#creative-process — Public Fediverse posts

“Glownshine #002” by Thomas Typewriter – a new photo-sculpt

https://thomastypewriter.art/2026/06/29/glownshine-002-by-thomas-typewriter-a-new-photo-sculpt/

“Glownshine #002” by Thomas Typewriter – a new photo-sculpt

https://thomastypewriter.art/2026/06/29/glownshine-002-by-thomas-typewriter-a-new-photo-sculpt/

On the path to being a #GreatPhotographer: there’s something you should know https://zorz.it/IQvzA

#IvorRackham #creativity #education #inspiration #improvement #CreativeProcess #photography #CreativePeople

On the path to being a #GreatPhotographer: there’s something you should know https://zorz.it/IQvzA

#IvorRackham #creativity #education #inspiration #improvement #CreativeProcess #photography #CreativePeople

Episode 2 Mother-Daughter Duo Rachel McLaughlin and Michele Burns

RESOURCES & LINKS Writer’s Fun Zone — https://writersfunzone.com/blog How To Write the Future Podcast — https://writersfunzone.com/blog/podcast Email Iman to be a guest — [email protected] ABOUT BEYOND THE ROUGH DRAFT  Beyond the Rough Draft...
The post Episode 2 Mother-Daughter Duo Rachel McLaughlin and Michele Burns appeared first on Writer's Fun Zone.
https://writersfunzone.com/blog/2026/06/26/mother-daughter-duo

#WritingTips #BeyondtheRoughDraft #creativelineage #creativeprocess #creativevulnerability

Episode 2 Mother-Daughter Duo Rachel McLaughlin and Michele Burns

RESOURCES & LINKS Writer’s Fun Zone — https://writersfunzone.com/blog How To Write the Future Podcast — https://writersfunzone.com/blog/podcast Email Iman to be a guest — [email protected] ABOUT BEYOND THE ROUGH DRAFT  Beyond the Rough Draft...
The post Episode 2 Mother-Daughter Duo Rachel McLaughlin and Michele Burns appeared first on Writer's Fun Zone.
https://writersfunzone.com/blog/2026/06/26/mother-daughter-duo

#WritingTips #BeyondtheRoughDraft #creativelineage #creativeprocess #creativevulnerability

The Story Behind Some Of My Blog Images

If you’ve spent any time browsing HodgePodge Crochet, you may have noticed that some of the featured images on my blog don’t look like traditional crochet photography. That’s because many of them are created with the help of artificial intelligence (AI).

I know AI can be a sensitive topic in the creative world, so I wanted to take a moment to explain how I use it, why I use it, and where I draw the line.

A Tool, Not a Replacement

For me, AI is simply another creative tool.

Years ago, blog graphics were often made with clip art. Then came stock photography. Later, programs like Canva and Photoshop made it easier for creators to design eye-catching images without being professional photographers.

I see AI as another step in that evolution. It helps me create illustrations and featured images that fit the topic I’m writing about, especially when there isn’t an actual photograph that tells the story.

How I Use AI on This Blog

Most of the AI images you see here are used as:

• Featured images for blog posts
• Decorative illustrations
• Visual concepts
• Graphics for social media

Their purpose is to catch your eye and give you a visual sense of what an article is about before you ever read the first paragraph.

Running a blog involves much more than simply writing articles. Every post needs a featured image. Social media posts need graphics. Pinterest pins need visuals. Newsletters often need images as well. Those visuals help bring a blog to life and make it more enjoyable to browse.

If you’ve ever looked into creating custom graphics the traditional way, you quickly discover how expensive it can be. Purchasing commercial-use stock photography often requires licensing fees. Hiring a photographer means paying for their time, equipment, editing, and image usage rights. Commissioning an illustrator or graphic designer to create custom artwork can easily cost anywhere from tens to hundreds of dollars for a single image, depending on the project.

For a large company with a dedicated marketing budget, those costs may be manageable. For a small, independent crochet designer and blogger like me, they simply aren’t realistic—especially when I’m publishing new content on a regular basis.

As a one-person business, I have to be thoughtful about where I invest my limited time and resources. I’d much rather spend my budget on quality yarn, developing new patterns, pattern testing, website hosting, and improving the tutorials and patterns I share than on commissioning a custom illustration for every single blog post.

