In addition to painting an already-inked page spread, and writing/drawing a half a page spread, this is what I did at Creative Sandbox Retreat today: a complete page spread in my travel journal—writing, drawing, painting! And after completing this, here’s what I have to say: WOW! No WONDER I didn’t get this done while we were on our trip! It took me 3 ½ HOURS!! We never would have left our hotel! 😆
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I had been feeling badly about not capturing the moment IN the moment, feeling badly that all the thoughts I had on the trip would be lost (and of course, many of them will be), but in our opening circle last night someone shared a story about her grandmother, who took copious notes in travel journals on her many trips. After her last trip, when she was very old, she looked at the box of notebooks and said, “You know, I wish I’d spent less time taking notes and more time in the moment.”
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So there you go. The upside of not spending as much time writing and arting on my trip as I would have liked is that I spent that time DOING THE THINGS that I’m now writing and arting about. 😊
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Plus I did have my phone with me, which I used to take lots of photos (when my hands weren’t occupied with my crutches!!), and those photos are super helpful now, to jog my memory for where we were and what we did, and what I was thinking and feeling when we were doing it.
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So it all works out. And now I’m enjoying turning the memory of the experience into art (despite what my gremlins tell me about it being a waste of time. Silly gremlins!)
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I hope you’re making time to play today!
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#creativesandboxretreat #creativesandbox #traveljournal #artjournal #sketchbookjournal #sketchnotes #sketchnotearmy #originalart #artistsofinstagram #artistsoninstagram #originalart #doodle #moleskine #watercolor #watercolorjournal #imperfectionism

This is what I’m working on at Creative Sandbox Retreat: my travel journal from our Paris/Basel trip. Letting it be crappy. Which is something of a tag line for this year’s retreat (not a surprise, since it’s something of a tag line for ME! 😊) Last night at opening circle, when I asked people to share what they wanted to get out of our time together, there was mention of “making lots of crappy art,” and someone said she was “gonna get on the crap wagon” and make a similar goal. 🖍
We all need the reminder that it’s okay to make crap. That we NEED the crap! It’s the crap that fertilizes the good stuff, after all! I seem to need this reminder CONSTANTLY! And I’m the one who’s preaching it! But we teach what we need to learn. And over and over I learn what seems a brand new lesson each time: “Hey! It’s so much more fun when I let myself make crap!” Like it’s a surprising new discovery.
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Well, okay. I’ll let myself be delighted again by that “new discovery,” if that’s what needs to happen. 😆
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Today, and this week/weekend, I will continue to allow myself to release my inner 4-year-old and make crap, and have fun doing it. How about you?
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#creativesandboxretreat #creativesandbox #traveljournal #artjournal #sketchbookjournal #sketchnotes #sketchnotearmy #originalart #artistsofinstagram #artistsoninstagram #originalart #doodle #moleskine #watercolor #watercolorjournal #imperfectionism

Door tags for this year’s Creative Sandbox Retreat. I get so much joy from making these by hand each year. 😊
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But here’s a secret: I got to the retreat and realized one of the door tags I’d labored over at home was missing!!! PANIC ATTACK!!! I couldn’t make a replacement, because I didn’t have any of the tools, or the paper, that I used to make the originals! 🖍
So what did I do? I quickly whipped up an *entire set* of replacements! And because I had an *extremely* limited time in which to make them (about 20 minutes), I COULDN’T get perfectionistic about it!
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That’s one way to scare off the perfectionist gremlins: *radically* reduce your timeline. When you have a Riding short amount of time to do something, you simply do not have the luxury of perfectionist standards. It’s actually very liberating! 😊
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#creativesandboxretreat #calligraphy #originalart #moderncalligraphy #handlettering #brushlettering #brushcalligraphy #kuretakebrushpen #tombowdualbrushpens #dropshadow #imperfectionism

Morning doodle. My last full day before Creative Sandbox Retreat!! It’s finally here! Today is all about packing and final prep. So excited!!! 🖍
Meanwhile, I’m having the usual massive doubts about what to work on at the retreat! I was planning on working on my travel journal, using the photos I took from our trip to Paris and Basel to finally flesh out the days I didn’t manage to sketchnote while we were there. But of course now my gremlins are going crazy! “You’re nuts! It’s too late. You should have captured it all when you were there—you’ll never do it justice now. You’re not good enough anyway.” The usual gremlin chatter.
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Thankfully, I know how to deal with gremlins. I thank them for their concern, and send them off to get pedicures! 😆
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#doodle #doodlesofinstagram #doodleart #abstractart #doodlebot #creativesandboxway #imperfectionism #originalart #artistsofinstagram #artistsoninstagram #tinyart #makestuff #blackandwhite #dailycreative #dailydoodle

Morning doodle. Another stone doodle inspired by @agneeesskipper’s paintings, which in turn were inspired by photos of rocks.
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This is the true nature of creativity: we are not islands, we are all interconnected. (And aren’t islands connected to each other under water, anyway? 😉) Each of us sends ripples outwards, rarely knowing exactly how far and wide those ripples reach. The one thing that’s certain is that everything you do touches people. And more people than you can ever know.
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#doodle #doodleart #doodlesofinstagram #doodlebot #artistsoninstagram #artistsofinstagram #originalart #dailydoodle #tinyart #abstractart #blackandwhite #dailycreative #creativesandboxway #imperfectionism #tinyanddaily #makeart #makestuff