I’m going to share with you a cool thing I learned in a workshop given by Nicholas Wilton, the founder of Art2Life. He does a lot of online teaching, from free one-week workshops to the rather pricey Creative Visionary Program. One day I hope to take that course.
Anyway, this latest thing involves a sketchbook that he calls a Bloom Book, and it’s a bit different from a regular sketchbook. I am really loving it this summer. I may have changed it up a bit from what he taught us, but here’s my take on it.
You start with a blank book, 5” x 7” or so, best if it opens flat. Make a list of all the things that light you up, fill you with good feelings, give you joy. These things could be dogs, the sea, the woods, chocolate cake, your best friend or your sister, your kids, grandkids, art, mountains, rain on a tin roof, clouds . . . Write them down on the first page of the book. The list is your little world and that world is your oyster. This list becomes your Table of Contents if you like or you could call it your Happy List. You number the rest of the pages—or not. That is up to you. Obviously, all of this is up to you. It’s your book, after all! For example, you could decorate the cover or leave it as is.
Then, every day you spend 20 minutes or so with the book. First, you pick something from your list, close your eyes, and just let the happy feelings from that thing/person roll through your mind and body. Ahh. So right there you get some happiness. Then you open the book to any two-page spread and start in, with paint or pencils or markers, ink, watercolor, whatever you want. You let those happy feelings pour out of you and onto the pages. You might want to note the date up in the corner of a page and/or a word to remind yourself what you were thinking about when you did it. You can make a note of the page numbers in your Table of Contents, i.e. Happy List. Sometimes I make these notes and sometimes I don’t. Either way, you’re spending 20 minutes on something creative and uplifting.
How do you feel afterward? Really good, as long as you don’t judge what you did. Happy. Free. You feel as if you’ve done something. You’ve done a thing we all crave to do, which is you’ve created something that did not exist before. Don’t poopoo this! It’s big. It’s really big. You’ve added something to the world. You may never show it to anyone but it’s there, it’s new, it’s a personal, creative expression. It is a piece of you.
One more thing. Finally, you might want to glue an envelope onto the inside back cover. You can stick little things in there. You might find cool things on a walk or when you’re just out and about. You’ll spot them because you’ll have your eyes open for them, since you now have a place to put them. I found a butterfly wing on one of my fast walks and I carried it all the way home in my hot, sweaty hand, being so careful; and when I got home, I taped it to a piece of index card and put it in that envelope. I’ve found an assortment of pretty leaves that I also taped to index cards. It’s best to use wide, clear packing tape for these. On the back of the card I might write the date and if it applies, the name of the person I was walking with. You might find a scrap of paper, or someone leaves you a note, or there’s some piece of thing in your junk mail that contains a word or a secret message that you need to have. Or you might hear a word that grabs your fancy, like “skullduggery,” which I saw this morning in a game. You can put all of those flat things in that envelope.
Try it. Just try it. It’s fun and it’s just 20 minutes a day. Yeah. Why not?
“You are too silly to fear the shame of being silly while trying.” - Kangoma Kindembo
“If you don’t try, you forfeit the opportunity.” - Frank Sonnenberg
“If you feel stuck, move. You're not a tree.” - Germany Kent
“Get out there. Run around! And fall too! Nothing like a good cut on your leg to remind you that you have a leg.” - Karl Kristian Flores
Check out Ampersand Cards for my cards and art. If you enjoy these letters, feel free to share. And if someone shared this one with you, click the button below to subscribe for free. You'll find all my poems here. Finally, if you’d like to keep up with my 365 Day Index Card art practice, click here.
Thanks for listening,
Kay
P.S. MerryThoughts is the name of my first book, out of print at the moment. The word is a British one, referring both to a wishbone and to the ritual of breaking the wishbone with the intention of either having a wish granted or being the one who marries first, thus the "merry thoughts."