Looking at Life Through Crazy Glasses

The more I look at the photo above, the more I think I look a little crazy. And, I'm okay with that. 

It was taken a couple of summers ago during a super fun getaway weekend in Breckenridge, Colorado (my home away from home) with my dear friend Jane Baldwin. (Check out her wonderful blog here.) 

We came upon these silly sunglasses while shopping around town and snapped a few pics. 

This photo reminds me that it's so important to get away, spend time with a good friend and embrace that "childish enthusiasm" Fellini mentions.

In her book, Nine Modern Day Muses and a Bodyguard, Jill Badonsky introduces us to Bea Silly, the Muse of Play, Laughter and Dance. According to Badonsky, Bea Silly is the go-to muse when you need to:

~ Relearn how to play, lighten up, release rigid thinking 

and remember how to make creative expression fun

~ Remember and reawaken to the wonder of being a child 

and know the positive implications this has for your creativity

~ Release resistance towards your creative process because:

   A: You just don't seem to want to do it.

or

   B: You feel a childlike power struggle inside you. 

You want to do something creative, but you never  

        actually do.

Any of this sound familiar to you?

If so, I invite you to join me to put on your crazy glasses and tap into your own childlike wonder and enthusiasm today.

Need help getting started? Here are a few prompts to help with that:

~ Think of a creative activity you loved to do when you were a kid. 

Such as: 

* Coloring in coloring books 

* Dancing

* Playing in a treehouse with friends

~ Ask yourself, "What's one easy way I could enjoy that activity or something similar right now?"

For example: 

* Color in a mandala

* Turn on some music and dance

* Doodle plans for your what your dream treehouse might look like now

~ Then ask yourself, "What if I put on my crazy glasses?"

You might: 

* Draw a huge mural on your driveway with sidewalk chalk 

 * Turn on some music and dance ~ in your front yard!

* Create a space in your home (inside or out) that feels like a tree house 

~ Give yourself permission to spend five or ten minutes enjoying your chosen creative pleasure. 

(Remember that ten minutes is less than 1% of your day 

and you deserve to enjoy some creative fun!)

Until next time, all the best from my sometimes crazy Creative Oasis to yours,

Jill

P.S. ~ If you enjoyed this post and would like to receive bite-size bonbons of creative inspiration like this in my Mid-Week Oasis Moments plus a free copy of my e-book "Permission to Be Creative 101" join me here: http://www.creativeoasiscoaching.com/newsletter.html.

5 Quick Questions to Help You "Create the Christmas of Your Dreams"

Click here to take this fun short survey and grab your spot for my free "Warm-Up" teleclass for: 

Click here to take this fun short survey and grab your spot for my free "Warm-Up" teleclass for: 

 Create the Christmas of Your Dreams ~ 

 3-week Teleclass and Support Group 

where I'll help you embrace holiday happiness, 

creative joy and good self-care!

November 19, 2014

1 to 2pm (CST)

(Call will be recorded & shared if you're unable to join us live.)

Take the Hop, Skip, Jump Quiz

I’m so inspired by this spunky new guide by Marney Makridakis, called 

HOP, SKIP, JUMP: 75 Ways to Playfully Manifest a Meaningful Life.  

Click here to watch the short, fun video above introducing the latest book by Marney K. Makridakis, best-selling author of Creating Time and founder of Artella Land.

Click here to take a fun little quiz to see whether your style is Hop, Skip or Jump!

Have fun! 

Until next time, all the best from my Creative Oasis to yours,

Jill

Jill Allison Bryan

www.creativeoasiscoaching.com

p.s. - Because I adore pretty much everything that Marney creates, I'm a proud affiliate of Artella Land and all the creative magic they share with the world! 

Butterflies, Buddha & Beating Myself Up

This week I went back to one of my favorite pages in my Creative Oasis Journal and played with some digital editing tools to create a new look for it.

I revisited this page because it holds a message I need to hear again (and again) and thought maybe some of you could use the reminder as well.

"If your compassion does not include yourself it is incomplete." ~ Buddha

Do you ever find it easier to show compassion to your friends, family and even total strangers than to yourself? If so, you're note alone. 

I invite you to consider using the quote above as your personal Creative Oasis Mantra for the coming week and practice some gentle self-compassion ~ even if it's only 5% more than you might usually.

