Snapshot from My Studio: June 06, 2019 at 08:37AM

In addition to making ideas visible for other people (my work), I’m an artist (my play). When you love what you do for work—when your work IS play, to some degree—it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking you don’t need to take time to do your art *purely for the joy of it*. What I call “playing in the creative sandbox.”
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This is a very dangerous trap.
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The problem is, EVEN IF you love your work… EVEN IF it feels like play… when commerce enters, and obligation enters, it changes things. And even if it changes things only by one degree, over time that shift throws you off course.
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So what happens is, if you DON’T carve out DEDICATED creative sandbox playtime on a regular basis — again, uncontaminated by commerce and obligation — it starts to poison your feelings towards your creativity. 🖍
Eventually this turns into burnout.
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I learned this the hard way when I became a professional artist and designer years ago. And I’ve noticed myself slipping back into bad habits again recently. Avoiding taking time to make art “just for me,” because hey, I was having so much fun making videos and sketchnotes! 🖍
And yes, those things ARE fun. But they are also tied to work. So for my creative health and hygiene it is ESSENTIAL that I get back to a regular practice of art PURELY FOR ME, PURELY FOR THE JOY OF IT. It doesn’t matter what it is. It can be doodles, or music, or writing, or ANYTHING. It doesn’t matter if anyone else likes it. It doesn’t even matter if *I* like it!! All that matters is that I DO it!
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So. Here is a doodle. Here is me, jumping back on the wagon. A little bit every day. “Think tiny & daily,” that’s Guidepost #4 from my book, The Creative Sandbox Way™. I’ve heard it’s pretty good. 😉
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