Been pondering it all over these last few days, since the beginning of 2010, deciding I could benefit from a few guidelines for staying creatively motivated in the year ahead. Here are my 6 steps to getting the creative juices flowing:

1. Keep a daily journal. Julie Cameron, who wrote The Artist's Way, calls them Morning Pages, the first thoughts that are running through your head when you awake. Write them all down so you don't have a crowded head full of needless and often times negative thoughts throughout the day.
2. Get out and move. Nothing better than a quick walk in the fresh air to clear the mind. Or practice your yoga moves for better balance both mentally and physically.
3. Meditate. Unclutter your mind to make room for thoughts of positive intuitive energy. If sitting still for any length of time doesn't quiet the mind, then try staring at a candle flame or take a daily walk and concentrate on each step you make rather than the constant flow of mindless thoughts.
4. Eat your fruits and veggies. Eating healthy gives your body more energy and helps your outlook on life stay rosy and bright.
5. Organize. Quite often I wait to clean up and then the mess piles up and my creative juices stop flowing. To keep this from happening the solutions is so easy, every day spend a few minutes organizing my living and work spaces.
6. Brush to paper daily. The best time to paint or be creative is often when you don't feel like it. You can wind up painting your best work yet when you have the blahs and feel uninspired. So next time don't wait for inspiration to hit before picking up a brush. If nothing inspires you, do a simple exercise by dividing a sheet of paper into at least 9 small postcard size boxes. Then paint whatever comes to mind, your wildest dreams, color combinations or strange shapes. You may just find your next painting in one of those boxes.

Now that you've read my 6 steps, I would love to hear from you if you have other tips for inspiring daily creativity. Please feel free to post them below in the comments section.

These quick little thumbnail sketches were created by doing the divided sheet of paper exercise.
Who knows maybe someday one will find it's way into a painting.

For more inspiration here a few motivating suggestions from one of my favorite artists, Skip Lawrence in his most recent newsletter.