The Creative License

Cardiff skyline as seen from on top of the fort inside Cardiff Castle.

At the beginning of last term I was in a creative slump. It was when I was in the library waiting for a friend, mindlessly reading the spines of books on the 'creative' shelf when I came across an bright yellow spine that proclaimed in design-messy writing, 'The Creative License: Giving Yourself Permission to be the Artist you Truly Are'.

The author, Danny Gregory, suggests keeping an illustrated journal to celebrate your day-to-day life and to encourage seeing the beauty in everything. He puts forward the idea of not just drawing 'an apple' or 'the door', but drawing YOUR apple and YOUR door. No other apple/door will look as this one does in this moment - their individuality makes them special and worthy of being drawn and being art.

Journal page from the 15th October. Drawn at Cardiff Castle.

Since starting the book, I have been doing exactly as it suggests and keeping an illustrated journal. Not only that but doing it in pen as well. Pen is not my medium of choice (I'm a graphite-and-charcoal kinda girl) but despite my preconceptions about drawing in pen and the terror of making mistakes that can't be erased, it's actually incredibly liberating. With other media, you can rub out mistakes as often as need be, striving towards 'perfection'. With pen, every mistake stays and there is no going back and the drawing then has intrinsic energy - the lack of perfection gives it life!

The fort inside Cardiff Castle. 

I really recommend the book 'The Creative License' to everyone. You can buy it here on Amazon. Also check out Danny Gregory's blog here. It's very inspirational!