Sign up for the Creative Fuel Newsletter on Substack
I started writing my Creative Fuel newsletter back in 2019.
It initially started as a way to send out creative inspiration, but quickly morphed into an exploration of creative process in general. It eventually led to the creation of my weekly virtual Creative Fuel sessions, and the Creative Fuel podcast.
As Creative Fuel has grown I’ve wanted to do more with it, so I’ve moved it all over to Substack to create a bit of a stronger and wider reaching platform.
There will be my usual creative musings and essays, but also q&a’s, prompts and more.
I would love to have you subscribe.
2022 Words for Creating and Being: December
New month, new prompts in the 2022 Words for Creating and Being series.
Prompts to reflect the season. The cold of the outside, the warmth that we create inside. Use these prompts however you like, but particularly in this season, consider them as a chance to create a little quiet space for yourself. Space to write, space to draw, space to think. Space to be present.
1. intend
2. hibernate
3. pause
4. jubilant
5. leisurely
6. flicker
7. stroll
8. bring
9. hush
10. unfold
11. heal
12. reverberate
13. gleam
14. tender
15. gracious
16. festive
17. gaze
18. sparkle
19. joy
20. adorn
21. midwinter
22. delight
23. frigid
24. spark
25. entertain
26. linger
27. lull
28. dormant
29. brisk
30. interlude
31. leap
//
What happens when we sit with a word? When we unpack it? When we investigate every single letter? When we consider what’s behind the definition? That’s what these words are for. They are intended to create space for contemplation, they are an ask for you to invest time in the creative process in all of its forms.
You can find previous monthly lists of prompts here. Be sure to check out the new Creative Fuel Collective platform too!
As always, these monthly prompts and a lot of my other work are made possible thanks to supporters on Patreon.
December Virtual Papercutting Workshops
Want to learn how to make papercuts? Need a dose of creativity? I am teaching a few different papercutting workshops in December. These are all virtual so you can join from anywhere. We’re heading into a busy season, and what better way to make a plan to slow down than taking a class?
Thursday December 1, 2022 4-6pm PT: Festive Papercutting with Creative Fuel Collective. This workshop is devoted to covering papercutting basics and exploring a couple different project ideas for papercuts that you can use for cards, ornaments, garlands, and beyond. Come connect with the Creative Fuel community and play with paper! A blade is preferred for this class, but if all you have is scissors, I’ll be giving a few options for that as well. Tickets + more info.
Sunday December 4, 2022 10am to 12pm PT: Papercutting For the Holidays with the National Nordic Museum. In this season of Advent we are focusing on slowing down and creating moments of warmth and joy, and the same goes for this class. I’ll be bringing some Scandinavian holiday illustrations and motifs for inspiration and we’ll be working on seasonal papercuts and making a project that you can keep for yourself or gift to a friend. Tickets + more info.
Tuesday December 13, 2022, 6 to 8pm PT: This is exactly the same class with the National Nordic Museum, we just wanted to make sure that we had a couple of time options so everyone who wanted to come would be able to attend. Tickets + more info.
24 Days of Making, Doing, and Being Digital Advent Calendar: Sign Up for the 2022 Edition
24 Days of Making, Doing, and Being Digital Advent Calendar by Anna Brones
This will mark the sixth year of my digital Advent calendar, and it’s time to sign up.
I originally started this whole endeavor because I wanted to do something around the holidays that wasn’t focused solely on consumption, and I was inspired by the Advent calendar that my parents did for me growing up. It was a beautiful handwoven one made by my mother. She had made a pocket for each day, so that you could slip in a small piece of paper. My parents would write a new prompt every day and slip it in the night before. When I woke up in the morning the first thing I would do would be to go straight to the calendar and see what was written on the day’s note. It was the source of a lot of magic for me in my younger years (and even now—it gets hung up every year to this day).
My digital version is similar in nature. Every morning you receive an email with some kind of a prompt or reflection. Each day features some artwork, and there are often recipes, projects, poems, etc. The goal is always to create a little magic every day during the month of December, so that’s it’s not just a countdown but an everyday celebration. It’s a focus on slowing down, finding balance and contentedness.
