Well, here we are—sending you our heartfelt wish for a happy New Year Year ⬩
January is International Creativity Month, and what better way to celebrate than by sharing about a few people, places, and practices to inspire your creativity.
Press pause on the pressure to perfect your entry into the new year. Ease into the start of this season with only what matters and is meaningful for you. Tread slowly, take the time to decipher and discern what you need and what you want.
May these ideas and inspiration meet and greet you where you’re at.
All,
Rachel Marie Kang
Founder of The Fallow House
Creator of
Be reminded of all the ways that creativity lends itself to you.
Rachel Marie Kang, Let There Be Art
Ideas — Cultivate your creativity.
Visit state parks. Play video games. Listen to audiobooks. Visit local museums. Make a Spotify playlist. Go thrifting. Buy a new cookbook. Support a local artist. Follow National Geographic. Read poetry. Dream up a business plan. Build a free library. Learn a language. Study a new subject. Paint by color. Do a crossword puzzle.
Inspiration — Use this color.
We love the inspiration behind Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2023.
“Viva Magenta is an earthy crimson red that hopes to keep us grounded in nature as we increasingly move into virtual worlds.” —Creative Boom
In this age of technology, we look to draw inspiration from nature and what is real. PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta descends from the red family, and is inspired by the red of cochineal, one of the most precious dyes belonging to the natural dye family as well as one of the strongest and brightest the world has known. Rooted in the primordial, PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta reconnects us to original matter…
Leatrice Eiseman
Executive Director, Pantone Color Institute
What does this color evoke in you? How does it inspire your ideas…and how can you use it in your designs?
Inspiration — What’s your creativity type?
Let’s have some fun. Adobe says, “Everyone has a creative “type” — knowing yours helps you maximize your potential.” Take the quiz and tell us — what’s your creativity type?
P.S. Here is Rachel Marie Kang’s creativity type.
Inspiration — 1KHO
Listen to Rachel Marie Kang on The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast as she shares about creativity, the importance of being playful throughout your life, imposter syndrome, poetry, family, and the types of things that make a simple life grand.
Inspiration — Let There Be Art
Your art is not peripheral to life—it is at the very heart of why you exist and what you have to offer to yourself and to the world. Let There Be Art gives you permission to embrace the peace, pleasure, and purpose inherent in your art and in the process of making it. This passionate, creative, and cathartic journey invites you to create truthfully out of the broken and beautiful pieces of your life, as well as offer your heart and your art in hopes of helping a hurting world.
Let There Be Art — Paperback
Let There Be Art — Hardcover
Let There Be Art — Audiobook
What Readers Are Saying
For the creative who wonders if their work matters
This book is aesthetically beautiful. The cover and pages are inviting, which some might not find important, but I think it's significant that the author had so much attention to detail in ensuring the reader initial introduction to the book is one of beauty. The content is phenomenal. It meets the reader where they are, and inspired me in a dry season of my creativity. I love how the author brings in other examples of people's work to demonstrate the wide range of creative opportunities available. You could absolutely read through this in a sitting, but I'd bet most readers would want to take their time and sit with the authors words. Grab your favorite pens and highlighters and a notebook, because this book has words you'll want to stick with you long after you've finished the book.
—adh
A Must Read!
This is no mere book, this is an experience. I’ve followed Rachel for a while and her words have reached deep into my soul, but this book is even more. Not only does it reach deep, but it begins a spark and adds a breath and fans that spark until it’s flaming. This book will set an artists heart on fire. Along with Madeleine L’Engle’s Walking on Water and Andrew Peterson’s Adorning the Dark, this is a must read for anyone who creates anything—which is all of us. These words are truly a gift, a beacon of light in an otherwise dim world, showing us all the way home.
—Heidi Anne
Inspiration — Create Anyway
In this unforgettable book filled with rich storytelling and stunning photographs, writer and mother
helps you set aside the guilt and discover the sacred connection between creating and mothering. One-part commissioning, one-part pep talk, Create Anyway will propel you forward with a renewed sense of energy, purpose, and enthusiasm for stewarding the creative dreams God has planted in your heart—right alongside the diapers and carpool. Here's to creating in the margins of motherhood.The Fallow House is a proud friend and fan of Ashlee Gadd. Create Anyway releases March 28th. Preorder your copy today.
Create Anyway by Ashlee Gadd
Inspiration — The Word Before Work
A weekday devotional to help Christians connect the gospel to their vocation and appreciate the eternal significance of their work—no matter what it is—from the entrepreneur, thought leader, and bestselling author of Redeeming Your Time. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, barista, stay-at-home parent, CEO, or coach, The Word Before Work affirms how God created you for work, why it matters, and the ways it holds significance both now and for eternity.
Jordan Raynor’s words and work on calling and creativity are irrevocably important—we share his book with the highest of recommendations.
The Word Before Work by Jordan Raynor
Inspiration — The Book of Common Courage
The Book of Common Courage is a collection of prayers, poems, and blessings to help you find a flicker of strength in the small and hard moments of life. Beloved author and therapist
invites you to journey word-by-word through Psalm 23 to experience how the Good Shepherd is with you and for you, especially in the valleys of life. When you struggle to find the words to hold your pain or trauma, be encouraged to cultivate the compassion and courage to believe that your story will, in fact, end in joy.The Fallow House is a proud friend and fan of K.J. Ramsey. The Book of Common Courage releases on January 17th. Preorder your copy today.
The Book of Common Courage by K.J. Ramsey