Inspiration Archives - CLEVERcreating

A Creative Approach to Add Text to an Art Journal, 7 Tips

February 6, 2023February 6, 2023 by Hannie Mommers

An art journal can be created in 2 ways. The focus can be on images with added text. Or the focus can be on texts to which images are added.

That depends on your own preferences. Are you primarily visual or are you mostly text-oriented?

If you’re going to add text to an art journal, it’s a good idea to try both methods. As an artist, we sometimes have to step out of our comfort zone and challenge our personal preferences to take leaps forward.

In this article, I describe a number of ways to display text, but also to create text.

How to Clean Greasy Hands Quickly in an Eco-Friendly Way?

January 12, 2023 by Hannie Mommers

People today are living longer than they were a few centuries ago because of improved hygiene. But if you wash your hands and body too often, you run the risk of actually weakening your immune system. Exaggerating is never good.

Artists have to clean greasy hands a lot. And since the pandemic, we wash our hands even more than before.

In addition to being bad for the environment, many products are harmful to our skin as well.

Zollverein Essen and More Industrial Heritage in the Crammed Ruhr Area

July 25, 2022 by Hannie Mommers

Despite the industrialization of the area my favourite place to go was the Ruhr area in Germany. When I still lived in the Netherlands, it was a car journey of 1,5 hours from our house.

The area became the “European Capital of Culture” in 2010. This meant a facelift for a region that had been a dirty, neglected orphan since the mines and steel industry slowly came to a halt.

There are a lot of interesting places nowadays, but my favourites are Insel Hombroich and Zollverein Essen.

Intermezzo – Get Inspiration from Creativity

June 10, 2022 by Hannie Mommers

Inspiration and creativity are must-haves for me. Irregularly I make drawings, collages or mixed media in some kind of theme.

It helps me keep my creative skills flowing.

An intermezzo is a short piece of music written to be played on its own or as part of a longer piece. For me, it’s a welcome break in my daily activities.

In the video are a couple of examples.

Is it Absolutely Necessary to Have a Facebook Account?

May 27, 2022May 27, 2022 by Hannie Mommers

Is it necessary to have a Facebook account? When you have a creative hobby or profession and want to share your work with others, you need to be on social media.

So on which social media do you have to be and how do you make your presence successful?

In this article, I talk about Facebook and in another one, I gave a review of 365 Days of Facebook Success, which is a helpful tool.

If you are starting out building a social media presence, my recommendation is not to start on all the platforms you can find. It’s too overwhelming, trust me. Start with one, and once you get the hang of it, build from there by adding one other social medium at a time.

7 Ways to Shape our Ideas without a Computer to Inspire ourselves

May 23, 2022May 23, 2022 by Hannie Mommers

We do not always need a computer to create our ideas. Whether it is ideas for a design, a new product or a business plan. What opportunities are there to shape our ideas without a computer?

Of course, it’s marvellous if we have a computer with creative programs on it. But after all, a computer is just a tool and above all, we should not attach too much importance to it.

Some people get crazy at the mere thought of living without a computer for some time or even a day. Yet we shouldn’t bring ourselves too dependent on technology, don’t you think? Although some of my tips do involve technology. 😉

30 Tips to Spend Free Time Finding Inspiration for Creative Projects

April 23, 2022March 26, 2022 by Hannie Mommers

At most of the exhibitions where I showed my work, I tried to be present to talk to the visitors. The most frequently asked question always was: where do you find the inspiration for your subjects? To which my answer was that I had some tricks for that.

Developing inspiration is a conscious process. Or at least it could be. It also depends on our individual character what our favourite method is.

In this article, I give you 30 tips to spend free time in a creative way that gives you inspiration. It is a random list of all kinds of things I occasionally do. Get inspired.

Inspired by Flags: Red, White, and Blue in Pictures

November 6, 2022March 22, 2022 by Hannie Mommers

A lot of countries have flags in the colours red, white and blue. The USA, the Netherlands, France, the UK – to name a few.

I looked for inspiration by sorting several of my photographs in specific colours. As a result, I made this article about red, white, and blue in pictures.

Thematic photography is an unending source of inspiration in my view. Try it yourself, if you want. Maybe the theme-spark will catch you as well. 🙂

Creative Playing on the Beach for Grown-ups

March 21, 2022March 17, 2022 by Hannie Mommers

Isn’t it a pity that we tend to forget how to play? What do you think about playing on the beach for grown-ups? I can assure you that it is fun!

Years ago my former colleagues and I went to a beach house once a year to get creative inspiration.

We were all creative souls and we gave ourselves assignments to develop our creative skills even further. There I discovered again what fun it is to play on the beach.