the Creative Woman-who is she anyway?

“ Creativity is a shapechanger. One moment it takes this form, the next that. It is like a dazzling spirit who appears to us all, yet is hard to describe for no one agrees to what they saw in that brilliant flash. Are the wielding of pigments and canvas, or paint chips and wallpaper, evidence of its existence? How about pen and paper, flower borders on the garden path , building a university? Yes, yes. Ironing a collar well, cooking up a revolution. Yes…tying off the loom..raising a child to adulthood…sewing a blue curtain? All are the creative life" -Clarissa Pinkola Estes (Women Who Run with the Wolves)
This post has been swirling around in my head for awhile and it was difficult to get it all out (the way I intend) but here goes...So, what exactly is creativity anyways? Who defines it? How can it even be defined? Where does it come from and how is it sustained? How can we teach (or inspire) others to be creative? What does creativity look like, feel like..And what about women and creativity? How do we fit into the picture? Why are all the famous painters (scientists, visionaries, chefs...) men? Is that a result of societal norms and circumstances or something more? Well-that's a whole lot of questions-but what are the answers (yikes! another question!) Of course this is a very complex issue and whole books have been written about this very subject. I don't profess to definitively know any of the answers but I have some ideas that can be used as a starting point.
The creative woman is...all of us! She is you, me...the woman down the street. There are different faces to creativity and sometimes we don't give our creative voices a chance to speak. Sometimes it has been silenced, ignored, diminished but…it is there, waiting to be unearthed. It's not that women are not creative/creators but that, historically, our creativity has not been seen, valued and appreciated.
Gail McMeekin, in her book the 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women,  says " ...we women express our creative selves with every business idea brainstormed, every garden planted, every family member or friend comforted, every outspoken word voiced, and every feminine value expressed." Now ,thanks in large part to blogs and websites, we can have access to the infinite acts of creativity that are a part of the everyday woman's life. Baking a cake, capturing a stunning photo, sewing a pillowslip, writing, painting...these are all acts of creativity; an art form in and of itself. Here are some amazingly creative women, artists of various kinds, all on their own unique paths but all on the same journey to Creative SELF

                                                     (image courtesy of  Lis) 

                                                   (image courtesy of Cathy Nichols)

(image courtesy of  Hannah of Honey and Jam )

(image courtesy of  Lucy of  A Black Pepper )

(image courtesy of  Kim of Daisy Cottage  )

(image courtesy of  Kelly Rae Roberts  )

                                            

(image courtesy of   Meegan Zarboch )

(image courtesy of  Malka Dubrawsky of A Stitch in Dye)

(image courtesy of Tara Frey )

(image courtesy of Orly Avineri )

 When we dare to create, we are inspired and inspire alike. When we have the courage to give our creative voices the time and space to manifest, we become the CREATIVE process...The very lifeforce of the Universe. Now that's inspiring!  Please join in with comments and discussion; I would love to hear your thoughts.

* Thanks to all these wonderfully kind women who gave me special permission to use their images in this blog post.