What does it mean to be creative?
When you have made something that has not yet existed, you have created. There is a mistaken idea that for a work of art to be creative, it must be far out, elusive, mind-blowing, and beyond comprehension. Don't be misled by these grandiose ideas of creativity.
When you create a painting, that piece was done by you--YOU, an individual on this earth, unique in that YOU are YOU. And if YOU did it, then it hasn't been done before. Whether it's a painting of a barn or the planet Uranus, if it's done by your hand, guided by your muse and your point of view, it’s a new creation.
PEELING THE ONION
In all fields, there are phases of learning the ropes. Each phase has within it new ways to explore, new opportunities for discovery. A new baseball pitcher learning the mechanics of pitching finds ways those mechanics work best for him. As he masters each one at a time, he will often discover new ways of pitching that knowing the mechanics gives him. The process is no different for artists: as step by step we master the skills, practicing the skills themselves can give us creative ideas about how to use them.
With that in mind, there are fun exercises that can stimulate our creative juices and often give us new ideas about how WE go about expressing ourselves visually. Here's one I enjoy.
ONE WAY TO GO THROUGH THE DOOR
My personal experience with practice exercises is that while doing them, I often come up with new ideas. An excellent practice exercise is to choose a simple image, then render it in color with a limited number of strokes.
Here's one I'll play with.
1. To get started, do a quick sketch of your subject. (Here's mine done digitally.)
2. Do a study of this subject using just 12 brushstrokes. (A brushstroke is defined as from the time the brush hits the surface until the time it leaves the surface.)
Here's mine done digitally with my painting app.
POSTLUDE
Being creative doesn't require coming up with a new idea. Sometimes new ways of working can be generated by something as simple as this. THAT can go a long way towards stimulating your creativity.