I have a system for writing about cocktails.
Whenever I try out a new recipe, I sit down and write a quick 2-5 sentence blurb about it, and as I write more about the ingredients or find ways to tie in spiritual issues, these blurbs eventually snowball into full articles. Rather than post them all at once, I keep a few in my back pocket for weeks where I don’t have time to experiment on new cocktails. As I looked through my blurbs the other day, I noticed a pattern: all of them —every single one— was some kind of bourbon cocktail. Then, as I looked through my archive of published cocktail recipes here on the site, a majority of those were bourbon cocktails as well. So yeah, I guess I write overwhelmingly about bourbon cocktails. This reminded me of another creative experience.
Back when I had a little more free time, I would make elaborate mosaics out of post-it notes. These were usually portraits of significant figures in religion or pop culture, and each took me anywhere from ten to thirty hours to complete. I’ve promised myself that, once my schedule levels out a bit, I’m going to create more of these, but for now, my mixology and writing are providing enough of a creative outlet.
Given that my color palate of post-it notes was limited to whatever 3M produced, I got excited whenever 3M released a new color, and as such, that color would find its way into my next several projects. At one point, 3M released two of my favorite tones that I’ve ever used: a vibrant red and a deep blue. As both shades would be fairly impractical for taking notes, I can only assume 3M’s engineers were thinking of people like me when they designed them. Inspired, I stocked up on these two colors, and over the next few months, I used them in probably a dozen mosaics. When I started looking at photos of my work over that time period, I noticed the pattern and thought to myself: I’m playing it safe on these. I’m using color combinations that I already know will work. I’m not taking risks. Maybe I need to venture out a little more.
It was a curious balance. On the one hand, yes, my work lacked variety during that time period; on the other hand, I was churning out some of my most refined stuff in those two colors. I was able to picture them so easily in my mind. I knew how they would look against each other. I knew how they would create negative and positive space. I knew how they would guide the viewer’s eye. I had those two colors nailed, but everywhere else, my style was lacking. I brought different colors back into my work, but to this day, that particular red and that particular blue are still set aside as two of my favorites to work with, and I’m regarding bourbon cocktails the same way for the time being.
All of us have our creative safe zones. And, sure, it’s great to refine one creative area, but there’s also something to be said for taking a risk on an unknown and finding something new there.