Bex Hall

Bex Hall > Creative Education

Creative Education

Father’s Day gifts created in the studio

But Mother still gets some love

Sealed With A Kiss

While my granddaughter visited during this last full moon, she created in the studio. Even though the goal was to make Father’s Day gifts, she wrote the letter about what she learned (because she skipped a day of school) and addressed it to her mother.

She hadn’t heard of Sealed With A Kiss before, so she tried lip gloss and planted a kiss on the envelope, wrote the S.W.A.K., underlined it, then vigorously wiped away the “…yucky lip goo.”

Nail apron art in progress

She chose for her dad a hand decorated nail apron, her Popy a doodle painting, and her Pawpaw a fancy cup holder.

She chose well.

A Father’s Day gift is finished

I love kids. They’re short, highly emotional people who don’t know anything. They rely on their creativity and imagination to get by in the world. A world, I might add, filled with giants. Amazing feat.”

– Arlen Faber, played by Jeff Daniels from the movie The Answer Man

The 7 Permanent Things I Learned Creating Temporary Art

Gel pen art on leaves

After The 100 Day Project ended, I wandered around in the artist’s desert, thirsty and chasing mirages for a week. I sat in the sun and noticed a tuft of weeds in the sidewalk’s crack (because there are sidewalks and lawn chairs in my desert) and my imagination sprouted a tomato under the greenery.

So I grabbed the stash of chalk and got busy.

I drew a pink tomato. It was fun, whimsical, and temporary. I was okay with my work eventually being washed away. There was joy in the creation and that was the kind of day I had.

The next day I penned a message on a banana peel. I knew my husband would throw it away, but I made him laugh and that made me laugh and that was the kind of day I had.

The day after that, I gathered items that caught my eye and arranged them in what I intended to be a mandala, a symbol of my inner journey. It was misshapen and odd, and I knew something would naturally dismantle it. But right then I was present and appreciated everything that brought me to that moment. And that was the kind of day I had.

Then after four straight days of sunshine, I felt the urge to draw a sunflower and jot some thoughts on the whiteboard. I knew I would erase it eventually because that’s how life works: you get rid of the old to make room for the new and I was okay with that. And that’s the kind of day I had.

Today I gathered some leaves and decorated them with gel pen. I had to use a light touch and be gentle. With the leaves and myself and my art, and that’s the kind of day I had.

😊

This, my friends, concludes my exploration with ephemeral art forms and here are:

The 7 Permanent Things I Learned Creating Temporary Art

7. There was no fear or resistance, just playful curiosity.

6. It was a good practice for literally letting go.

5. There’s powerful focus on the present, the now.

4. The option to wipe the slate clean frees creative flow.

3. The process is more important than the quality of the results.

2. Mistakes and imperfection aren’t the end of the world.

1. It positively influenced the kind of day I had. 

😊

May you have a creative flow in whatever you do today. 

xox

It’s not just about creativity

It is about the person you’re becoming while you’re creating

Painted hands

This year for Mother’s Day I had the privilege of assisting my granddaughter, Ellie, with the art she wanted to create for her mom and Nana.

I showed her how to mask and she showed me her tapping-on-the-wet-brush-splatter technique. She experienced the thrill of reveal when peeling tape from the painted canvas and the satisfaction of signing finished artwork.

We belly laughed about the “I have an idea!” comment I made when we saw the light bulb lamp glowing over her head in a photo.

I have an idea!

The hands-as-flowers are for her mom, and she wanted a bigger canvas so she could glue thousands of them to the surface. Because that’s how much she loves her.

She got to feel what it was like to start a canvas with an intention, make additions, work it into something completely different, play with the colors and use different tools.

Mother’s Day handmade flowers

As she brushed and swirled different colors of paint, the canvas became a sea of shimmery aqua. She painted waves and declared it a gift for Nana, who loves the ocean.

She got to feel that process, finish the piece, and then love it. There was no inner critic present. Only the joy from the experience.

Happy Mother’s Day to all who are celebrating. 

It’s not just about creativity, it is about the person you’re becoming while you’re creating.”

—Charlie Peacock

Day 99/100

Enrich what you hear with infodoodling

Visual language format valuable for understanding and recall

Author James Harris Writing Workshop
BBC Upload Festival 2021 Writing Workshop

At a workshop this morning I used Personal Infodoodling to capture content in a visual structure.

The Upload Festival 2021 has writer’s workshops and this morning featured James Harris, author of The Unbelievable Biscuit Factory and winner of the Hachette Children’s Novel Award. He shared tips and advice on how to generate your best creative ideas and bring them to life on the page.

Many more writing workshops are coming up. Visit the BBC Upload Festival 2021 learn more.

And for more about Personal Infodoodling, check out the book The Doodle Revolution by Sunni Brown.

Have a great weekend!

Day 91/100

Good things happen when you show up

Creative life can be your best life

Because of the 100 day project

Today I celebrate 100 days of blogging.

I launched on January 20th, inauguration day, an easy date to remember. In the presidency, the importance of the first 100 days originated with Franklin D. Roosevelt whose swift actions in the first months of his term helped combat the great depression.

I didn’t have a “great depression” to combat when I began this blog. It was more of a not-so-great one.

In my search over the years for the answers to “What am I supposed to be doing here, with my life, for others, just in general—what?” I tried many things with less than stellar results.

What I had not tried was purposefully living a creative life. And why would I when I’ve bought in to the notion creativity is unimportant? Being creative is something reserved for a hobby. It should never be a priority.

How wrong I have been.

I decided on writing a blog. A few days in, I found The 100 Day Project and joined because I knew accountability would help. Through it, I discovered @ElleLuna and signed on for her daily half hour Zoom meetings for the duration of the 100 days. Because I knew doing a project with others would help. Community is important.

I cast a wide net when I set my goals for the project: Show up every day behind the pen, the brush, or the lens and share my work.

And so I did.

Some days were meh, but some were out of this world fantastic. Most were ordinary but extremely satisfying.

I learned when I practice creativity regularly—make it a priority, good things happen. 

Serendipity occurs often. Aha moments become more frequent. Breakthroughs. Flow. Opportunities. Harmony. Peace. Improved health. Increased confidence. More experience. Discovery. A body of work. Community. Connections.

All you have to do is show up.