🧠🎨Community and Corporate Creative Mental Health Care 📚 Studying Mental Health + Neuroscience. Permission to Play Members Community - Join Now. Artist/Designer/Mentor ❤️💛🖤 Meanjin
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Freedom? Plus a simple creative permission prompt
Published about 2 months ago • 5 min read
Wrapping up March
A simple procrastination play piece that got me through a work afternoon of admin. Play to the rescue!
Last week, I shared an Instagram story while I was at the mechanic’s having my car serviced.
I had created a little something in my sketchbook while I was waiting. It was in response to the weekly prompt we had for the Permission to Play group about visualising the flow of our month of March, and I discovered that, as I followed the ups and downs of the month, it eventually evened out. A lovely reflective activity that helped me find perspective and look back on the month that was.
Later that evening, I received a reply to my Insta story from one of my all-time favourite hand-lettering and type-design artists. Someone whose work I have always admired for their strict adherence to detail, and while we say in this space that perfection doesn’t exist, her work is pretty darn close IMO. She’s an artist who has consistently been dedicated to her craft, and it shows in her mastery of calligraphic letterforms and script.
This same person, replied to my story saying, “ I am always so jealous of how much freedom you seem to have in your work!!!”
To get this reply to my story, initially, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. The imposter in me thought:
“Does she think I am chaotic, messy, random?”
“Is this a compliment or a comment on my imperfection?”
Then the rationalising self-talk came in and said:
“Well there you go, perhaps people who work hard on their craft still feel restricted by rules, boundaries and constraints.”
“Maybe all the work I have done to express myself through my art and play DOES show up as freedom.”
“Maybe I have hit the jackpot with being able to share my creative work even when it isn’t masterful and “perfect”.”
Reader, all this to say, we can never truly know what a person is looking for, seeking or searching for, and we can never truly know how someone will interpret or understand our creative work. That is why sharing ourselves through our art is so essential.
And just as this idol of mine may have felt some restriction through her pursuit of artistic perfection, we now collectively face external restrictions, too. With new laws emerging in Australia this last fortnight, challenging artistic expression, it is more vital than ever to show up creatively, not despite the constraints, but to reclaim our humanity against them.
Reader, if you are looking for something to do to get moving with your self-expression, I invite you to try the permission prompt I shared with our community last week.
Permission prompt - give it a go!
As we close out March, I invite you to trace the rhythm of your month. Start by looking at your calendar and try to remember how the days flowed into the weeks that made up the month. Represent this month with a line, a shape, or whatever feels right to mark the rhythm for YOU.
This exercise was very therapeutic and reminded me of life's complexity and how zooming out can bring a sense of calm. After I drew my lines in black, I filled in some colours at the bottom with the random pencils I had in my pencil case at the mechanics! I invite you to interpret this however you see fit, and feel free to share a photo, tag me, or reply to show me what you did! I always love to see!
Current Reads
I just completed one physical book and one audiobook, both from the local library (I freaking LOVE the library).
I really enjoyed Doom and Bloom by Campbell Walker. It followed a lot of my own thoughts about utilising creativity to support mental wellbeing and how it’s integral to all of us. I loved how the book connected the seasonal cycle with creativity, encompassing the hibernation and then the blooming of ideas, and how we can nurture our creativity the same way we nurture our gardens to grow.
Perhaps this book resonated deeply with my own art practice. I just shared this painting I did last week on social media, inspired by human kindness and blooming. On reflection, perhaps I was subconsciously inspired by the book's idea of growth.
This is the painting I worked on.
The other book I completed was The Runaway Species by Anthony Brandt and Daniel Eagleman. This one caught my eye as it was a book on creativity from a neuroscience perspective, and I am always drawn to these.
I enjoyed this discussion of art and innovation, and the book uses a three-pronged framework to examine creativity throughout human history. The blending, bending, and breaking of existing ideas are how the authors draw connections to new ideas. Not completely abstract ideas so much as building blocks on what came before. An example heavy book on innovation and famous artworks but with some key takeaways on ways to nurture ideas and draw from our complex lived experience to form novel creative solutions.
Both books emphasise the importance of play and of building confidence in our ability to identify new “seed” ideas and nurture them.
Do you have a book recommendation you would like to share to the newsletter? Reach out and let me know if you want to share something to the community!
What's next?
If you have made it to the end, thank you.
I hope this email finds you content and okay. There is so much happening in the world, it’s hard to hold it all. I hope, wherever this lands with you, Reader, that you know you are not alone. If you are feeling a little lost, I encourage you to move your body even briefly and then create some marks on a page, doodling, writing or even colouring in. All these small acts are nourishing for your mental health and can shift a difficult mood, even a little.
If you are looking to connect with others that get you, get that you want a better world, get that you want to play and create, then headover to the Permission to Play page and sign up for a free trial, no obligation.
I live and work on the traditional lands of the Jaggera and Turrabal First Nations People. I honour and respect this Country and the Elders, past, present and emerging and thank them for their continued care.
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So, look at you, all the way down the bottom of the page… a quick note here to say that I only want to send you things you are interested in. I respect your time and attention. While I really don't want to see you go, I also understand if this info is no longer for you, and you need a break. If that is the case, don't hesitate to Unsubscribe from all emails, I'll cry a little, BUT all emotions are valid so its AOK. You can also just Update your profile | THANKS!! Spinkbrae Street, Fig Tree Pocket, QLD 4069
Delphie Joy
Come, let's play!
🧠🎨Community and Corporate Creative Mental Health Care 📚 Studying Mental Health + Neuroscience. Permission to Play Members Community - Join Now. Artist/Designer/Mentor ❤️💛🖤 Meanjin
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