CHAPTER 1
WARM-UP EXERCISES

Tissue paper painting by Susan Evenson.

We stretch before running and warm up before jumping into challenging yoga postures. It also makes sense to warm up for creative time. These suggested exercises will allow you to transition from busy to calm and help you tune in to creative, open thinking.

You might find yourself doing one or two of these exercises before embarking on a project. Or maybe only one of the exercises resonates with you, and you do the same one each time. There is no right or wrong way to use the exercises, and they aren’t all art projects. But all of them are designed with a similar spirit, intending to help you unwind and get your imagination flowing. As you let go of what the outcome might be, you may find the most creative solutions!

You may see the benefits of this practice throughout your day, as you are constantly problem solving. Remember that these exercises are here for you to play with and to enjoy.

EXERCISE 1
DRAW YOUR GROCERY LIST

YOU WILL NEED:

• sheets of printer paper, any size

• pencil, black Micron pen, or another drawing utensil

• grocery list

• colored pencils or watercolors, optional

This is a playful approach to a very practical thing. We use lists to help us get things done, and they are simple and unemotional. For this exercise, you’ll make an alternative grocery list.

Without using words, fill a page with drawings that illustrate the items on your grocery list. Work from an actual list, a list of grocery staples from memory, or a fantasy grocery list full of things you might like to buy but probably won’t. There is only rule: no words.

Make your list with images. Be as playful as you can with it. Allow your imagination to kick in. As long as you can understand and interpret your list, you are doing great. Draw in pencil or pen, using whatever feels the best to you. Add color if you’d like. Draw like no one is watching! (They aren’t, I promise!)

EXERCISE 2
MAKE YOUR MARKS

YOU WILL NEED:

• sheets of printer or other paper, any size

• graphite and/or colored pencils

• black Micron, ballpoint, felt tip, or brush pens, your choice

• watercolor paints and paintbrushes, optional

This exercise is all about mark making. Choose one pen or pencil and a single sheet of paper and make twenty different kinds of marks on the page. Experiment with long, short, thin, thick, curvy, and straight marks. See what feels pleasurable to draw as well as what pleases you visually. Consider it an experiment for getting everything you can out of that particular pen or pencil.

After you fill the page, start again with a fresh piece of paper and allow yourself to expand your range of drawing tools. Continue exploring the different kinds of marks you can make, but this time switch up your pen every now and then. Experiment with watercolor, playing with the amount of water and size of brush to find out what kinds of brushstrokes you enjoy the most.

Notice how different pens or brushes feel in your hand and what kinds of marks spill out on the page. Play a little bit and see what happens. Do some marks seem to want to be drawn rapidly and repeated often? Do some marks slow you down and make you want to take your time? Enjoy the process of discovery and mark making.

EXERCISE 3
TISSUE PAPER PAINTING

This exercise is simple and relaxing. The finished pages are soft and pleasing to look at the way they are, but you can also use them as backgrounds for drawings or doodles. You may find that you start with your page one way, but end up flipping it around to find the right visual orientation once the tissue paper has been peeled away. Play with different color palettes, different sizes of ripped paper, and any other variable that you’d like to. One note on tissue paper—stay away from tissue paper that has a waxy coating because the color will not bleed onto your background paper.

1 Cut or tear the tissue paper into pieces, but not too small.

2 Put one piece on a sheet of watercolor paper. Brush water over the tissue paper, so that it stays put. Add bits of tissue paper one by one in the same way, overlapping the pieces if you like, until the sheet of paper begins to fill. Notice how the color in the tissue paper bleeds—it can lead to a beautiful effect.

If you’re happy with the piece as it is, call it done! Brushing a layer of matte medium over the piece will protect it and ensure that the tissue pieces stay put. If you want to experiment further, continue to step 3. (See A.)

3 Allow the collage to dry thoroughly. When it’s dry, peel off the tissue paper. It will leave color behind, mimicking watercolor. (See B.)

4 If you like, go back into your creation with a pen and doodle on it. The next time you try this exercise, play around with your color palette. (See C.)

EXERCISE 4
TWENTY-FIVE TREES

Even though this exercise is called Twenty-Five Trees, you can substitute anything for the trees. The project is designed to have you think about something simple in a variety of ways. When you read the word “tree,” one version of a tree probably comes to mind. That will be your starting point. Use this exercise to loosen up and change your way of thinking, or to shift gears, pique your curiosity, and play with an idea.

1 Gather your materials and start doodling on the copy paper. Think of the word “tree” and note what’s in your mind. Draw that tree on your first index card. Use any mark-making materials you’d like, and don’t spend too much time perfecting it.

2 Go back to your copy paper and doodle on it. Now make a new tree on the next index card. It can’t be identical to the first tree. Make this one different. Change the tools you’re using, the size of the tree, the kinds of leaves, and any other details you can imagine.

3 By this time, you’re probably starting to open up, finding funny ways to differentiate one tree from another. Play and invent, drawing until you have twenty-five different trees on your index cards.

4 Turn the cards over and doodle drawings of trees on the other side, or choose another subject for twenty-five drawings. It could be something as simple as a circle or something more complex, such as birds or bugs. Play, explore, and note that making doodles of anything twenty-five times will change your perspective.

Although these are meant to be quick warm-ups, there’s always room for embellishment later. (Add detail to the leaves, draw grass at the base of the tree, and so on.). Or, use what you’ve discovered as a jumping off point for another project. Stay open and see where your doodles take you.

EXERCISE 5
DREAM HOUSE DOODLE

Using your imagination and creativity is easy when you want to fantasize about things that seem somewhat out of reach. Have you ever thought about what your dream home might be like? When money is no object and reality (or even gravity!) is not a concern, what kinds of details can you dream up? Have fun imagining the possibly impossible.

1 Gather your materials and start imagining your dream house. Try to dream up ten different features for your house. They could be specific to you and your habits or something that you saw in a futuristic cartoon—they could be anything. Don’t limit yourself by what is actually possible. Let your mind wander and give yourself endless possibilities. Get silly, get serious, or just let your curiosity rule with “what if?” questions.

2 List your ten dream house details on paper. As you do so, you might make a quick sketch of the details. Fill your pages with words and doodles, all working toward creating your perfect space.

3 You may find that these ideas prompt more detailed drawings or paintings. Explore them on paper if you like. Are you thinking about what your garden looks like? Or what color the house will be? What kind of location and atmosphere surrounds the house? No detail is too small or unimportant.

Have fun with it. This is all for you, and you don’t have to stop at ten features—keep going and be as specific as you like. Your imagination is all you need to shift yourself out of rigid ways of thinking or away from a not-so-great day. Take the time to play and use your openness to explore more doodles and descriptions.