Got 20 Minutes: Find Creativity

What Could You Create in 20 Minutes?

I'm not saying that you can collage a two page altered journal spread on hand-dyed 100% cotton paper replete with miniature keys dangling from hand spun silk ribbon, but with each 20 minutes you could...

• Write in your art journal, on a background you've prepared; read Slow Journaling Revisited. I journaled these purple pages while my kids were swimming.
• Do an art journal or writing prompt from the numerous Kick-Start Prompts
• Make a PITT pen or neocolor palette.
• Start a mandala. Mandalas en Route was drawn on a plane
• Write in your art journal, on a blank background.
• Doodle mindfully. I doodled these flowers over the course of several days waiting for the kids at gymnastics.
• Test new markers, pastels, pens or neocolors on various notebooks or papers.
• Sketch something you see, a logo, a chair, a wrought iron fence, windowpanes, flowers. Check out Drawing at Starbucks.
• Add a quote or doodles to an art journal page or collage with Sakura gellyrolls or PITT pens. Carry a list of favorite quotes on your ipod or in your purse.
• Color in your doodles or mandalas with gellyrolls or PITT pens.
  
• Practice lines and build hand coordination. See Line Practice: Ideas Squared.
• Listen to music or creative podcasts.
• Do a wicked Sudoku, to improve creativity, focus & logical thinking.
• Transfer a doodle to fabric in preparation for embroidering.
• Embroider one color of a design.
• Make progress on a knitting project.
• Organize thread.
• Write a haiku with info from EDSITEment.
• Get inspired by color at Color Series: Inspired by Blue (also Neutrals, Orange, Pink).
• Write a descriptive paragraph about the room you are in, or a conversation you overhear.
• List your favorite songs, scents, tastes for a future journal page as in Lists: Journal Triggers.
• Read: Life is a Verb: 37 Days to Wake Up, Be Mindful, and Live Intentionally (Digh), An Illustrated Life: Drawing Inspiration from the Private Sketchbooks of Artists, Illustrators and Designers (Gregory).
• Do a journal prompt from Samantha Kira's A Girl and Her Journal.
• Draw a mind map to solve a problem.
• Look for patterns or textures to photograph. Spiral staircase photographed while my kids were in swimming class.

All of these things can be done with minimal supplies, minimal setup, little or no workspace. In a waiting room. In the car. At a cafe. If you can leave a project spread out, you could even make your way through a painting, an art journal page, collage, etc.

You choose. Cross things off your to do list, or recharge your brain and your world by doing something creative. You don't have to do it all at once. Just bit by bit.