Artwork in Progress

Happy Coconut Cream Pie Day – May 8! I love learning some of the “National Days,” thanks to this month’s creativity challenge inside the Creative Sandbox Community, hosted by @lbcoop.
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The community is my lab for women’s leadership through creative expression, and a discussion inside the community came up with this definition of the kind of leadership we’re fostering: not authoritarian leadership, but “linked-elbows leadership.”
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Collaborative leadership, where we move each other and ourselves forward by linking elbows with each other.
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If that’s the kind of leadership that resonates with you, get on the invite list to join us at http://bit.ly/2pPbRDZ
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#coconutcreampieday #creativesandboxchallenge #tinyanddaily #smalldailyacts #visualcommunication #visualthinking #sketch #doodlesofinstagram #dailydoodle #originalart #creativesandboxcommunity

Working on more “analog PowerPoint” sheets… er… analog slides..? for upcoming LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® values and visioning workshops. Because that’s how we roll at Creative Sandbox Solutions — people zone out to digital slides these days, but we find they really engage with handmade, so we take the extra time and make handmade presentations. 🖍
It’s that extra little step, that actually takes a ton more work on our end, but it’s worth the effort.
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#visualnotes #visualthinking #visualcommunication #graphicfacilitation #legoseriousplay #bikablo #flipchart #visualpractice #visualshownotes #originalart #neulandmarkers

May 7 is National Barrier Awareness Day, so I did a Google search in order to draw a wheelchair, and discovered that the icons for disabled access have gone through a big transformation recently. The newer icons show more active, capable humans; the older icons show more passive, dependent humans. The way we depict people plays a powerful role in how we see them, and how they see themselves. 🖍
When these things don’t impact us directly, we tend not to even notice them. But now the light has been turned on, I cannot un-see it. Those old, passive icons make me ANGRY! And having hobbled around on crutches for several weeks after foot surgery and knee surgery, I’ve learned to appreciate barriers in a way I didn’t before. It’s all about EMPATHY—being able to experience the world through someone else’s eyes for a moment. To feel even just a taste of what it’s like for them.
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Empathy and compassion. We could use some more of this, please.
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#creativesandboxchallenge
#tinyanddaily #smalldailyacts #doodleart #dailydoodle #visualthinking #visualcommunication #barrierawarenessday #originalart #doodleicons

So here’s a confession: every time I post one of these, I think “Everyone is going to laugh at me, and think ‘that is SO LAME! She draws STICK FIGURES!’” Because it’s true. I draw stick figures. That is about the limit of my human illustration abilities, especially when said humans are engaged in any sort of activities (like carrying a tray with a glass of lemonade!) And right now it takes me several tries to get this even close to acceptable, and even then the proportions are ridiculous (I mean, who ever saw a lemonade glass that ginormous???)
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But here’s the thing: I share these stick figures even though I’m embarrassed that they aren’t more masterful, precisely BECAUSE they aren’t masterful. Because I hope they get YOU to pick up a pen and draw, too! 🖍
I watched a couple of talks by @evalottchen on YouTube this morning, which were so inspiring, and a little bit of what she did in those talks was get people drawing. She demonstrated a few simple icons, and exactly how she draws them. And that’s the thing: drawing is not magic—it’s steps that you can learn. The kind of drawing I’m excited by right now is INTENTIONALLY simple, because it has to be done FAST, and the goal is not photorealism, or even artistic value, but to communicate IDEAS. So the more quickly and efficiently I can draw those concepts (i.e., stick figures!), the better!
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Still, my gremlins are afraid you will laugh at me, shun me, think I’m unworthy of love and attention because what I create is so lame. But again, I share it DESPITE THE GREMLINS! Because I hope it will make YOU think, “Hey, if Melissa can share a stick figure, maybe I can draw, too.”
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It’s fun. It’s empowering. Give it a try.
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#visualnotes #visualthinking #creativesandboxchallenge #tinyanddaily #smalldailyacts #originalart #stickfigure #nursesday #lemonadeday

Happy National Cartoonists Day and Start Seeing Monarchs (as in butterflies) Day! It’s also Hoagie/Scrapbook/Homebrew/Silence the Shame Day, so if I were really ambitious I could have fit a few more in there for today’s Creative Sandbox Community creative challenge daily prompt! I felt rather pleased that I managed two in one, though. 🖍
Baby steps. We’re all about tiny and daily and small daily acts in the Creative Sandbox Community. 😉 After all, “Think tiny and daily” is Creative Sandbox Way Guidepost #4!
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#creativesandboxchallenge #tinyanddaily #smalldailyacts #visualthinking #visualcommunication #cartoonist #butterfly #monarchday #monarch #originalart