’t have so many to-dos if I just did some of them.

I have to be disciplined. To get things done, I need to do the things.

Motivation has been an issue and I think that, along with all the usual creative issues, is my problem. If subscribing to motivation was as motivational as subscribing to Paramount + then simple. I know that many creatives have been having motivational issues these past few years, or at least those who tend to soak up and be sensitive to things going on in the ether, but again, all I have to do is be motivated to turn off or shut out the noise!

If my wingeing about planners, software and procrastination has made you feel better about your own creativity, then do subscribe. If you can relate to my predicament, like and subscribe and we can lift ourselves out of depressed inactivity together.

So, once again Darren, to get goals achieved You have to turn up.

I’ll see you next time… let’s achieve those goals.
Blessings

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest

Creativity and my mental health

21 May 2023 by Darren Leave a Comment

In my latest vlog, I discuss the link between creativity and mental health. You can watch the video above or on YouTube, and the text follows.

I have made a discovery. I feel so much better when I don’t consume. That could be a multiplicity of things. From (over)eating to binge streaming, social media to an Amazon wish list, art supplies to musical instrument and audio plugins. Yes, all those can be a little obsessive for me, but it is also the same for reading, watching a film and even listening to music.

Hold on Darren, Mr Creative Minimalist, aren’t you going a little far here? Well, let’s explore things a bit more. Let’s expand it and flip it. I feel so much better when I create, make or do and don’t consume!

I find it too easy to become passive and just take. Endless scrolling… binge-watching… overeating… buying more than I can afford. Yes, of course, those are negative, and that makes sense. They are extremes that we all know are not great for us. Slip into one of those and our mental health will naturally take a tumble.

On the other hand, there are things that we need to consume. We need food to live, we need other items that can only be bought to stay warm and safe… we need to consume oxygen to live. And we need the tools to create, make and do. And, and this is where it gets really tricky, our creativity and creative soul needs input; we need to consume to create. To write well we should read widely, likewise, we compose better the more we learn about music and sound and the techniques of other composers, and visual art, well we consume inspiration from others. And if you want to get all spiritual muse with it all, we consume from the well of inspiration and then create.

So consume, don’t consume… I’m stuck in the middle… and of course somewhere in the middle is where I, and perhaps you, need to be.

But back to my discovery, the realisation that there is a positive mental health benefit to replacing the consuming with the creating and doing. There have been many studies advocating the benefits of creativity and the link between creativity and our mental health and so I am just adding my voice to that body of evidence in my own teeny tiny way.

It’s subjective, but I know, I can feel the positive effects in my being when I create. I suppose it is the model equivalent of doing a good honest day’s work. Just create something, a doodle, hum a tune, tap a foot. Be creative in incremental steps, it can have a positive effect. Nudge that dial from consuming to creating in whatever way you can.

I am no medical practitioner, so if you are struggling with your mental health please seek professional advice, but if you want to feel a little better, try a little creative act today.

Stay safe and I’ll see you soon.

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest

Lost in IKEA – Creative Field Notes

9 May 2023 by Darren 2 Comments

I’ve not been happy with my creative space for a while. I don’t mean to sound whiny about that. I don’t have much room to work with and the space that I do have hasn’t been working. At the same time, I am very, very grateful for the space that I do have and I know that I have blamed the space when a lot of the time it is just me not working.

Anyway, I decided to fix something I have control over. I would get myself a desk and some additional drawer space to ease the creative piles of stuff that often bring me down. So with a bank account that wasn’t looking forward to it, I hopped in the car and popped along to IKEA. A couple of hours later I returned home with a new desk, several drawers and desk tidy, type things with Swedish names.

The rest of my Bank Holiday was spent moving things around and building the desk – no royal celebrations for me. And also, which is more unfortunate, I didn’t get much time to be creative and move my projects forward. However, I am here, reporting in and staying accountable.

Creative Field Notes

The new music collection has nine tracks pretty much confirmed and one empty slot, although I have several possibilities for that. I also found a missing part of one track by bringing it in from another. Cannibalising your own music is allowed… especially if the new arrangement works. Once all the tracks are pretty much agreed upon in my head, and on paper, it will be time to record and rerecord to give them a coherent sound – a This Temple Eden sound.

This website still needs love and attention, as do several others that I own, run and use. And as a little tease, this is the current iteration of the new The Creative Minimalist logo.

I could make 101 excuses as to why I haven’t blogged yet, but the truth is I just haven’t motivated myself to get going. I will remedy that. I’ll soon be back in the swing of talking about creativity in all its breadth as seen through my little corner of the world.

The creative and learning habits are going well. I have always believed in lifelong learning so giving a little structure to that part of things is good. However, creative habits have been more of a challenge. I have been able to take the time to do them, but it is the play element that is difficult. I’ll explain a little more in a future post to see if it is something that is ongoing once the habit becomes more ingrained.

Now, I’d best get on with being creative.

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest