Last year I created a little challege for myself and called it #creativeplaymay. 

 

I really enjoyed my 15 minutes a day of art time last year so I am doing it again. No goal, just some time to get a bit messy, play with some art supplies and not care about the outcome. Here is a bit of what it looked like. Kind of messy and really random.

 

 

Maybe something will come of it, bad or otherwise, but that is not the point. What I know is that a little time of moving paint or pencil or pastel around for some intuitive mark making without judgement feels like freedom.

2.

Set a timer. Make some marks. Feel better.

 

 

Maybe your marks are in the form of writing or stitching or knitting or gardening. What ever is calling to you, choose what kind of daily practice will support you. A suggestion though, if you are resetting or are already busy or have lots of thoughts about how you can't or shouldn't, make your practice so small and easy that it would be hard not to do it. For me that is 15 minutes but 5 works too as does 60. You get to say. 

 

Let's be real. Times being what they are do any of us really need to make cultivating some creative joy another task or stretch goal? 

 

If there is some kind creativity you want to bring into your days let's do it together in May.

 

I'll be posting the results of my 15 minutes on Instagram again. Come join me if you want. Of course you don't have to post anything to social media. No one needs to see or even know about it. But if sharing feels okay to you, here's your invitation. Tag me @sandidavis4 and that way I can see what you are up to and give you some likes and encouragement.

 

Someone asked me why I post my not so great and flat out bad art. I answered that it makes me feel brave. It reassures the frightened parts of me it is ok to show the not perfect things. It helps release perfectionism and honor experimentation. It also send a message that art is about practice not product. Bonus, and this was a such a surprise. Other people often see things in my owrk I don't. Things I don't like they see as interesting or even dare I say it, good. Others love seeing our learning and work in progress. They love being able to see our creativity. And they love encouraging it.

 

I'll also be sharing sharing some deeper reflections on the process on Patreon too. You can join at one of the support levels or follow for free and see public posts. Last year I worked on 5x8 pieces of paper and bright pink showed up each day. I wonder what this year will bring.

 

I made cornbread cookies twice this week. Just another kind of mark making.

 

I made one batch to share and one just for us. They are delicious. Highly recommend. If you try them know that I needed to add just a bit of milk

to the dough, like a just a tablespoon maybe, to get it to come together. You may not.