Last fall in our Village, some scarecrows appeared one day around the picnic table in front of the local restaurant.

We observed several people doing a double-take before they realized that these were not real people sitting at the table in the cold drinking their coffees. These scarecrows did look like real people, dressed in plaid shirts, jeans or dark pants, some with hats.

It really was a hoot to watch the reactions.

The scarecrows were there for a couple of weeks, as I recall, before the same arrived.

Where did they come from and who placed them there?

A few weeks later Christmas wreaths appeared on a fence on the main street. Some may have thought it was the nursery school or fair board who placed them there, or the committee that has recently had the town clock installed and who had decorated that area for the season.

But I happen to know it was not either of those groups.

But there was more. Reindeers appeared on a strip of grass on the main street. You know the ones I mean; the Christmas deer that are all white and covered with lights. Only these ones no longer had lights, they were just the frames of the deers. Nonetheless they looked festive, as someone had added red ribbons.

No one left a calling card for any of these random acts of creativity.

But what nice ways to add some decor and a wee bit of fun to our little Village.

I wonder what the spring and summer will bring.

Do you find it hard to get started doing art or other creative endeavour, or even getting started on a large project? Do you find everything else to do, except getting started? Even cleaning the house seems to come first and even though being creative is so important to us.

And this is doubly important to me to get going more on art - one of my New Year's resolutions.

When it comes to getting into the creative spirit, some would have us believe that all we have to do some doodling - that is supposed to get the right brain stimulated enough to get us started.

If you're like me, that doesn't work.

Okay, here are some ideas that I find really do work - perhaps not every single time, but they do work more often than not:

- Schedule time to do your art with another person, then you are motivated to get started, and not to find other stuff to do instead

- Play background music - music facilitates creativity and can help you hold your attention on a project longer than if there is no background music. (for a bit more info see my blog from last month)

- The kind of music you listen to while creating matters. Hard rock or metal may provide too much excitement, while impressionistic can help with free-flowing ideas, and classical will benefit special perception. Country music will stir up memories and emotions, chants or drumming will lower your pulse and help provide a calm environment.

- Go for a walk or a drive. The visual stimulation helps kickstart the creative ideas. I used to find my drive home from my office was the best time for processing issues and finding solutions.  And if you listen to music at the same time, you will notice even more benefits.

- Sing or hum - Singing and humming uses both sides of the brain at the same time.

- Move, dance, drum, conduct .....try one of these and see how you feel.

Hope I've given you some inspiration here. Really, the cleaning will still be there tomorrow, so try one of these ideas to get started on that project.

I'm sure you have felt, as I have, how some pieces of music speak to you, they touch your soul, maybe you feel a tingling.

A few years back a group of us were working on an art project. Soft music was playing in the background. After a time, one of the women commented that she no longer felt creative, something had changed and she was now "stuck". One by one we each stated we were feeling the same. What was going on?

Then we realized the problem: the music had stopped. Once we started it up again, we each got back into our creative groove, and continued from where we had left off.

This is the power that music can have on us.

Our children often tell us they feel they do their homework better while listening to music. We tend not to believe them - but they are right. However in both cases - doing homework and being creative - listening to words in music can be distracting and not provide the right kind of energy to allow us to focus on our task. It's much better to listen to music without the sounds. A good friend recently confirmed this to be true, when during a painting day she asked that we change a CD for one without words. Once changed, a different CD brought in better energy and opened us up to being more creative.

So next time our kids tells us that music is helping them with their homework, let them know they are right, and help them to choose the music to enhance their studying.