A Bathroom/Treehouse of One's Own

My little corner of the bathroom. Note the electric toothbrush :)

In my last blog post I challenged you to do something--anything--creative. How did it go? 

The reality is that if we want to be more creative, we have to do more than think about it. We have to make time and space in our lives for our creativity. 

While taking classes and workshops and dedicating our lives to art is all well and good, that’s not realistic for all of us, and definitely not all the time. But a creative practice that we can do in our homes in 10 or 20 minutes? Now we’re talking.

In addition to carving out the time, It’s really good to have some kind of space for our creative practice, no matter what form it takes. Ideally one that is private(ish).  

Don’t have a good-enough space, you say? I didn’t think I did either - until I used my bathroom. Yes, you read that right. My bathroom.

I live in an intentional community house and I share a private space with my partner and young child. I was aching for a “room of my own” and realized that I could put a desk by the window of our large bathroom. I’ve painted, sang, danced, cried, and so much more in this bathroom. Did I fantasize about having some gorgeous backyard studio? Yes. Did I wait until I had one? Nope. 

And, to my surprise and delight, after years of making the most of bathroom creative time, I have gotten a tiny bit closer to my dream in the past few weeks. There just so happens to be a treehouse on our property that the kids don’t use. (Treehouses are so 1992, I know…) As I walked up and opened the door, I found my new creative studio. 

Sure, I can barely stand up in it, but there’s room for a table and a chair and a meditation cushion on the floor. It has windows that open and look out into the trees. OK, there’s no glass, but it’s warm most of the time in Oakland...and I can wear a sweater. We cleaned it out and found a rug and some battery solar lights to cozy it up. It’s not perfect, but it works. Especially when the bathroom is occupied!

So back to you -
Take a moment to think about your home.
Is there a space you can carve out for you own creativity? 

A desk in the corner of a kitchen or bedroom where you can stash some art supplies in a box? Can you clean out a closet and put a little table in there? Maybe a corner of the garage? 

Drop me a line and let me know what you come up with!