Rather than continue to beat myself up because I hadn't created a brand new message for this Mid-Week Oasis Moment, I gave myself permission to visit my journal for inspiration and update an earlier MWOM to share with you. That's how I showed myself some compassion ~ now it's your turn.

To help you get started, here are a few compassionate questions to ponder:

~ What's one gentle way you might treat yourself with compassion this week?

~ What's one easy way you might use creativity to do so?

~ What's one small way you might give yourself permission to enjoy five or ten minutes of guilt-free creative play today?

Click here to see the original post including a 15-second instagram video.

Until next time, here's to treating ourselves with complete compassion on our creative journey,

Jill 

Jill Allison Bryan

www.creativeoasiscoaching.com

Put Away Your Credit Card & Boost Your Creative Cred Instead

When was the last time you received a handmade gift or card or even a hand-written note rather than an e-mail or text for that matter?

Do you remember how it made you feel? Pretty darn warm and fuzzy all over, right?

In this age of dashing into a supermarket to buy a gift card at the checkout counter on the way to a birthday party or quickly typing "HBD" on someone's Facebook page rather than taking the time to write a heartfelt message or even better, actually sending a real card by mail (gasp!) it's easy to see why receiving something created by hand feels like you've been given a treasure.

One of the awesome women in my recent "Living the Creative Life" class felt inspired to create lovely handmade presents (see above) for me and the other members of our group to celebrate our last day of class. As you can imagine, we were all absolutely delighted by her thoughtfulness and creativity!

A heartfelt message written on a piece of brown paper 

tied with twine and decorated with

 fresh sprigs of rosemary and lavender ~ 

truly a gift that touched all of the senses

 ~ not to mention our hearts!

How would you like to enjoy a bit of creative play, boost your creative "cred" and make someone's day at the same time? Sounds good, huh?

Why not create and send a personalized postcard to a friend, family member or even to yourself?

The photo above shows some examples of postcards I invite members of my classes and workshops to create at the end of our sessions. They decorate the front of the postcards then write a special message of encouragement or reminders from the class to themselves. At a future date I use my intuition to drop the cards in a postbox so the makers receive a beautiful piece of mail on (hopefully) just the day they really need it. 

Enjoy creating your own special postcards in 5 easy steps!

#1 ~  Click here to download the postcard template I've created.

#2 ~ Print out on an 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of matte card stock then cut in half horizontally. Now you'll have two postcards to create. (Card stock is plenty hefty enough to decorate and send through the mail.)

#3 ~ Embellish the front blank space anyway you like. You may want to cut out images from magazines and use a glue stick to make a simple collage. You may choose to draw or doodle something. You may play with watercolors, crayons or markers. If you're more of a word person, you may want to use only words to decorate your card without any visuals at. 

There's no right or wrong way to do this! The main thing is just to have fun playing with the creative process and materials. 

#4 ~ Write a note to yourself or someone else on the back left side of the postcard. If you're not sure what to write, what if you just copy one of your favorite quotes?

#5 ~ Address your postcards and pop them in the mail! (If you want to send one to yourself why not ask a friend to mail it to you in the future?)

If it sounds like something you'd like to try I encourage you to give yourself permission to dive in and being right now. Just set a timer for ten minutes and go! You'll be amazed at how quickly you'll be enjoying the feeling of creative flow. 

I hope you have fun playing with this low-pressure creative experience. You're sure to brighten anyone's day who is lucky enough to receive your handmade, heart felt postcard!

Until next time, all the best from my Creative Oasis to yours,

Jill

3 Easy Ways to Creative Play Inspired by Mother Nature

As the temps continue to cool down a bit here in Dallas, I find myself drawn more and more to the outdoors. And, while I enjoy my walks and runs in the lovely fall weather, I'm once again inspired by the innate creative brilliance of Mother Nature.

In the same way flowers beautifully bloom 

(without asking anyone's permission), 

swans glide gracefully across the lake 

(without wondering if they're doing it well enough) 

and leaves seasonally change into their autumn colors 

(without second-guessing their choice of hue) ~ 

I invite you to embrace your own creative spirit with that same inherent knowing and ease.  

Here are three quick Creative Oasis prompts using nature's inspiration to help you do just that:

#1 Color Yourself Creative ~ Step outside and take a look around. After scanning your surroundings choose a color in your immediate view that appeals to you. 

