Feb 03 2009
Making Sense of It
[Part 2 of 2 on a series about using our senses for creative purposes.]
As creative people, we get ideas from the world around us. The following are exercises that I hope would help you to explore each of the senses and use them in your creative endeavors.
Hearing
Take a few minutes and sit down with nothing else to do. Listen. No, not just casually listen like you do everyday.
Really listen.
What do you hear that catches your attention the most?
After you have gotten up and returned to your routines/chores for an hour, is that still the thing you remember or does something else stand out now?
How can you use this in your creative expression?
Touch
Have you ever paid attention to the things you touch on a daily basis? The smooth surface of a CD, the ridges on the “F” and “J” keys on your keyboard, the way a pen or pencil feels as it moves across the paper when you write or draw.
Take some time today and really pay attention to what you feel. Our fingertips are very sensitive and can give us a world of information if we pay attention. Here’s what I would like you to do (I’ll do it too after I get back in town on Tuesday):
Gather no fewer than five very different things and put them on a table in front of you. Close your eyes (or blindfold yourself) and randomly pick something up. Can you describe it just by feeling it without opening your eyes?
How can you take that into your next creative project?
Smell
One morning, I “woke up” from working in my office to some different smells.
Hot syrup. French toast.
The smell lingered. I had already had breakfast, but my mouth watered and my stomach rumbled a little bit anyway.
By contrast, my dog came in from being out in the rain. She smelled like wet dog, no surprise there but quite a difference between the two smells this morning.
Does smell influence your creative endeavors? If no, how can you use it to add something more to your creativity?
Taste
Taste and smell are usually pretty closely connected as far as our senses go. If your nose is stopped up, you generally don’t taste flavors like you usually do.
How can you use taste to influence your creativity?
Taste an apple, for example, and tell me what images or descriptions you would use to describe it without using the word “apple” itself.
Sight
Sight is the one we take most for granted unless we have problems with our eyes.
Today, look around your home, your town, your workplace as if you were describing it to someone who has never seen it. Or to someone who is blind.
What would you describe first? Why?
What stands out most to you?
