☀️ The blank canvas situation
Is it liberating or stressful to find yourself with a blank canvas that’s waiting for your creative input? I would say it’s rather stressful, and research backs me up on this.
Imagine sitting down to write something, paint something, or make something, and suddenly every possibility crowds in at once. You could go in any direction. Do anything. Which sounds fantastic until you realise that infinite choice is, beyond the surface, a blocker. The blank page doesn't feel like freedom, as it starts to feel heavy.
Also on this, interestingly, the most celebrated creative works didn't come from total freedom at all. Dr. Seuss wrote Green Eggs and Ham using exactly 50 words. Miles Davis composed Kind of Blue without a single chord. The constraint wasn't an obstacle, but an engine.
This edition is about why we create beautiful things at all, and why the boundaries that seem to limit us might actually be what sets us free.
📖 3 Articles to Spark Your Curiosity
Why Imposing Restrictions Can Actually Boost Creativity
When college students were given specific nouns to work with, they wrote more creative rhymes than those who could use any words they wanted. Constraints force us to think more deeply and explore less familiar paths.
→ Read on Big Think
Why art seems more beautiful when you can see yourself in it
The more a piece of art relates to you (your memories, personality, places you know), the more beautiful you find it. Self-relevance matters more than physical features like color or complexity.
→ Read on Psyche
Mimetic Desire 101
We assume our desires are independent, that we want things because they "just make sense." René Girard calls this "The Romantic Lie." The truth is we choose what we want based on models, people who show us what's worth wanting.
→ Read on Luke Burgis
🗞️ 3 Headlines Worth Exploring
The Eight Interior Design Trends You'll See Everywhere in 2026
Maximalism is back, but with meaning this time. Instead of simply layering more stuff, the trend is about intentionally curating objects that tell a story. Also rising: slow decorating, thrifted antiques, and sustainability as the new standard.
→ Read on Forbes
Carl Jung on Creativity
The artist lives with a fundamental paradox: on one side, a human being with personal life and moods; on the other, an impersonal creative process. Art seizes a person and makes them its instrument, allowing the collective unconscious to speak through them.
→ Read on The Marginalian
The Shocking Truth Behind Historic Anatomical Art
The beautiful, intricate anatomical illustrations in medical textbooks came from dissected bodies of executed criminals, murdered victims, and the poor. These people never consented to having images of their bodies displayed. Talk about the art is stunning and the ethics are grim.
→ Read on BBC Culture
☀️ 3 Actions to Step Out of Your Comfort Zone
Give yourself one artificial constraint
Pick a creative project you've been avoiding and impose one specific limitation. Write using only 100 words, draw using only one color, or cook using only five ingredients. Notice how the restriction forces you to think differently.
Find the "you" in something beautiful
The next time you see a piece of art that moves you, pause and ask yourself why. What about it connects to your life, your memories, your sense of self?
Identify one mimetic model
Think about something you recently wanted (a product, an experience, a goal). Now ask: who wanted it first? Who showed you it was worth wanting? Just observing the model can help you understand your desires more clearly.
⚡ 6 Quick Resources
📝 To try: 12 Rules for Creativity
An illustrated guide to unlocking your creative practice, from "Less screen time, more real time" to "It’s not creative WORK, it’s creative PLAY" to "Brainstorms lead to brainbows."
→ Read on Incidental Comics
💭 To think about: Beauty Is Objective
Andrew Coyle makes the case that beauty isn't just a subjective opinion. Certain principles (proportion, harmony, order) appear across cultures and time.
→ Read on Andrew Coyle
🎨 To read: What Makes Something Beautiful and How to Use It in Design
The psychology behind aesthetic pleasure, from symmetry and color theory to the role of familiarity and novelty in what we find appealing.
→ Read on Shakuro
📺 To watch: Why Beautiful Things Make Us Happy
It's hard to define what makes something beautiful, but we seem to know it when we see it. A look at how beauty affects our subconscious and why it matters.
→ Watch on YouTube
🎙️ To listen: The Case for Making Art When the World Is on Fire
Writer Amie McNee argues that making art isn't self-indulgent. It's an essential, radical act of creation, especially when everything feels overwhelming.
→ Watch on TED
🏛️ To explore: Architecture Through Time
A visual journey through architectural history, from ancient civilizations to modern movements, showing how humans have always needed to create beautiful spaces.
→ Explore on Google Arts & Culture
🎲 This week’s wonderfully random corner of the internet
🎨 Play a Kandinsky
An interactive Google experiment that turns Kandinsky's abstract paintings into playable instruments. Click on the shapes and colors to create sound. Each painting becomes a musical composition.
→ Make music with art on Google Arts & Culture
📝 Word of the Week
Kenosis (Greek) - The act of emptying oneself; a self-limitation or self-emptying that creates space for something new to emerge.
In theology, kenosis describes how the divine empties itself to become human. In creativity, it captures that paradox Jung identified: the artist must empty their personal ego to become a channel for something larger. You impose constraints, you limit yourself, you empty out the infinite possibilities, and in that emptying, you create space for the work to actually exist. The blank canvas stays blank until you're willing to limit what it could be.
🧘♀️ Question of the Week for Introspection
Think about something you've created that you're proud of. What constraint (intentional or accidental) shaped it? And what would happen if you tried working with even more restrictions next time?
See you next Sunday! Until then, keep your eyes open, your questions big, and your sense of wonder alive.
Your curious internet friend,
Ruxandra
