Cultivating a Creative Practice: A Gentle Way to Begin

Story Adapted From Pattern Magazine – Volume 5

Pattern Magazine is Bonnie Christine's quarterly print and digital publication for surface pattern designers, artists, and creative entrepreneurs who believe that how you live shapes what you make. This story first appeared in Volume 5, Gathering Sunshine, the summer 2026 issue.

A gentle way to begin.

Our lead designer, Rebecca Barreda, shared her creative practice with our team, and it’s truly inspired how I approach creativity. I’m so excited to share her insights with you.

Creativity is beautiful.

Architects render buildings by hand. Textile designers arrange motifs into a pattern. Composers layer notes to form a harmonious song. Artists blend hues to capture clouds on paper.

But so often, creativity can feel elusive. And for those of us who chose a creative career, this elusiveness presents a problem.

Creativity is critical to our job ... it is our job.

We must create again and again, pouring out masterpieces of imagination and originality. In our creative careers, we problem-solve and innovate in a profoundly personal way, Monday through Friday.

Sometimes, this creativity flows smoothly from inspiration to masterpiece. And isn’t it fun when it does?

But, on the whole, creativity does not simply “happen.”

It takes intentionality to stay inspired, focused, and fresh. Creativity must be cultivated. And how do we do this?

We begin with a creative practice.

What Is a Creative Practice?

A creative practice is a personalized and intentional approach to your creative workflow. It establishes a repeatable system that prepares you to create with ease.

While each creative practice is unique to the individual artist, it often serves a combination of these purposes: it carves out space for creativity to flourish by generating mental and emotional bandwidth, it fills this newfound space with inspiration, and it provides the fuel needed to turn it into something new.

Why a Creative Practice Matters

Without a creative practice, we pause at the blank page. Our minds are cluttered with unfinished tasks from the evening before, conversations, and personal to-dos.

Creativity requires a specific mindset, tuned to curiosity and problem-solving. It needs space for thoughts and ideas to flow freely.

We prepare this mindset through flexibility and, most importantly, play. In a creative career, production demands can so easily take precedence over process, limiting imagination and experimentation.

As creative professionals, we need to play. We need to “practice” our creativity.

We must also trust ourselves as artists. Over time, a creative practice cultivates self-trust. It builds our confidence as creatives. Too often, creativity is hindered by self-doubt and hesitation. We begin to fear the blank page altogether, dreading the pause and the thoughts it brings.

Every moment of showing up, even when we don’t “feel creative,” we teach ourselves that the practice is reliable, that our creative flow is sound.

Inside our creative practice, we don’t have to wait for clarity or inspiration to magically appear. We show up and begin, relying on our practice to strengthen our creative avenues.

Instead of demanding that we produce creativity on the spot, we approach the blank page with gentle confidence, using our creative practice as a guide.

Our creative practice allows us to be messy, to create work that isn’t our best and that no one sees. It reminds us to simply create. And with this practice comes a shift from relying on motivation to relying on momentum, which builds confidence.

Crafting Your Creative Practice

A creative practice is deeply personal, but it can begin with three simple steps:

Begin with intention. Clear the mental clutter before you create. Do whatever helps you reset and make room for new ideas. Journal, meditate, take a walk, or exercise.

Invite play (with constraints). Use simple limits to play in: set a timer, use only one color, a new medium, or unexpected materials to spark creativity and keep things fun.

Show up consistently. Return to your practice regularly, even on the days you don’t feel creative. Consistency builds confidence, momentum, and trust in your creative voice.

There are several ways to establish a creative practice, and we’ll talk through some of them, but it’s important to remember: a creative practice is deeply personal.

The beauty of a creative practice is that it equips you to create in a way that only you can.

The first step in building a creative practice is: begin with intention. This creates the margin you need for a play-filled mindset.

Before you can hope to create anything, you need to purge the mental clutter crowding your heart and your mind. Carve out space.

One way to do this is through stream-of-consciousness writing or bullet journaling. You are emptying your mind of to-dos and giving yourself the margin to dream.

If journaling isn’t your cup of tea, consider a walk outside to reset your thoughts and refill your bandwidth. The world seems to grow bigger with a bit of sunshine before the screen.

Beginning with intention does not mean setting a rigid structure or blocking off everything on the calendar. This step simply invites you to check in with yourself as an artist ... to clear the table and set a place card for the masterpiece about to unfold.

Once you have carved out space for creativity to flourish and have expanded your mental and emotional bandwidth, you’re ready for the next step ...

Timed Creative Play

Now you begin to refill the space you have created with the right materials for your creativity, like curiosity, problem-solving, intuition, and imagination.

Incorporating timed creative play into your practice helps you reconnect to the joy of making. The time can be short, twenty to thirty minutes, to experiment and try something new.

Perhaps you design a moodboard or paint a scene with a different medium. Or you arrange flowers in a vase, trimming the stems and playing with color. Maybe you sketch a portrait with your eyes closed, never lifting the pen from the page. Think out of the box. Have fun. The purpose of this time is to play.

Time is essential to this step. The constraint is part of the magic, encouraging you to practice your creative muscles in the midst of the unexpected. It also helps you return to play consistently, keeping you curious and inventive.

Time is just one of many constraints you can choose. You can stretch your imagination through color restrictions or specific styles, like drawing only in circles, gathering only blue materials, or using items from your junk drawer.

Let your creative play be messy. Explore, ask, question, and experiment. You are preparing your mindset and fueling your flow. Embrace imperfection. The focus is on process, not product.

As you craft your practice, remember it is yours. It is not to impress others or produce a finished product. It is not for an audience to consume or critique. The value lies in showing up consistently and creating a habit that is your own. Your creative practice is personal and powerful. It is the furthest thing from performance or production.

Becoming a Creative Athlete

A creative career is demanding, much like an athletic one. You perform intense creative work daily, and your creative practice serves as your artistic warm-up.

The more familiar you become with this warm-up, the better you will perform under pressure, and the quicker you will problem-solve and recover.

The first time you try your creative practice, your steps may feel heavy and the practice unfamiliar. But your confidence will grow as you immerse yourself in your practice and approach creativity with a steady workflow.

You will learn to trust yourself as a creative, knowing you’ve crossed the finish line before. You will enjoy creating consistently, knowing you have a practice to support you.

Wanting More?

This story comes from Volume 5 of Pattern Magazine, Gathering Sunshine. The whole summer issue, with every story and photograph, is at bonniechristine.com/patternmagazine.