While it originally started as an antidote to the consumer frenzy that this season is often known for, over the last two years it has felt even deeper and more poignant than that. These last two years were largely defined by a global pandemic, and as we move forward with our lives, the ongoing impact of tour experience years is still with us. We are processing. In the midst of this, we need reminders of joy, reminders of light, reminders of gratitude. We need a little extra magic.
In the northern hemisphere we are moving towards winter, and this calendar pulls a lot of inspiration from seasonal rhythms. It’s the time of winter solstice, a time of finding light in the darkness, a time of moving at a different pace.
I hope that you consider joining me for the 2022 edition of 24 Days of Making, Doing, and Being. I hope that it will infuse a little celebration into your everyday, that it gives pause for reflection, and that it inspires creativity. I hope that it gives you permission to slow down, to breathe, to be present.
To receive the digital Advent calendar, you can sign up here. The daily email will include artwork, prompts, reflections, recipes, and more, all with the intention of inspiring presence, creativity, and gratitude. You will be able to access the archives during the month as well (because I know keeping up with a daily email can be difficult).
Patreon supporters receive a free subscription to the digital Advent calendar. Want something more tangible? I also make an evergreen print Advent calendar that’s meant to be hung up year after year.
2022 Words for Creating and Being: November
New month, new prompts in the 2022 Words for Creating and Being series.
As the days get darker and night falls quickly, we shift and transition. It’s a time when we begin to tap into a different pace, and one where creativity can flourish. If you’re in need of a daily practice, this month there’s Austin Kleon’s 30-day challenge or you could even try your hand at NaNoWriMo, the popular monthlong novel writing challenge.
Or you can just sit with these words and let them marinate. Give them space, give them time. And do the same for yourself.
1. attend
2. difference
3. tiny
4. dance
5. conclude
6. jagged
7. bark
8. honor
9. storm
10. circle
11. border
12. bare
13. waste
14. line
15. shelter
16. fog
17. endless
18. distinguish
19. horizon
20. serendipity
21. collect
22. spot
23. inquire
24. converse
25. join
26. retreat
27. require
28. draw
29. linger
30. ponder
//
What happens when we sit with a word? When we unpack it? When we investigate every single letter? When we consider what’s behind the definition? That’s what these words are for. They are intended to create space for contemplation, they are an ask for you to invest time in the creative process in all of its forms.
You can find previous monthly lists of prompts here. Be sure to check out the new Creative Fuel Collective platform too!
As always, these monthly prompts and a lot of my other work are made possible thanks to supporters on Patreon.
2022 Words for Creating and Being: October
New month, new prompts in the 2022 Words for Creating and Being series.
Are you considering taking part in Inktober this month? Consider using these words as a starting point. Or do the usual: sit with them, mull them over, see where they lead.
1. embark
2. welcome
3. rust
4. unexpected
5. weather
6. thread
7. surface
8. overlap
9. slow
10. flame
11. touch
12. fold
13. expect
14. minuscule
15. color
16. calm
17. slick
18. spontaneous
19. burst
20. spin
21. combine
22. wander
23. cycle
24. invigorate
25. beyond
26. migrate
27. reveal
28. boundary
29. sway
30. turn
31. remember
//
What happens when we sit with a word? When we unpack it? When we investigate every single letter? When we consider what’s behind the definition? That’s what these words are for. They are intended to create space for contemplation, they are an ask for you to invest time in the creative process in all of its forms.
You can find previous monthly lists of prompts here. Be sure to check out the new Creative Fuel Collective platform too!
As always, these monthly prompts and a lot of my other work are made possible thanks to supporters on Patreon.
Creative Fuel: A New Podcast About the Intersection of Creativity and Our Everyday Lives
This week marks the launch of Creative Fuel, a new podcast that I am making with my good friend Gale Straub.
Creative Fuel is all about the intersection of creativity and our everyday lives, and it’s also part of a larger platform launch of Creative Fuel Collective. If you recognize the name, it’s because all of this has stemmed from the newsletter that I have written for several years called Creative Fuel. I have enjoyed exploring the topic of creativity there, and I am thrilled to branch out and bring that to life in audio.
