How to Gain Momentum for Your Creative Work
German filmmaker Wim Wenders defined creativity as “obsessive problem-solving.” When I read this definition of creativity, I felt so seen, you too? My creative projects always border and sometimes trip over the edge of obsession. I get an idea, get started, which spurs 20 more ideas that I ALSO must DO RIGHT NOW!! For some, […]
Intro to Visual Literacy
If you love art, art history, and problem-solving and haven’t already, Fixed. How to Prefect the Fine Art of Problem-Solving, by Amy E. Herman, I highly recommend checking it out. German filmmaker Wim Wenders defined creativity as “obsessive problem-solving.” There are A LOT of definitions of creativity, and this one ranks high on the lists […]
Summer Camp Curriculum Done for You
This is the first summer in a long time that I’m not teaching any classes or running summer camps, and that’s because I’ve shifted to creating books, that are going to make it easier for you to teach a summer camp. If this is your first summer giving camps a try or you’re a seasoned […]
How to Bring Your Creative Book Idea to Life
I talk to a lot of people that have dreams of writing a book, but that’s where the dream ends, because they don’t feel like pitching publishers, but also find the steps to figure out how to self-publish overwhelming. That was me. Until, I committed to figuring it out, and now 10 books later, I’m […]
How to Illustrate a Children’s book?
If you enjoy drawing, making images, or even looking at children’s books, it’s probably crossed your mind at least once, that it would be fun to create a book of your own, but then you realize all of the things that you would need to learn in order to make this happen, and move onto […]
Why You Should Experiment More
I was repotting plants and heard myself say several times, “Let’s try this.. we’ll run an experiment.” Yes, I talk to myself A LOT, but more importantly, I realized how often I tell myself that I’m running an experiment. Experiments give permission to fail When you’re doing an experiment, you have permission to fail, that’s […]
The number one mistake that you’re making when working on projects
In class one of my students asked, “my friends and I want to study art in college, but how do we know if we’ll be able to handle all of the work.” This is a really good and common question that I get from high school students, and the answer is, that you need to […]
End of the Year activities made easy
How the Bear Met the Bee is a children’s book about chance encounters. The book was written and designed both for kids to love and for parents and teachers to use as a teaching tool. The book comes with 7 activities that prompt children to draw, spell, reflect on movement, and move their bodies, making […]
How to Create and Use an Idea Generation Chart
Adding Constraints When you’re trying to solve a problem or develop an idea, it can help if you add constraints. Constraints focus your thinking and can speed up the ideation process. Some examples of constraints are time, materials, or size. You can also use constraints to stretch and shrink the problem you’re trying to solve. […]
How to Use Word Association to Generate Ideas
You might have played word association games as a kid. You say a word and think of other words that it reminds you of. Or you look at an object and think of all of the words that come to mind. Word association can be a playful game; it can also help generate ideas. Word […]