Using AI allows me to create original visuals that reflect the topic I’m writing about without the ongoing expense of purchasing licensed artwork or custom illustrations for every article. It also helps me maintain a consistent visual style across the blog while stretching my limited time and resources. In the end, I’d rather invest in creating better crochet content than in creating more expensive blog graphics, because those are the things that directly benefit my readers.

What AI Does Not Do

This is probably the question I get asked most often.

I don’t use AI to create fake crochet projects and present them as real patterns.

If I’m publishing a crochet pattern, I want you to see the actual item that was crocheted. Real stitches. Real yarn. Real photos.

AI doesn’t replace the designing, testing, crocheting, photographing, or writing that goes into creating a pattern. It simply helps me create some of the supporting artwork that accompanies my blog posts.

Different Creators, Different Choices

I also understand that not everyone feels the same way about AI.

Some people love it. Some prefer not to use it at all. Others are still deciding how they feel, and that’s perfectly okay.

Every creator has to choose the tools that best fit their workflow, budget, and creative goals. This is simply the approach that works for me.

My goal isn’t to convince anyone to use AI. It’s simply to be transparent about how I use it here on HodgePodge Crochet.

Creativity Still Comes First

At the end of the day, the ideas, tutorials, crochet patterns, tips, and words on this blog come from me.

AI doesn’t decide what to write, what to design, or what to teach. It doesn’t crochet a single stitch or develop a new pattern. Those are still very human–very me–parts of the creative process.

Whether a featured image is illustrated with AI, photographed with a camera, or designed in a graphics program, my focus remains the same: sharing crochet inspiration, helpful tutorials, and patterns that I hope you’ll enjoy.

Whether you love AI, dislike it, or are still undecided, I hope you’ll judge HodgePodge Crochet by the quality of the crochet, tutorials, and patterns you find here. That’s what this blog has always been about.

Thank you for being here, and thank you for supporting HodgePodge Crochet—however you found your way here. I appreciate every visit, every comment, and every stitch we share together.

Sometimes when it comes to writing I feel like a baby elephant. Did you know they can't initially control their trunks? They never know whether those things will get them water or slap their faces.
I think I'm writing a short story. Then I read my draft and apparently it's a memoir. Great. What on earth will I do with that?

#AmWriting #CreativeProcess

“Quadratic Sensations #007” by Thomas Typewriter – a new painting

https://thomastypewriter.art/2026/06/24/quadratic-sensations-007-by-thomas-typewriter-a-new-painting/

“Quadratic Sensations #007” by Thomas Typewriter – a new painting

https://thomastypewriter.art/2026/06/24/quadratic-sensations-007-by-thomas-typewriter-a-new-painting/

Sameness - New Blog
Ask an AI for a story and you'll probably meet Elias the lighthouse keeper. Ask it for a photograph and you'll meet the average of every photograph. I tested this on my own work — and on myself.
Here's what "sameness" really is, why it's the point and not a bug, and why I continue my digital detox journey.

#FilmPhotography #AnalogPhotography #AI #GenerativeAI #Authorship #CreativeProcess #TheArtOfSeeing

http://photography.myvortexcloud.com/blog/sameness

Sameness - New Blog
Ask an AI for a story and you'll probably meet Elias the lighthouse keeper. Ask it for a photograph and you'll meet the average of every photograph. I tested this on my own work — and on myself.
Here's what "sameness" really is, why it's the point and not a bug, and why I continue my digital detox journey.

#FilmPhotography #AnalogPhotography #AI #GenerativeAI #Authorship #CreativeProcess #TheArtOfSeeing

http://photography.myvortexcloud.com/blog/sameness

“The Great Works Project: Season Seven, Episode Five” by Thomas Typewriter – a new script

https://thomastypewriter.art/2026/06/22/the-great-works-project-season-seven-episode-five-by-thomas-typewriter-a-new-script/

“The Great Works Project: Season Seven, Episode Five” by Thomas Typewriter – a new script

https://thomastypewriter.art/2026/06/22/the-great-works-project-season-seven-episode-five-by-thomas-typewriter-a-new-script/

Have you ever written something you liked so much that it brought you not only joy, but some sort of melancholy that you might never write something as good again?

