Meandering. What your pen will do if you give it free rein.
#doodle #doodlesofinstagram #originalart #blackandwhite #pigmamicron #abstractart #creativesandboxway #tinyanddaily

What happens if you just let your hand (or voice, or foot, or whatever part of you is doing the actual creating) take control? As if it were a horse you were riding, and you just let go of the reins?

Have you ever tried that?

If you’ve been trained in most “classical” traditions, this is SCARY! And utterly contrary to what you’re probably used to.

It’s at the heart of improvisation, though. And at the heart of my own Creative Sandbox practice, because it’s what PLAY is all about. The kind of play you used to do when you were two years old.

No concerns about doing it “right” or living up to some standards of excellence or perfection–just GO!

What emerges is not always beautiful (though sometimes it may astonish you with its beauty). The outcome of each individual creation is not important.

Over time, though, what you will discover in a body of work created in this fashion will likely teach you more about yourself and your voice than you ever thought possible.

Small, daily acts. Tiny and daily. Add enough of them together and it will change the course of your life.

#morningphilosophy #originalart #doodleart #doodlesofinstagram #tinyanddaily #creativesandboxway #pigmamicron #blackandwhite #abstractart

Small daily actions. That is what will build creative confidence. That is what will grow a body of work. That is what will create profound change.

Small daily actions.

If you’ve practiced meditation for any length of time you’ve experienced this.

This is how world-changing movements grow.

A “tiny and daily” creative practice is the same. Each individual effort may seem insignificant. Day to day, it may even feel pointless.

But eventually you turn around and you’ve created something that wasn’t there before.

And you realize that you are a different person than you were before.

All from small daily actions.

What small action will you take today?

#creativesandboxway #workinprogress #doodlesofinstagram #originalart #hope #progress #circles #connection #derwent #inktense #tinyanddaily #smalldailyactions

What’s been most surprising to me about my #creativesandbox doodle practice is how spiritually illuminating it is.
I learn so much about myself through this simple, “tiny and daily” practice of putting pen to paper!

When I follow my Creative Sandbox Guideposts and remember that there is no wrong (Guidepost #1), and just approach the marks with curiosity, asking “What if..?” (Guidepost #5), I am often surprised and delighted by what emerges.

It’s a “voice” I would not have recognized as my own if you could somehow go back in time and show it to me ten or twenty years ago.
The younger me might even think it weird or ugly!

But present time me is intrigued. Curious. And delighted.

THAT is the zone of the Creative Sandbox.
And when you give yourself the space to create in the Creative Sandbox regularly, even if it’s just for a few minutes, over the span of days and weeks and months something starts to shift.

Your relationship with your creativity, and with yourself as a creator, morphs back to something more primal. How it used to be.

The distance between you and your creative spirit becomes smaller, until you are one again, the way you were when you were born.

THAT is what we are all seeking after all, don’t you think?

THAT is the true definition of living a full-color creative life.

And the beautiful thing is that it’s within your grasp.
You don’t need expensive tools or fancy equipment. Just a tiny and daily practice and a small commitment.
It’s that simple.

Not always easy, for sure, but simple.

What do you think?

#creativesandboxway #originalart #doodleart #doodlesofinstagram #pigmamicron #blackandwhite #intuitiveart #creativepractice #tinyanddaily #creativity #fullcolorlife #creativelife #joy

And now for something completely different. Random, abstract–today’s #crappydoodle.

What’s a crappy doodle? It’s when you truly jump in the #creativesandbox and LET IT BE CRAPPY.

Because the biggest barrier to most creators is simply not letting ourselves make crap! In other words: perfectionist paralysis.

Remember: we need the crap to fertilize the good stuff!

Besides, just because you ALLOW yourself to create crap doesn’t mean you will; it just means you’ll create!

In my book, The Creative Sandbox Way, in the chapter on Guidepost #4, “Think Tiny & Daily,” I include spaces to make a “crappy doodle” every day for a week.

Why?
Because when the bar is set so low, it gets you to actually DO IT!

Setting a goal to make an *amazing* doodle, or even a *good* doodle, can be paralyzing. But a crappy doodle? Heck, ANYONE can do that!

And once you do it, you can immerse yourself in the business of *enjoying* it. You might even discover that you like what emerges (but don’t worry about that–the outcome is secondary. If you take care of the quantity, the quality will take care of itself over time. ?) Will you create something crappy today?

#sketchbook #originalart #doodle #doodleart #abstractart #blackandwhite #pigmamicron #doodlesofinstagram #workinprogress #creativesandboxway