Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post, or sent private messages and emails. I clearly hit a nerve! The thoughts I shared went into a newsletter, which became a blog post. It seems I’m definitely not alone in needing frequent reminders to (re) carve out sacred creative sandbox playtime, completely disconnected from commerce and obligation. 🙂
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Of course I know this. It’s why I’ve been blogging and podcasting all these years. It’s why I wrote my book. I’ve just been so focused on other things lately, my attention has not been on being a professional creativity instigator! It felt nice to do THAT for fun again, disconnected from commerce or obligation! How meta… 😉
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Anyway, here’s a doodle I made just now, purely for play.
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Never fear: I’ll get back to sharing sketchnotes and videos again soon. Pure play is also important, though. Don’t ever forget that!
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#doodle #dailydoodle #dailycreative #dailyart #imperfectionism #letitbecrappy #artistsofinstagram #artistsoninstagram #doodlesofinstagram #tinyart #abstractart #doodleart #creativesandboxway #creativeplay #pigmamicron

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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#backonthewagon #doodle #dailydoodle #dailycreative #dailyart #imperfectionism #letitbecrappy #artistsofinstagram #artistsoninstagram #doodlesofinstagram #tinyart #abstractart #doodleart #creativesandboxway #creativeplay #pigmamicron

One of the great joys of Creative Sandbox Retreats is the creative catalyzing sessions we have every morning after breakfast, to get out of our heads and into our bodies. We play improv games and laugh like crazy, which confuses our gremlins, so they wander off, so we can get down to work! One of the games we did this time is called “hashtag.” It’s a variation of “proverbs,” which is basically a word-at-a-time statement, but when the statement is done, the next person says “hashtag,” and the person after that comes up with a hashtag to sum up the statement (er.. tweet?) This was one of our favorites, which had me doubled up laughing for several minutes! 😂
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When we play “proverbs,” the rule is we must stand in a tight circle, and tap our fingers together sagely. When we play “hashtag,” we’ve decided the rule is we must hold our hands in front of us and move our thumbs as if we’re tapping our a tweet on our phones. 😄 We LOVE Playing this game!
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These posters will go into a folder to be pulled out and put on the wall at the next retreat, September 11-15, 2019. (There’s still room for one more if you’d like to join us: link in profile or visit http://bit.ly/2y1M5At)
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#creativesandboxretreat #neulandmarkers #tombowdualbrushpens #handlettering #fun #letitbecrappy #imperfectionism #improv

Good news! I don’t have to redo the entire thing!!! I was able to create a section that I think I can Photoshop in, saving me from a complete redo. #whew .
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#artistslife #creativesandboxretreat #visualfacilitation #graphicfacilitation #visualnotes #graphicrecording #sketchnotes #sketchnote #sketchnoting #sketchnotearmy #graphicrecorder #visualthinking #neulandmarkers #pigmamicron #visualbio

Well, I decided to redo the whole thing. Not because of the spelling errors and smears—those I could have cleaned up in Photoshop—but because I decided to add some icons. So here is the latest iteration of my visual bio for my consultancy website.
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And NOW it’s time for bed. 😊
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#creativesandboxretreat #visualfacilitation #graphicfacilitation #visualnotes #graphicrecording #sketchnotes #sketchnote #sketchnoting #sketchnotearmy #graphicrecorder #visualthinking #neulandmarkers #pigmamicron #visualbio