Welcome back to Creative Perch! It is so nice to see you, and quite honestly, so nice to be here again. I let this project go for such a long time, but I know in my heart that it’s time to bring it back to life. I have a fresh vision for it, and I’m excited to share all of that with you as the new site unfolds. As you can see, this website has undergone some major changes — thematically, structurally, and foundationally. The heart is still the same — to inspire creativity and encourage innovation — but with …

I know it’s been almost a week since my last update, and I want to thank you for your patience and support. Your comments last Friday were so thoughtful, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciated your words of encouragement. We are almost finished unpacking, and life is resuming its normal pace again. Chris and I have been unpacking nonstop. I can see the floor of my closet, and boxes no longer fill my living room. What better time to take a break and share a few of the things that are inspiring me this week? 1. J.D. …

Miss Elsie over at A Beautiful Mess posted about the pumpkin spice lattes she and her boy shared this morning to commemorate the beginning of fall. I’d like to join in the celebration of cool evenings and pumpkin joy on this overcast Friday. It’s time for scarves, sweaters, boots, and – oh, yes – pumpkin spice lattes. (Don’t forget to click on the images to get check out these photographers on Flickr!) Mmm, can you smell the pumpkin chai-ness? I can.

Guest Post by Chris Wilcox So at the present moment, I’m sitting at my dinner table trying to re-insert myself in the creative realm and come up with a design for a website. Sometimes I look at other artists work to get inspired (yeah, big surprise right!?) Well, over the last several months, I’ve had this recurring train of thought, and the other day while I was doing my swim workout, I decided I’d write about it and see if it resonated with any of you. Oh, and by the way, thanks to Dee Wilcox (my beautiful wife and talented …

Last week I read an old post on Salon.com by D.A. Blyler titled, “The Seven Vices of Highly Creative People.” I laughed through most of it, but when he started talking about food and epicureanism, I felt like I should be looking over my shoulder, like any moment, someone would be point me out and say, “You! With the food vice!” Let me set the backstory for you. One night in a bar, Byler and his friend Bobby witnessed the negative effect a talk show featuring Stephen Covey, author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, had on the barroom audience. I …

Over the last few weeks we’ve been discussing what the creative process looks like, and more particularly, how it’s different for artists and business leaders. (Yes, there’s a {big} difference between managers and leaders, but I’ll leave that discussion for another time.) Last week we talked about how artists are more focused on process and on the act of creating, whereas business leaders have an entirely different set of goals. Managers are primarily concerned about the bottom line. Their goal is product/service/customer satisfaction. To achieve this goal, they are focused on group creativity and group workflow. They lead from terms …

The other morning I read a post by Andy Rutledge on his blog Design View titled, “On Inspiration.” Since the tagline of Creative Perch is “Inspiring Creativity and Encouraging Innovation,” I thought I’d read up. Let me first say this. Andy doesn’t post every day, but when he does post, it’s full of meat. His Gestalt Principles series is something I have to work through bite by bite. On Inspiration was no different, except that I found it incredibly engaging and couldn’t stop reading. I did pause frequently with the words, “Now, wait a minute…” on the tip of my …

An important part of the creative process is rest, stepping away from the creative work to allow ideas to incubate. I’ve spent the last eight days on a physically relaxing vacation with my wonderful husband and our good friends. My husband soaked in the sun and water and couch time and wondered what could possibly be more relaxing. I, on the other hand, found my mind constantly trying to work on problems. All the free time I had at my disposal failed to give my mind a break. Our very busy vacation to New York last summer was far more …

Last week I wrote a post titled “A Creative Process for Everyone” that sparked a lot of feedback and Twitter retweets. It generated more conversation than I expected, and so I promised to flesh it out more this week. If you remember, we compared the artist’s creative process with that of a manager or leader. Per the Wallace Model, the artist’s process looks a bit like this: Preparation—definition and research Incubation—setting the matter aside Illumination—the sudden appearance of a solution Verification—testing the solution Basically, the difference comes down to a difference in goals. The artist is focused on creating art …

I love reading about other artists’ creative process. Whether you’re a traditional artist, writer, a designer, a creative director, or a marketing guru, how you approach the process of creating a new idea, product, or concept will be unique to you. I learn from others all the time and am constantly adapting my creative workflow. Understanding the creative process is valuable because it can help you maximize your own creativity and personal approach. However, sometimes understanding the elements of the creative process can be confusing. There has been an ongoing attempt to break this very individualistic process down into doable steps …