For the Curious at Heart: How Your Curiosity Leads to Creative Ideas

Curiosity is related to inquisitive thinking, exploration, desire to learn and many more things that you’ll think are great. Right?

However, in some circles, curiosity is not encouraged. Have you ever tried to find out more about something or suggested a different approach to doing things only to have someone tell you, “you’re too much”?

We cannot accept that way of thinking, though. The way of thinking that says – “This is the way it’s done. Period.” That’s something we cannot encourage, accept, or live with.

Curiosity results in creative ideas 

After all, when we ask, “what if” (in other words, when we’re curious), it helps us look for alternative ways of doing things.  This results in creative ideas. And creative ideas are the gems which result in creativity, innovation and changes in the world.

However, when we’re not curious we do the same things over and over again. Then something we do that was once “new and original” becomes “old and uninteresting“.

Can you imagine if in today’s world, we were still typing on typewriters instead of on computers and handheld devices?

As much as typewriters were new and innovative in their time, look how infinitely better electronic devices are. We wouldn’t have had any of these advancements in technology, if someone hadn’t been curious enough to ask, “what if”.

The thing is, finding alternative ways to use typewriters is what has brought us here today.

Similarly, when we think and set out to find alternative ways of doing what we currently do, the results will be an improvement on what we’ve always done.  This way we’ll not find ourselves stuck with our “once new and interesting ideas” which have become “old and uninteresting”.

If you find that something you do has become “old and uninteresting”, it’s time to ask yourself, “what if”.

Keep in mind that “old” is relative 

Someone might decide their way of doing something is “old” after a couple of months and another will not find their craft “old” until well over a span of several years has passed.

“Old” is individual. It is personal. Whatever it means to you, just make sure when you start sensing that it’s time for change, you make the change.

And recently, that’s what I did with my artwork.

My Own Curiosity Project

I decided that my way of stitching up faces which I started several months ago in my Drawn with Threads project, had become “old”. I wanted a new way of doing things. So, I started asking, “what if” questions. I knew that this way, I’ll come up with alternative ideas. And sure enough I did.

I settled on changing the one piece backgrounds I was using for my portraits to collaged backgrounds.

To start, I collected together a few fabrics in the color scheme I wanted to use and began to cut them up. Then I glued them together.  So, the process was, Collect, Cut, then Glue. I repeated that process several times till I came up with a big enough size that I could use.

Then, the next step was to sketch a face directly onto my collaged fabric with a heat erasable pen.

After that, I brought it to my sewing machine to stitch the face I’d drawn. I started with outline drawing with threads and then I moved to shading with threads to arrive at my completed piece of artwork.

The result of my Curiosity Project is that I created something that’s different. It’s new and it no longer feels “old” to me.

You should try it, when things start getting boring around your studio, embark on a “Curiosity Project”. whether you’re openly curious or curious at heart, this will benefit you.

What a Curiosity Project involves is this:

1. Be curious in your everyday life. Ask what if’s
2. Cultivate curiosity in your creativity. Find alternative ways to do things in your creative process
3. Experiment and play with the alternative (creative) ways you came up with

To sum it all up, ask “what ifs”, explore, and try something new. Curiosity is not a bad word. It leads to creative ideas.

Question: What do you do when your creative practice gets boring or “old” to you? Does it ever get old?