Next, set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes and create a color page in your journal or on a blank sheet of paper.  Creating a Color Page is as easy as filling every inch of space with the color of your choice using any creative supplies you like: collage, crayons, pastels, paints, markers or all of the above. 

I love Color Pages because they offer a super low pressure way to play with creative materials. It allows us to put the emphasis on the joy of using our creative supplies rather than worrying about the final outcome. There's no right or wrong way, so you get to dive in and play!

Here's an example from my Creative Oasis Journal. As you can see, even the "rules" of creating a color page are very loose, thus the splashes of gold and other colors on my primarily blue page.

#2 Shoot the Moon ~ or the sun, or the clouds or that spiderweb on your front porch. These days it's easier than ever to take photos with our phones and iThingies. 

Once you snap a shot of some bit of nature that catches your fancy you might choose to add a quote  or play with manipulating the image using a creative app. (Click here for a list of the top 32 photo apps via Creative Bloq.)  

I used the app "Photo Studio" to create the above image combining a quick pic of my Japanese Woodblock calendar and a simple haiku I wrote. It was fun, creatively satisfying and took about 5 minutes to do it all.

#3 Wok Out ~ Take a stroll through the produce section of your grocery store (or better yet, outside at a local farmer's market) and choose a variety of veggies solely on the basis of their color and shape. If you're feeling adventurous include at least one veggie or herb that you've never tried before.

Throw together a colorful stir-fry for dinner enjoying each step...choosing which shape to chop each vegetable...deciding on a sauce...even picking which plate or bowl you'll use to serve up your bright, delicious, nutritious, creative concoction. If you like, it might even be fun to create a special name for your dish as well!

Here's to taking cues from nature and looking for easy ways to add a dash of creative joy to our days!

Until next time, all the best from my nature fueled Creative Oasis to yours,

Jill

Let In The Light With Imperfection

Taos Bell photo by Doug Bryan

Last weekend I had a blast exploring inspiring studio spaces and visiting with some of the super talented and friendly artists on the White Rock Lake Artists' Studio Tour. (Creative Oasis Coaching was once again happy to be a proud sponsor of this fabulous tour.)

One topic that came up over and over was the importance of giving ourselves permission to release the need for perfection in order to move forward creatively and embrace the joy of creative experiences. 

In one studio I even stumbled upon a sign of one of my favorite Creative Oasis Mantras I just shared with my classes last week ~ Perfect Is Boring! One of many cool heemeesheemee experiences this weekend. (My word for all things serendipitous.) 

Hanging in the studio of Rebecca Boatman

I saw several examples of cracked, broken and "imperfect" pieces of glass and found objects assembled into gorgeous mosaic and sculptural pieces. 

Pieces by Cindy Kelley & Angela Gallia

I received a fascinating lesson in the intricate process of creating bronze sculptures from Glo Coalson.

Glo Coalson shares a lesson in the bronze sculpture process

And also enjoyed visiting with one of the founders of the tour, Marty Ray. 

Marty Ray

Marty shared that her new bird pot designs evolved from pinch pots and offer a fun and relaxing way to play with clay and take a break from her more intricate incised and painted story pots shown below.

One of my favorite parts of the tour was meeting some of my neighbors who have studios within walking distance from my house. How cool is that? I so love my funky little creative hood! 

Janet Reynolds of Imagine Studios

One neighbor, Janet Reynolds, has the most inviting, colorful studio space in her backyard and personality to match! 

Betsy Doan of Mud Puppy Studio

Another, Betsy Doan of Mud Puppy Studio, offers a great variety of whimsical yard art and ceramic pieces. 

More from Mud Puppy Studio

by Juli Hulcy-Kessinger of Artquirks

The tour is a wonderful opportunity to meet kindred creative spirits, expose yourself to many different types of creative expression and be reminded of the beauty in imperfection. 

Thank you to everyone who requested a free copy of the Creative Inspiration Guide I created for the tour. I hope you enjoyed the creative permission, prompts and play! 

If you live in the Dallas area, I hope you'll join us in 2015 for the 23rd annual White Rock Lake Artists' Studio Tour! 

In closing, I'd like to share this quote:

“Healthy striving is self-focused: "How can I improve?" 

Perfectionism is other-focused: "What will they think?” 

― Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are

All the best from my far from perfect but very light filled Creative Oasis to yours,

Jill

Butterfly mosaic by Juli Hulcy-Kessinger of Artquirks