The past couple months have been both consumed by writing and design work. I've felt largely unbalanced by this. In realizing this, I have made a substantial effort to bring more creative aspects into what I do daily, mainly to keep my own sanity and also to keep me going creatively. 

Last week, I took a half-day class on Fraktur. Now, I know most of you are thinking, "What the heck is Fraktur?" It's not as  messed up as you think. Fraktur is a folk art which includes type and images like birds and flowers. Pennsylvania has had a wealth of frakturs because of its German heritage. Fraktur itself means fractured. Basically, it's elaborate doodling. Since my sketch book is largely filled with text and doodling, but not really a lot of finished drawings, I took to the art form the moment I started it. Now I can't get enough of it...

This past weekend I discovered something. The very nature of the fraktur art form is that you can't always work on it for long periods of time. You draw out a design, ink it and then paint it with watercolors. The watercolors require you to paint and let it dry repeatedly. There's really something quite calming about it. As I was working, I found a great enjoyment in it and a few things slapped me the face. 

1. There's wisdom in waiting.  Drawing out a fraktur and then sleeping before you ink it is worth its weight in gold just like sleeping after making a major decision and putting it into action. 

2. Anything worth doing takes time. A fraktur takes lots of details and focus. The meticulous nature of it creatures something awesome when your finished. 

3. Doing something artistic sparks my creativity and even gets me excited about writing. This shouldn't surprise me, but it did. From now on, I'm allowing myself creative time before I work on a large project of any kind. It's what I need to get focused and excited about creating. Besides, creativity is one thing that really energizes me just like devotions. 

Let's just say I got a lot done this weekend with writing because I took the time to be artistically creative...Praise G  od!

Below is my work in progress. It's not your typical fraktur, but It's what I felt like doing. I call it B is for Baby. I'm planning on drawing some text in this yet. It's very far from finished. Sidenote: the baby image came from the image I drew for the cover of the church bulletin this week. (It's been months since I actually drew something for that cover...creativity is flowing! Yea!)