#CreativeProcess #AmWriting #writersofmastodon #WritingCommunity

Have you ever written something you liked so much that it brought you not only joy, but some sort of melancholy that you might never write something as good again?

#CreativeProcess #AmWriting #writersofmastodon #WritingCommunity

Putting together “the band” … or 2 of them
#composing #creativeprocess
#CreativeInsights #MusicianTips https://muz4now.com/2026/putting-together-the-band-or-2-of-them

Putting together “the band” … or 2 of them
#composing #creativeprocess
#CreativeInsights #MusicianTips https://muz4now.com/2026/putting-together-the-band-or-2-of-them

“Grid’Dulles #008” by Thomas Typewriter – a new painting

https://thomastypewriter.art/2026/06/17/griddulles-008-by-thomas-typewriter-a-new-painting/

“Grid’Dulles #008” by Thomas Typewriter – a new painting

https://thomastypewriter.art/2026/06/17/griddulles-008-by-thomas-typewriter-a-new-painting/

Creators of all kinds, how do you deal with forced breaks in your creative routines? My work will be hectic in the upcoming month, and then I plan to visit my family - which will be also hectic, if for a whole different reason - so I know my creative time will be drastically limited.
And I do not like this...
...but I guess instead of cursing the reality, I will just plan how to come back after that break.
#Creativity #CreativeProcess #Productivity #Creators #CreativeRoutine #Ask #Writing

Creators of all kinds, how do you deal with forced breaks in your creative routines? My work will be hectic in the upcoming month, and then I plan to visit my family - which will be also hectic, if for a whole different reason - so I know my creative time will be drastically limited.
And I do not like this...
...but I guess instead of cursing the reality, I will just plan how to come back after that break.
#Creativity #CreativeProcess #Productivity #Creators #CreativeRoutine #Ask #Writing

Sometimes the best studio session is outside with no brushes at all.
Went for a walk, slowed down, and let the shapes and colors just land. Already thinking about what ends up on canvas next. 🌿
Where do you find your creative reset?
#MastoArt #NatureInspiration #CreativeProcess #NaturePhotography

While working on your creative projects, do you have any particular genre of music, artist or a playlist that you keep coming back to?

#Creativity #Music #CreativeProcess #Writing #Productivity #Playlist #Ask

While working on your creative projects, do you have any particular genre of music, artist or a playlist that you keep coming back to?

#Creativity #Music #CreativeProcess #Writing #Productivity #Playlist #Ask

1/3 Today I quickly realized no novel writing will be done. Everything still hurts after the recent Taekwondo training and the crazy changeable weather also doesn't help. Instead, I started to consider what things I can do to facilitate my novel writing tomorrow.
#Writing #NovelWriting #CreativeProcess #Productivity #AmWriting

1/3 Today I quickly realized no novel writing will be done. Everything still hurts after the recent Taekwondo training and the crazy changeable weather also doesn't help. Instead, I started to consider what things I can do to facilitate my novel writing tomorrow.
#Writing #NovelWriting #CreativeProcess #Productivity #AmWriting

The worst thing is favoritism and nepotism. Worse still, it wasn't confined to Gaza; it also spread to Europe. Unfortunately, that's a sad thing.#Art
#Artist
#Drawing
#Sketch
#Sketchbook
#Illustration
#Watercolor
#InkDrawing
#TraditionalArt
#Artwork
#ArtistOnInstagram
#ArtCommunity
#ArtistsOfInstagram
#CreativeProcess
#VisualArt
#FineArt
#ArtForChange
#ArtWithPurpose
#PalestinianArt
#ArtFromGaza

Migraine, Perception, and Creative Flow

Living Inside A Migraine

When pain, perception, and medication reshape daily life

I’ve been dealing with a migraine for nine days. This isn’t just a headache—it comes with aura, Alice in Wonderland syndrome, and persistent vertigo with nausea. My perception gets distorted, my thinking slows down, and basic tasks become difficult. The medication helps with the pain, but it brings its own side effects, and overall, it’s been hard to function.

In the middle of this, something unexpected happened.

A Brief Shift in State

Unexpected focus and creative flow during disruption

While I was heavily medicated, I had a period of intense creative focus. For a few hours, I was able to paint with a level of freedom that I don’t usually reach. It felt like my usual mental filters were lowered. I wasn’t second‑guessing decisions or holding back. I just worked.

