What Star Trek taught me about creativity

Gel print with Eucalyptus leaves

The calm of curiosity

Sometimes, when I need a moment of calm, I return to the quiet glow of a world that has accompanied me since childhood — Star Trek.

Not the fast, modern versions full of action, but the older ones — The Original Series and The Next Generation — where stories unfolded slowly, with time to think, to wonder, to breathe. I always admired how they solved conflicts not with power, but with empathy, curiosity, and dialogue.

Each episode was about exploring — not only the galaxy, but the human spirit. And isn’t that what creativity is, too?

We sit at our tables, surrounded by paints, leaves, papers, or fabrics, and sometimes we feel lost. We think we need more time, more order, more courage. But in truth, we’re already explorers — quietly navigating our inner constellations in life. We often wait for the right time, a clean table, or a perfect idea. But honestly? Creativity starts when we stop waiting.

Art isn’t about control — it’s about exploring.
One small brushstroke, one leaf pressed on paper, one mark of curiosity… that’s all it takes to begin. You don’t need to know where you’re going before you begin. You just need to begin. 

A single mark on paper.

A leaf placed on fabric maybe.

A moment of curiosity — no pressure, no perfection.

Like the crew of the Enterprise, your mission is not to produce something “perfect,” but to discover what’s waiting to be seen. 

I always remember the intro sentence: Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before!  Their mission was to explore the unknown — and in a way, so is ours.

Every time we sit down to create, we begin our own small voyage. We don’t always know where we’re headed. Sometimes we’re tired, unsure, or surrounded by too many materials and too little time. But the moment we take that first step — that first mark that’s perfectly imperfect — something starts to shift.

You don’t need a plan. You just need to begin.
That’s where discovery happens — in those quiet, uncertain moments when we dare to explore without knowing what we’ll find.

Creative exploration with gel plates

I always like experimenting with my gel plates (the work you see at the beginning of this letter is a gel-print with Eucalyptus leaves)—I like layering shapes and colors from nature. Each print feels like a small adventure: you never know exactly what will appear until you lift the paper.

If you’d like to try it yourself, place a few leaves or small plants on your gel plate and roll a thin layer of acrilic paint over them. Press your paper gently and pull the first print—bold, colorful, full of texture. Then, without cleaning the plate, lift a second print. It will be softer, like an echo or memory of the first.
I love this part—where the unexpected happens. Each print feels like a small dialogue between nature, color, and chance. 🌿 And simple results are as beautiful as very complex ones.

🎥 Watch a two-minute short clip from my studio—the magic reveal of a very simple gel print.

A little confession here: gel plates can get a bit messy—paint on your fingers, leaves sticking where they shouldn’t—but that’s part of the fun!
If you prefer calm and clean, don’t worry— I’ll share some other gentler ways to create, as well, in the weeks to come.

Connect to my newsletter, as each week, I try to offer a small space of calm—not speed or noise, but reflection.
A pause to breathe, to create, and to remember that art doesn’t have to shout to be meaningful. Sometimes it’s enough to sit quietly with color, texture, or light, and let curiosity lead the way.

Until next time,
Aida

P.S. If today you only have five minutes, make just one simple print. One small beginning is enough. And if the gel plate feels a bit too messy for your taste, that’s perfectly fine — there are many other ways to create, using softer, calmer techniques. We’ll explore them together in my upcoming book.