Welcome to the Turtle Traks Blog!

My name is Robert J. Hedges-Goettl. I am an information technology and multimedia professional with a variety hobbies and interests.

What is this Place?

Turtle Traks is a place to explore how creativity works and a medium to realize creative expression.

Some of what you may find here are creations and others could be musings or even frustrations.. the point is to learn.

“Creativity requires an ability to look at disparate things and bring them together in new ways”

A Musing after Reading the Wikipedia Article for “Creativity”

Light-Bulb

In preparation for launching this blog, I did some lightweight research into the study of Creativity and an immediate thing that caught my attention was the common use of a light-bulb to portray the realization of a creative idea.

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“Rob-Dude”

Here is a “Rob Dude”. A character study that I’ve been sketching for many years:

I have always thought that the exclamation point in this figure study was supposed to represent my desire to ‘exclaim something’ of worth. It reminds me of the light-bulb.

The photograph of the firework in this entry could be used to articulate the same abstraction.

Creativity requires the ability to look at disparate things and bring them together in new ways.

The Creative Process & Where to Begin

My early thinking on the creative process is that you have to choose a subject and try to find a new way of thinking about it.

After you decide what subject you want to try to be creative around, you have to gather as many ideas as you can around that subject as you can think of.

After you gather your ideas around the subject, you have to decide which ideas to continue with and determine any constraints you want to place around your thinking.

Subject: Birds

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When I considered what subject to start with, I was looking for something that aligns with my recent move out of the city and an area that I have a connection with.. and I arrived is birds.

I chose birds for a few reasons:

• Birds are nuanced and are often a subject of a journal.

• Birds are a common subject of photography – a creative area I have experience within.

• I have always thought Birds are Beautiful.

Kindling & Inspiration

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The Creative Process typically involves a period of ‘incubation’ where a wide array of ideas are considered before ‘pen is put to paper’.

The term “Inspire” comes from Latin, meaning ‘to breathe life into‘, similar to ‘blowing air over a flame to make it grow‘.

In order to support growth, Kindling must exist, which may take any form to fuel Creative Inspiration.

I will be looking for Kindling as I look at the subject (birds) this week.

From my experience camping, you will find suitable Kindling in a wide variety of places.

Some of what you gather will be what you need, some of it won’t be useful in starting the fire, but almost all will be consumed once the fire has been built.

Over the next week. I will attempt to cast a wide net when gathering Kindling for this first walk through The Creative Process.

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What next?

I will post Monday‘s on my Exploration of the Creation Process as it relates to whatever subject I’ve chosen at the time (Currently Birds).

Comment below if you have thoughts on these musings. I want to hear your ideas!

Welcome and I hope you enjoy this exploration!