Hardwired for Creativity is a teaching memoir and educational workbook, focused on encouraging and supporting growing creative students before and beyond the knowledge of formal art principles and techniques. Creativity is expressed in a variety of ways, like painting, writing, performing arts, crafts, woodworking, business management, and employee development.
This book is divided into two Sections. The first Section is divided into four parts: cultivating creativity, developing creative work, thinking differently, and acknowledging others. Section two is full of creativity-related topics, such as brainstorming, project management, critiques, research, intuition, and procrastination. All these topics are important to developing creative work and a creative lifestyle.
Emergent students, artists, and creatives need tools of everyday understanding to successfully sustain balanced lives of creative structure and freedom. This book is dedicated to the exploration of these everyday topics through a variety of pedagogy, like qualitative research, and the creatives’ life experiences.
It’s been a while, but I had fun making this guy. I’ll do some finishing touches and wait several months before firing him. Let’s pray he doesn’t bust open in the kiln. I’m still learning…. What should I call him?
“Life motivation comes from the deep longings of the heart, and the passion to see them fulfilled urges you onward.”
My most recent drawing for a handmade book I want to make.
I’ll Share My Creativity
Something has been bothering me lately. How can I host and maintain four blogs with podcasts on three of them, and videocasts on one?
I’m an artist and author and have a lot happening in my life regarding my health. I have been diagnosed with five rare diseases or disorders, yep five. Not to mention what I call my lesser diseases, such as Type 2 Diabetes and Fibromyalgia which are a result of some of the other illnesses. The annoying five are:
CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome)
EDS-3 Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Type 3)
POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome)
DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder)
PNES (Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures)
I have separate blogs for CRPS and DID. I also have a site I rarely post at which is janarawling.com for my art making (though I forget to post stuff). Add to that, I am a Believer in Christ Jesus and have a blog site for that at HardwiredForLife.com (I have a partner on this one), and well, you see where I’m going with this. I get very tired and can’t post to all of them consistently, and I don’t. I suffer from symptoms every day mainly including pain, seizures, overall fatigue and falling down (sometimes breaking bones). I’ve had to stop working as a commercial art professor, which I miss very much. But I can still write when I feel okay, and I can make some art, which brings me joy through the pain.
I was wondering if I should combine some of the blogs, but I’m pretty sure that someone with CRPS doesn’t care about my DID, DIDers don’t care about POTS, and so on. I’ve been asking the Lord about it and He told me that the common denominator for all of my sites is not only me, but also is my art making, my creativity.
God told me that DIDers, CRPSers, Believers, and Artists all enjoy creativity. So, if you don’t mind, I will post the same art making and writing to all of my sites. That way, I have some universal content. I will still keep everything separate, but some creativity will be the same.
Whew! I feel better now. I feel that sharing my creativity is something I can do that will bring me tons of joy. Plus, I’m working hard on my healing and joy is a precious remedy.
Thank you for participating in my journey from wherever you’ve come.
With Love,
Jana
P.S.: Can I pray for you? If so, contact me via email, or just say, “Yes” and I will be honored.
P.S.S.: I’m currently writing a book called, “Hardwired for Creativity: Art Supplies for the Mind” that should be finished sometime this year. I’ll let you know when that happens.
Creativity is revelation from God. It’s an unseen resource we can pull down from Heaven. It’s an anointing we can access as sons and daughters of the living God. It’s a significant attribute of Holy Spirit and Jesus. I call creativity the Creative Spirit. When I speak of the Creative Spirit, I am also speaking of the Holy Trinity as its ultimate source.
Creativity is the driving force behind just about everything we do. From getting dressed in the morning to driving throughout our day. We are hardwired to be creative. We imagine what we will wear: our outfit, shoes, hair. We imagine the roads we will drive; where to turn, how to pass or change lanes; how to use the vehicle to our advantage. We use creativity unsparingly and unwittingly.
So, what would life be like if we were able to harness creativity and use it to promote and glorify the Kingdom of God? How much more can we accomplish in our day, or over a lifetime?
Excerpt from our book in progress called, Hardwired for Creativity: Art Supplies for the Mind.
You’ll need to know your target audience and have a solid concept before you start your creative work if it’s for commercial purposes. The concept will drive the design, so trust your research. If you still aren’t sure of the design, go back to research and concept.
If your creative work is for yourself, God or others on-commercially, the concept can be loose—though research should still be a serious driving force for creativity. Loose concepts for non-commercial work allows the viewer to participate in the interpretation of the work.
First Break All the Rules
I’ve always told students that you must know the rules before you can break them. You can break them from a position of intelligence or ignorance and professionals can tell the difference.
Get Out of the Box
Research, research and more research can help you to get out of the box you may be in or may want to break through. Research and let it go to allow your subconscious mind to most of the work. When you get back to it, you’ll be surprised at how things begin to fall into place.
Holy Spirit & Angelic Helpers
I’m pretty convinced we have access to creative angels and of course, Holy Spirit is always there to guide us in strategy, wisdom and creativity. I always pray and ask before I start work and during the entire creative process. I don’t have all the answers and two heads are better than one. ♥
What an honor. God called the craftsmen who were to work on the tabernacle and Ark of the Covenant by their names. Names are very important to God, and His names are crucial for us to know His attributes and character. If you call yourself and artist, be proud yet humbled by the gifts and skills that He has deposited in you.
“Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord called by name Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and He has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom and skill, with intelligence and understanding, and with knowledge in all [areas of] craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs to work in gold, silver, and bronze, and in the cutting of stones for setting and in the carving of wood, for work in every skilled craft. He has also put in Bezalel’s heart [the willingness] to teach [others the same skills], both he and Oholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. He has filled them with skill to do the work of an engraver, of a designer, and of an embroiderer, in blue, purple, and scarlet fabric, and in fine linen, and of a weaver; makers of every work and embroiderers of [excellent] designs.” — Exodus 35:30-35 Amplified Bible (AMP)
Use-less / adjective: not fulfilling or not expected to achieve the intended purpose or desired outcome
So, what is the point of making Art? To find an answer, I think we need to change our thinking about the purpose of Art.
What is Art for? How is Art used? Where does it end up?
Well, Art expresses, moves, shocks, questions… Art demands, confuses, pulls, pushes… Art changes lives of artist and viewer—for better or for worse.
Art takes space, time, money, energy, passion… Art is useless, dusty, hidden, broken… Art pains artists and viewers—for good or for bad.
Truth is, the mention of Art makes a lot of people wince. Yet, people cannot seem to stop making Art, looking at Art, and wondering. We desire Art, crave it even, but we do not want to buy it, or cannot see where we could put it, or how we will live with it year after year.
Just Sharon & Jana 
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