The result was different from my normal work—more direct, less controlled, but also more expressive.

This raised a question for me: what actually changed in that moment?

Changes in Perception

How migraine and medication alter access, not ability

Triptans, the medication I use for acute migraine attacks, act on serotonin receptors. They’re not psychedelics, but they do affect how the brain processes signals. Combined with the migraine itself—especially aura, which already alters perception—the overall effect is a shift in how I experience space, color, and thought.

That shift isn’t comfortable. Most of it is disorienting and unpleasant. But within it, there was a brief window where my usual patterns loosened. And in that space, creative work felt easier.

Access, Not Creation

The work was already there—the conditions just changed

It’s important to be clear: the migraine didn’t “create” anything. The creativity was already there. What changed was how accessible it felt. The conditions removed some of the internal constraints I usually work within—habits, expectations, and self‑editing.

That’s not something I want to rely on. The cost is too high. But it does point to something useful.

If a change in mental state can affect how I access creativity, then there may be other ways to reach similar openness without the physical toll. It suggests that part of my creative process is limited not by ability, but by structure—how tightly I control the outcome, how much I filter while working.

There’s also a broader connection here. Decades ago, I had experiences with psychedelics that shifted how I saw the world and myself. Those experiences helped me let go of a lot of fear and rigidity. I don’t return to them now, but the perspective they opened up has stayed with me.

That perspective has been important in dealing with chronic migraine. The pain itself isn’t optional, but my response to it isn’t fixed. Over time, I’ve learned to manage the mental side of it—how much resistance I bring to it, how I interpret it, and how I move through it. That doesn’t eliminate suffering, but it changes its intensity and impact.

The recent experience fits into that same pattern. Even in a difficult state, there was a moment where something shifted—not into relief exactly, but into clarity of a different kind.

For me, the takeaway isn’t about the medication or the migraine. It’s about access.

The kind of creative flow I felt isn’t something external that I need to recreate through extreme conditions. It’s something internal that I was briefly able to reach under unusual circumstances.

Openness and Letting Go

When the boundary between experience and experiencer softens

There’s also a quality in that state that’s familiar from meditation. It’s a kind of openness where the usual sense of separation starts to fade. Instead of feeling like an observer acting on an experience, there’s just the experience itself—no clear boundary between the one perceiving and what’s being perceived. In that space, the need to control or interpret loosens, and the work unfolds more directly, without the usual distance between intention and action.

Working with Pain

Perspective, resistance, and what can shift

Another layer to this is perspective. The difference between being overwhelmed by the experience and moving through it often comes down to how it’s held. I wrote previously about the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path as a framework for navigating chronic pain from migraine and lupus. What stands out to me now is how practical that framework is—not as philosophy, but as a way of adjusting perspective in real time.

When The Pain Takes Over

A reminder that practice isn’t always accessible

Pain is present. That part isn’t optional. But the added weight—resistance, fear, frustration—can shift depending on how tightly I hold the experience. That said, this isn’t always accessible. There are moments when the pain takes over completely. Last night was one of those times. I woke up in the middle of the night in severe pain after my first medication didn’t work. I couldn’t find my stronger medication, didn’t have my glasses, and ended up searching through cabinets, drawers, and bags in a panic. I knew that without it, I might end up in the ER—where the treatment helps, but comes with hours of discomfort and side effects. I was overwhelmed, in tears, and scared.

In moments like that, there isn’t much space for perspective or practice. But experiences like this also make something clear to me: without meditation, without the framework I’ve built from Buddhist practice, I would likely be living in that state of panic much more often. My commotion woke up my husband, who came in—calm, steady, not caught in the panic I was in. He found the medication, and he cleaned up the mess I had made searching as I went back to bed. That contrast stood out. It reminded me that while I can’t always access those tools in the moment, they still shape how I move through these experiences over time.

Returning to Openness

Creative flow, meditation, and another way of relating to experience

It’s not easy to stay open in the middle of persistent pain. In those moments, it’s hard to remember that the pain will pass—that it isn’t permanent. Pain forces attention into the present, but not calmly or intentionally. It can narrow everything down to urgency and survival. At the same time, it can act as a kind of teacher. It shows where resistance builds, where fear takes hold, and how quickly the mind tries to escape what’s happening. When I’m able to step back, even slightly, I can see it less as something to fight and more as something that reveals how I relate to experience.

