Hope, Love and The Creative Process

Following the heart to find inspiration and a message of hope and love to share.

I still remember sitting in class the first time a teacher explained the process of brainstorming to me. I remember the enthusiasm, the speedy, dusty, writing of chalk on a board, and all the possibility. It was some sort of creative writing lesson in middle school. I don’t remember which teacher, but I remember the energy, and the simple premise of the lesson is something I still often employ today: List every idea without censorship. Originally intended for a group environment - and attributed to the 1957 book “Applied Imagination” by Alex. F. Osborn - it definitely was new to me, a young student in the early ‘80s. Today I still find it useful to use the same principles in my creative process. We are often our own worst critic, and it’s important to consider all our ideas without judgement as they bounce off one another. Later, in High School, I learned about another concept in our readings (we were reading & discussing “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau at the time): Stream of Consciousness. Attributed to writers such as James Joyce or, more contemporarily, Toni Morrison - that day reading passages of Walden was nonetheless where I first learned of this writing style - depicting a character’s thoughts naturally as they progress through the mind. The lessons of these creative and writing strategies stuck with me over the years and as I develop my creative projects I often make lists and openly follow my “thought trains” in the process.

So, if you’ve ever wanted to ask me, “where do your ideas come from?”, I hope you enjoy the following few notes from my studio this week and feel inspired to embrace your own creative paths too.

"Virtute Spei, Offerre Amor"
The Power of Hope, to Offer Love

It all started with a stamp design for a new painting I was planning. I wanted something that was very precise in pattern but also included a morning glory design. I found my compass and ruler and went to work. As this stamp was waiting for its debut (in a new fox painting), I was also working on an art project concept for the upcoming holidays - finding ways to help people feel more connected to each other through art. Sharing something special with friends and loved ones during what could be a very difficult holiday season brought me to the idea of having a design that would capture the overall theme of love and friendship. As I contemplated such a design, I also had a test print of my new stamp in front of me on my drawing table. I thought two entwined flowers from this design would be a sweet representation of my theme. I had an idea.

I took the morning glory shapes within the circle of my stamp and traced them onto a canvas (which is a whole other story about covering an unwanted painting with gesso and using up supplies on hand). I painted delicately and precisely (which, if you know my work, is not like me at all). I wanted uniformity and care with every stroke of paint to represent the care we have for our friends and family. I also liked the circular shape showing two halves completing each other - and I didn’t realize it at the time - but the flowers and hearts became the representation of love and hope, and the sun rays, our power and strength together.

I scanned in the painting and, unusual for me, decided to continue the design graphically to further enhance my message. I edited with paint tools, filter overlays, and finally, text (working on those elusive, but improving, Adobe Illustrator Skills while I was at it).

Here’s where the brainstorming really started.

Collage of notes typed in my phone and then continued in my journal.
(As you can tell, I also doodle while I think :)

As I was thinking about appropriate phrases, the design made me think of a coin, and I couldn’t shake the familiar “e pluribus unum” (out of many, one) text from my head. I thought, maybe, what if I look at Latin translations?

Side note: This made me think of my mom, who always liked to comment that she wished she took a more useful foreign language in school instead of Latin. (I STILL have the Latin plant name “Hypericaceae Hypericum Perforatum” forever ingrained in my head because she pointed it out every time we passed it on long walks to the grocery store when I was young. It wasn’t until my 40’s I learned it was also know as St. John’s wort).

Little does Mom know, I could use her old Latin skills now! But, fortunately, I can also find online tools to help, and started plugging away at seeing how my phrases of love and friendship would translate into Latin. I liked that the mere fact I was translating my phrases into Latin and then back to English, I was presented with new phrases to consider. When I finally landed on “Virtute Spei, Offerre Amor”, I rather liked the uplifting ambiguity of the message: The Power of Hope, to Offer Love. I was thinking this message related well to the recent Live Instagram message I watched from Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez. She talked about hope and how it’s not something we work to achieve, but an action we perform.

(my journal entry after watching Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez)

Hope is powerful. And in the actions we take to create hope, I feel we show our most honest and raw love of each other, of our community, humankind, and of the planet. By choosing to create hope, we offer our love to the world. We show how much we care about each other. And what I didn’t realize when I started - THIS is the message I really wanted to share with you.

I often find in my life that if we pay attention, if we notice the words, images, and actions in our lives and the people around us, we find the unusual connections that enable us to grow and understand, find new paths and solutions, and to create the hope we so need and to honor the love we deserve.

If you would like a free sticker of my new design to remind you of the power of hope - feel free to sign up here. I am happy to send a little hope and love your way! And if you enjoyed learning about my creative process and would like to read more weekly studio musing, please subscribe to “An Artist’s Notes” below. I look forward to sharing with you!

Happy Creating!

~ Jennifer

From my Studio in Corvallis, Oregon
An Artist’s Notes