Creative Time is Sacred Time
“Would I rather have time with a lovely cup of tea, my knitting or stitching in a relaxing atmosphere than go for a pedicure every month? Yeah, I think it does more for me than anything else. ”
Before I even met Christine Hamilton, I had a feeling that we would be friends. She had just opened her shop, Villekulla Handmade, in my neighbourhood. I thought to myself that anyone who would name their store after the home of Pippi Longstocking (my favourite fictional heroine) would be a friend indeed.
Christine is a Calgary artist with a passion for textiles and history. She studied fibre and textiles at AUArts. She worked at the Glenbow Museum for eight years and is the owner of Villekula Handmade.
I sat down with her recently to discuss the sacredness of creativity and how it nourishes her.
All the photos in this post were taken by Christine’s son Neil Tremills.
Shelagh: What does living a creative life mean for you?
Christine: Living a creative life takes practice and ritual. I know that when I'm creative, I feel good about myself. Although creativity is seen as being very spontaneous, the more you set up a creative routine, the more creative you get.
I think it's good to look at creativity as a practice, not ‘I will sit down and paint masterpiece’. But rather ‘I have one and a half hours. I'm going to play for one and a half hours.’ And if something lovely comes out of that, that's a bonus that you've learned and you've practiced. I think you become more playful and more relaxed with this approach.
Shelagh: Do you feel that everyone is artistic?
Christine: Yes!
Shelagh: Is it a way of being?
Christine: It is. And a way of looking at things. For years I thought, well, I'm not creative because I don't draw well. But there's so much more to creativity. It could be finding objects out on a walk and turning them into a garden sculpture as you bring them home, seeing them as something other than what they are. I think that’s a big part of creativity. It doesn't have to be specific art school things that you think of, right?
Shelagh: Yes, I think so too. What have you learned in your life about creativity and its relationship to exhaustion and rest?
Christine: When you don't take care of yourself and rest and you're feeling really low, it's hard to have any creative juices at all.
Shelagh: Has creativity helped you through any challenging times?
Christine: When I was really sick {with cancer}, my husband said to me, you should just draw. I couldn't focus on knitting because of the brain fog. He brought up a bucket of pencil crayons and some paper and just put it on a pad and put it on my bedside. And all I would do was play with what color combinations did I like? So I have a book that's just little squares of different colors, but it took my mind off my pain. Once I did it and felt distracted, I continued to do it daily and would think, would this make a nice sweater? Would this make a nice palette for a landscape? And it's just little squares and different shapes of blending of colors. It would take my mind off like, ‘I can't have another painkiller for an hour and a half’. And it actually made me feel better and I was surprised that it did. It got me through a very rough time.
Shelagh: Yes, I can totally see how this helped you and how surprising it was. When you feel like your life is really full or you feel depleted, do you have a harder time accessing your creativity?
Christine: If I don't schedule it, yes, because I'll get overwhelmed and think, I have to get everything done on this list. But often it's dangling a carrot in front of myself. I say to myself, ‘If I get half of the things on my list done then my reward will be 45 minutes with my watercolors or 45 minutes with whatever I'm knitting.’ And that break will make me more energetic and focused for whatever else is left on the list.
I think if I fit it in, I actually feel better. I am more present and focused on what is going on in my life because I have treated myself to this creative time.
Shelagh: For sure. So it sounds like being creative is an act of self care for yourself. Would you say that?
Christine: Absolutely. Would I rather have time with a lovely cup of tea, my knitting or stitching in a relaxing atmosphere than go for a pedicure every month? Yeah, I think it does more for me than anything else.
Shelagh: How do you make it happen for yourself?
Christine: I set up my creative time as a scheduled ritual. I really see it as sacred time. I make tea. I have my place all set up with my supplies. I do some aromatherapy. I love my herbal tea or my tea with flowers in it. So the scent of that lovely tea, the scent of my aromatherapy, it just sets up the experience as luxurious, like going to a spa. And it makes me feel like this is a special time and that I am entering into a sacred space for my creativity to flow.
Creating this ritual around my creative time really helps mark it and helps me ignore what’s going on ‘out there’ and helps me focus on what I am creating in the moment. Sometimes, I'll put my headphones on, and that sort of blocks out what is going on and also gives a visual to my family. They know….’She's at her desk. She has her headphones. It smells good in here’.
“...the scent of that lovely tea, the scent of my aromatherapy, it just sets it up the experience as luxurious, like going to a spa. And it makes me feel like this is a special time and that I am entering into a sacred space for my creativity to flow.”
-Christine Hamilton
Shelagh: She's doing her thing. She’s creating, and they know.
Christine: Yeah.
Shelagh: So the whole thing becomes a ritual of self-care…from making the tea, to smelling the special scent, to being with your watercolors or whatever you are doing…
Christine: Yeah, it definitely is. And that helps me fully focus on the time because I’ve set myself up. Some people say, ‘Oh, I have to have a studio outside the house because I need to drive there and be away from the distractions. I think setting up the ritual is like me driving to a studio. It's that break. It puts a boundary around my space and time.
Shelagh: I love that! And I love how you use scent to create that ritual space.
Christine: The scent relaxes me! And then I think after you do it a few times, your brain just says, ‘I know what this means’. Very subconsciously, you know, and you're waiting for the kettle to boil and you're anticipating having that time.
“Creativity is not just something you are born with. You need to make time for it, schedule it into your life. The more you do it, the more creative you will feel. You’ll feel rejuvenated after you have done it and come back a better mom, a better partner….just feeling better about yourself when you take the time to play.”
Shelagh: Our upcoming workshops are a combination of creativity, art, aromatherapy, and self-care. What is it that you hope people feel when leaving one of our workshops?
Christine: For people who say ‘I’m not creative” to learn that they are and that creativity takes so many different forms. I hope they learn to set the time aside for play and creativity. Creativity is not just something you are born with. You need to make time for it, schedule it into your life. The more you do it, the more creative you will feel. You’ll feel rejuvenated after you have done it and come back a better mom, a better partner….just feeling better about yourself when you take the time to play.
Christine’s “Time to Create” Ritual
Make sure that you have all the supplies that you need before you begin.
Make yourself a cup of tea or any other beverage that feels nourishing.
Put on any music that you like to create to.
Pay attention to the light in the room. Make any necessary changes.
Sit down in your space with your cup of tea.
To open your creative time, take a deep breath and exhale with a sigh.
Apply an aromatic oil to the palms of your hands or your wrists - Christine likes to use 1912 Aromatherapy Empress or Realm perfume oils.
Take a deep breath and inhale the scent.
Say to yourself, “This time is yours. What do you want to do?”
Listen to see what emerges from within you.
Unleash your creativity.
To close your creative time, express gratitude. It can be as simple as saying, “Thank you for….” Christine names some specific things that she is grateful for as a result of the creative time spent.
