Detail shot of #blackandwhite #workinprogress. I don’t know where these shapes come from, but they continue to delight me!
#originalart #morningswithmelissa #morningart #abstractart #pigmamicron #pittartistpen #creativesandbox #livingacreativelife #fullcolorlife #gogetcreating #makeart #doodlewithdinwiddie #doodleart #doodling

20 minutes of doodling and I’m charged up for the day.
One of my #creativesandbox101 participants is doing a drawing a day and calling it #MorningsWithMelissa, which delights me to no end! ?
The goal? Just DO something. For the joy of it–not to impress anyone, but because it feeds you.

It has taken me decades to take the reins back from my Perfectionist Gremlin and my Critic Gremlin, so I can play again. WOW, what a difference it makes when you allow yourself to make crap!

Allowing yourself to create crap doesn’t mean you *will*, but it does mean you’ll create! And THAT makes all the difference!

#gogetcreating #workinprogress #originalart #pittartistpen #blackandwhite #abstractart #creativesandbox #fullcolorlife #livingacreativelife #morningart

In transit much of the day, but by gum, I’m gonna get a #dailydoodle in if it kills me! I usually doodle first thing in the morning lately, but we had to catch a plane, so it’s right before bed tonight. Whatever works, baby!
#doodlewithdinwiddie #creativesandbox101 #originalart #blackandwhite #abstract #abstractart #pittartistpen #livingacreativelife #fullcolorlife #creativesandbox

Plain, old, silly doodling fun. I brought my markets and sketchbook to L.A., and by gum, I doodled! It was either that or take a nap, and I didn’t want to stop my streak. ?
Sometimes silly is exactly what the doctor ordered. And since today is Day 1 of Creative Sandbox 101, silly felt entirely appropriate.
#originalart #doodles #dailycreating #makestuff #havefun #makeitfun #creativesandbox #fullcolorlife #livingacreativelife #creativesandbox101 #silly #handlettering

Close-up shot of some of my #pigmamicron work. This is what keeps me at it when the detail work is so time-consuming: I’m not executing a pre-planned design–it’s still pure improvisation.

Execution/production bores the hell out of me. I like CREATING, making stuff up–the “Insight Phase” of the creative process.

This is why so much of my work is improvisational these days. I’ve figured out that for me, THIS is where the juice is. So I intentionally choose to work in a way that as much as possible can be spontaneous.

This is the key to staying happy and satisfied with your work: figure out what feeds you, and design your work to THAT.
If your thrill is in the execution, reverse engineer so that you can spend as much of your work time as possible in refinement, expansion, and production.

Or if, like me, production makes you want to gouge your eyes out from boredom, set things up so that you can spend as much of your work time as possible in insight mode.

Once again my Golden Formula proves true:
Self-awareness + self-compassion = the key to everything good.

Self-awareness is understanding what floats YOUR boat, vs what sucks you dry. And self-compassion is accepting yourself for how your wired, and giving yourself what feeds you best, with love.

#originalart #doodleart #detailshot #blackandwhite #pittartistpen #pigmamicron #abstractart #selfcompassion #selfawareness #livingacreativelife #fullcolorlife #dailycreating #makestuff #havefun #makeitfun