Creating With Others

Note:  I posted this last Tuesday but found it in my 'draft' section.  This has happened several times on blogpost.  If anyone has a clue as to how this happens and how I can prevent posts from becoming drafts again, I would appreciate the info.  Thanks.

journal cover, tape, magazine image on paper

Thinking of inspiration this Tuesday. . . .

One of my favorite activities is to work on my own creations while in a group be it

with one friend or in a workshop but the saying 

'the whole is greater than the sum of its parts'

comes to mind.  I wonder 

magazine image, tape, transparency, signo uniball roller pen

if I am more creative in a group or whether just the act of setting aside the time, bringing the art supplies,

seeing other people's work, talking about our projects creates an energy 

that facilitates creativity.  I know it does for me.  I used write daily in coffee shops.   I found it was a similar process in that the ambient noise,  the small table with my coffee cup and pad and pencil,

the chit chat with other regulars at the coffee shop opened the door  into my own

writing.   Others in my writing group always wrote at home.  The noise would be distracting.

For me sitting at a coffee shop table was like a  key that opened a door to allow the words enter.

I assume we all have our own keys to entering the creative ether.  This was mine.

tape, transparency, paper created from citra solve on magazine page

I do create in my studio and enjoy that as well.  I leave a projects out to work on and to look at to see what it needs to become.  I love to surround myself with supplies and pick the one that jumps out at me.

Sometimes I try to stump myself by putting down a mark or collage a random piece and follow it to the next step.  It is all fun and for me, endlessly stimulating.  

I have come full circle and have answered my own pondering

it is not that I am MORE creative in a group

it is that I set an intention to create, gathered myself and my materials together,

set aside the mental time with no phone, computer, laundry, meal planning,

left the outside world and allows me to dive in.

Do you like to create in a group or do you prefer the company of your own muse?