Embrace The Shake

"Embracing a limitation could actually drive creativity."

So often I hear students talking about their limitations:

"I can't do that. I am not good at that. No way, would I ever do that. I don't have the voice, the body, the skills."

But what if we chose to use are perceived limitations to our advantage? What if we focused on the things we felt we weren't good at, and chose to be creative around those very skills. Take a look at this video and meet me on the other side:


"Once I embraced the shake,  I realized I could still make art. I just had to find a different approach to making the art I needed."

So what is your shake? What is holding you back? How can you embrace your limitations to actually help you become more creative? How can you change your view to help you, "move from frustration to anticipation quickly?" 

Share your thoughts on the video or these ideas below. Would love to hear what you have to say.

You can follow Phil Hansen here and here and here oh and here. Imagine that! He has a presence on the internet,

Great Advice about Creativity from Next Door

Don't know what to write, say, share? Ms. G has a great post about creativity to get you going.

It's true. There are days where we can write, create, invent, remix, paint, shoot and develop/manipulate material with no problem at all. We've all had those, right? Where the ideas come pouring in and you can't stop moving your hands and your spirit to arrive at a magnificent piece of art.  A blog post melts on white space like butter on a hot pan.  Paintings emerge effortlessly on the canvas; your vision and reality a complete match. Song lyrics float in the air. Photos speak a thousand narratives just from the light hitting the subject's eyes.  It seems like, when our muses cooperate, the work is easy. When the ideas are within our reach and are overflowing, the process feels like a relaxed day sunbathing by the beach, cold mango smoothie in one hand, an annotated book in the other. 

cc licensed ( BY NC SA ) flickr photo shared by Bill McIntyre  

Be sure to check out the whole post here.  What do you think? How do you get inspired, motived to create?

Caine's Arcade

Not sure how you ended up at this post, you might be in my mentor group or one of my classes or maybe your teacher shared the link, or maybe you are a teacher and your head of grade sent you here. Regardless of how you arrived, let me say welcome.

The story is in three parts and is pretty self-explanatory.Where it goes and how the final chapter plays out depends entirely on your creativity and initiative. Your willingness to do something fun and be a kid again.

Here is part one:

Part two:

You can read more about the project here, but the last part involves you and your creativity, your passion, your drive and need to build and create. It involves your enthusiasm and imagination. I have created an event here. I will not pester you or check up on your or even remind you. I have planted the seed. What will you build? What will you create? How big will this thing get?

You decide if you want to share it with friends and peers on your blogs, on Facebook, Twitter whereever you are online, or if we will simply create and share on our own. I hope at least a few of you begin to build today.

If you are not in my mentor group or any of my classes, please leave a comment stating your interest in  the comment section below. RSVP here and start building. We will all (depending on how many we have) gather on the 5th of October and share our creations.

Will there be one or two kids? Zero? 100? You decide. Good luck. Looking forward to seeing your imagination in cardboard.