It has been such a wonderful creative challenge to collaborate with Gale on this (you may already know Gale’s work from her podcast She Explores). In each episode we lead with a question, like “How do we get through hard times?” or “How do we connect with each other?” or “How do we spend time alone?” Through the episode, and with the help of creatives and researchers, we work through the answers and the many ways creativity winds its way through.
In our first episode we ask: “do we need newness for creativity?” The episode features writer Amanda Machado and neuroscientist and artist Christine Liu. There’s also a little cameo by artist Kashmir Thompson in our Big Cartel midroll ad. We are so grateful to Big Cartel (which is the platform I use for my shop) for trusting this idea and helping to support the first season, which is hopefully the first of many.
You can find the show wherever you listen to podcasts, but here are a few easy links: podcast website, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
If you like the episode, I would be thrilled if you subscribed, left a review, or shared it with a friend.
2022 Words for Creating and Being: September
New month, new prompts in the 2022 Words for Creating and Being series.
Use them as creative prompts, use them as a starting point for conversation, use them for contemplation. See where they lead.
1. ask
2. hidden
3. inside
4. memory
5. contour
6. outlandish
7. thicken
8. sit
9. borrow
10. rough
11. slide
12. shallow
13. mend
14. plot
15. attune
16. silence
17. alive
18. stream
19. entice
20. conscious
21. gratitude
22. infuse
23. possibility
24. flutter
25. limitless
26. sharpen
27. pattern
28. pursue
29. straighten
30. prove
//
What happens when we sit with a word? When we unpack it? When we investigate every single letter? When we consider what’s behind the definition? That’s what these words are for. They are intended to create space for contemplation, they are an ask for you to invest time in the creative process in all of its forms.
You can find previous monthly lists of prompts here.
As always, these monthly prompts and a lot of my other work are made possible thanks to supporters on Patreon.
2022 Words for Creating and Being: August
New month, new prompts in the 2022 Words for Creating and Being series.
Use them as creative prompts, use them as a starting point for conversation, use them for contemplation. They may spark something, or they may sit and marinate. Let them be whatever they need to be.
//
1. edge
2. voyage
3. partner
4. curiosity
5. repair
6. flourish
7. learn
8. facilitate
9. opposite
10. emotion
11. situate
12. make
13. offering
14. challenge
15. help
16. excite
17. participate
18. observe
19. lush
20. improve
21. empathize
22. conspire
23. thrill
24. project
25. momentum
26. brighten
27. behold
28. prepare
29. interact
30. lethargic
31. believe
What happens when we sit with a word? When we unpack it? When we investigate every single letter? When we consider what’s behind the definition? That’s what these words are for. They are intended to create space for contemplation, they are an ask for you to invest time in the creative process in all of its forms.
You can find previous monthly lists of prompts here.
As always, these monthly prompts and a lot of my other work are made possible thanks to supporters on Patreon.
2022 Words for Creating and Being: July
New month, new prompts in the 2022 Words for Creating and Being series.
Use them as creative prompts, use them as a starting point for conversation, use them simply for contemplation. Put them in your mind and let them rest there. See what they bloom into.
1. luminous
2. community
3. sustain
4. pivot
5. foster
6. scout
7. stand
8. meander
9. juxtapose
10. contribute
11. convene
12. navigate
13. admire
14. enliven
15. encourage
16. energize
17. rewind
18. permit
19. transcend
20. invisible
21. exhale
22. peek
23. inspect
24. smooth
25. galvanize
26. imperfection
27. mirror
28. contextualize
29. access
30. sing
31. stillness
What happens when we sit with a word? When we unpack it? When we investigate every single letter? When we consider what’s behind the definition? That’s what these words are for. They are intended to create space for contemplation, they are an ask for you to invest time in the creative process in all of its forms.
You can find previous monthly lists of prompts here.
As always, these monthly prompts and a lot of my other work are made possible thanks to supporters on Patreon.
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