What I keep coming back to is this: the experience changes depending on how I meet it. Not completely, not all at once, but enough to matter. And in those moments of openness, there is less separation—and a little more space for things to be as they are.

I painted this over six hours while medicated for a migraine, drifting in and out of focus. The haze loosened my usual self‑judgment, and the work shifted into something more fluid and intuitive. It’s not complete, but the evolution itself tells the story.

If you are working on a long-term project, all stages of which you know and know how to accomplish, are you able to stop for rest or do you keep pushing until it's done or the day is over?

#productivity #CreativeProcess

If you are working on a long-term project, all stages of which you know and know how to accomplish, are you able to stop for rest or do you keep pushing until it's done or the day is over?

#productivity #CreativeProcess

Why the #creativeprocess doesn’t end with #No. We review @gideonamichay’s #NoNoNoNoNoYes http://wp.me/P23AlC-vt #marketing #advertising

I didn't expect a forgotten A6 notepad to help me move a client logo project forward. Not because it was a better tool, but because it took away just enough pressure to let ideas emerge more naturally.

A small reminder that creativity often comes from changing the way we start, not the tools we use.

https://kevinbarbier.substack.com/p/the-small-notebook-that-helped-me-create

#CreativeProcess #Sketchbook

I didn't expect a forgotten A6 notepad to help me move a client logo project forward. Not because it was a better tool, but because it took away just enough pressure to let ideas emerge more naturally.

A small reminder that creativity often comes from changing the way we start, not the tools we use.

https://kevinbarbier.substack.com/p/the-small-notebook-that-helped-me-create

#CreativeProcess #Sketchbook

Recording Studio Changes and Progress – #recordingstudio
#creativeprocess #recording #studio
#MusicPoetryandMore #MusicianTips https://muz4now.com/2025/recording-studio-changes-and-progress-recordingstudio

Recording Studio Changes and Progress – #recordingstudio
#creativeprocess #recording #studio
#MusicPoetryandMore #MusicianTips https://muz4now.com/2025/recording-studio-changes-and-progress-recordingstudio

There are a lot of things creatives don’t miss by working from home. But there’s one thing they might be without knowing it. Some thoughts on the #creativeprocess during a #globalpandemic: https://musebyclios.com/musings/wfh-and-the-randomness-that-drives-creativity/ @MusebyClio #advertising

Rick Rubin reflects on creativity, purpose and the fragile line between job and passion. A deep reminder for artists to protect the spark that gives their work meaning. #RickRubin #Creativity #MusicProduction #ArtistInterview #CreativeProcess

When One Quartet Is Not Enough – Of 2s, 3s, and 4s #creativeprocess #MusicRelease #Music

When One Quartet Is Not Enough...

When One Quartet Is Not Enough – Of 2s, 3s, and 4s #creativeprocess #MusicRelease #Music

When One Quartet Is Not Enough...

When One Quartet Is Not Enough – Of 2s, 3s, and 4s
#creativeprocess #MusicRelease
#Music https://muz4now.com/2026/when-one-quartet-is-not-enough-of-2s-3s-and-4s

When One Quartet Is Not Enough – Of 2s, 3s, and 4s
#creativeprocess #MusicRelease
#Music https://muz4now.com/2026/when-one-quartet-is-not-enough-of-2s-3s-and-4s

Mike Shinoda is an American musician & singer satisfactory regarded as the co-founder of the rock band Linkin Park.

bit.ly/4wVSp9z

#MikeShinoda #AmericanMusician #SingerSongwriter #MusicIndustry #CreativeProcess #MusicInspiration #MusicalJourney #InfluentialArtists

The Struggle of Consistency: When You Have Too Much to Say and Sometimes Need a Break

https://jaimedavid.blog/2026/05/30/17/30/52/analysis/jaimedavid327/11043/the-struggle-of-consistency-when-you-have-too-much-to-say-and-sometimes-need-a-break/

Putting together “the band” … or 2 of them
#composing #creativeprocess
#CreativeInsights #MusicianTips
https://muz4now.com/2026/putting-together-the-band-or-2-of-them