Recipe Book
The creative process can feel elusive. How do I get from here to there? If I close my eyes and try to envision the end result, I start to see something, but it feels often blurry.
Do I need it to be clear? Do I need to know precisely what I want before I can make it? What happens if I just show up and see what happens?
Not knowing feels scary, and yet the thrill of the unknown is the very thing that drives our creativity. What happens if I do this? What happens if I add that?
This is how we re-learn PLAY.
Let’s begin by setting the stage. You’ll gather a few ingredients that pique your interest and then we’ll see what happens when we mix them all together. Let it rip!!
Gather Your Ingredients
What can’t you stop thinking about? Even if it’s something shitty or sad or weird. What can’t you stop thinking about? What have you been fixated on? Whatever this is, it’s a part of you. And you can bring that into this—even if it doesn’t make sense.
Here are a few questions to keep the wheels turning…
What’s inspiring me right now?
What am I curious about?
What feels true?
What is alive for me right now?
What has been catching my attention?
What is making smile?
What do I miss?
What do I desire more of?
What do I wish I had the time to explore?
Use these answers as you go searching for your ingredients. I’m going to ask that you provide a few in the form below. Gathering more is up to you—this part can go as big, deep, or wide as you’d like.
Or, keep it simple and sincere!
Either route is acceptable.
Remember: there is no wrong way!
This is PLAY!
ANYTHING CAN BE AN INGREDIENT.
A COLOR, A TEXTURE, A PICTURE, PLACE, OBJECT OR MEMORY. A SONG.
SOMETHING NICE THEY SAID, SOMETHING THAT HURT YOU, SOMETHING YOU WANT TO REMEMBER. AN ANIMAL YOU LOVE, A PLANT YOU SAW, A PERSON YOU KISSED, A CITY YOU DREAM OF. A FEELING. A DREAM. SOMETHING YOU WANT TO LET GO OF.
You have the freedom to…
TAKE YOUR TIME! LIGHT A CANDLE!
PUT ON SOME MUSIC!
EXPAND TO YOUR HEART’S CONTENT!
MAKE IT YOURS <3
THIS IS NOT A TEST. IT WILL NOT BE GRADED. IT IS NOT A CONTRACT YOU MUST SIGN. IT IS NOT A DECLARATION OF HOW EXACTLY YOU WANT YOUR PICTURES TO LOOK. FORGET THAT PART AND TRY TO HAVE SOME FUN. ALSO, YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR MIND. YOLO.
Share your ingredients here (but read this first).
Please smash that send button at least 24 hours before our meeting. If you can send it sooner, even better. This gives me the chance to soak in what you’ve poured your heart into!
Don’t send me a Pinterest board. I’m begging you. Instead, use https://milanote.com/ or anything else. If you want to make a doc and send it over e-mail to hello@joy-newell.com that works too.
Just because we’re on our phones all the time doesn’t mean this has to stay there. Get physical with it! Use your hands! Scan it or send me a pic if you prefer. Get weird, get messy, let it not be perfect, let it not make sense.
“Why do you keep calling it a SpringBoard?”
because mood boards stress me out. I don’t want to go and find stuff that looks like what I want to make. I want to gather ingredients that remind me of a place I’d like to start.
WE MAKE THE RULES!