Take the Scenic Route: Exploring Creativity Through Road Trips

Timothy Kimo Brien
00:00:04

Create Art Podcast Commentary Take the long way home. Hello friend.

This is Timothy Kimo Brien, your head instigator for Create Art podcast where I use my over 30 years of experience in the arts and education world to help you tame your inner critic and create more than you consume. So we're in 2025 and we're continuing on with our Make Fun a Habit series.

And what that is is it's based on the book Make Fun a Habit by Mike Brennan, who I actually interviewed on my other podcast, Find a podcast about. And he has his podcast which is called Creative Chats.

Basically what this is, it's a 30 day book and it has helps you put the fun back in your creativity. And how it's set up is just like this.

Each day in the book, which is a chapter, he tells you a little bit of a story based on the idea of that chapter.

And then he gives you questions to think about, tips to go ahead and do, and then action items that you can try out and hopefully it puts some fun back in your creative practice. I was so impressed with this, I decided I'm going to do all of the chapters as they're each as their own episode.

So that's what I'm doing here for you. Now, if you're new to the show, welcome aboard. But that's what I'm doing in this series.

Now naturally I'll be interspersing interviews and other projects throughout the year, but so far, right now we are at chapter 19. If this is your first time listening to this, the other chapters, the other episodes are, you know, coming out every other week.

So you can go back through the back catalog and check that out for yourself.

So with this chapter, chapter 19, which is title of Take the Long Way Home, was really intrigued by it because, well, I'm not huge into astrology, but I am a Sagittarius. I was born in December. So Sagittariuses are wandering people. We like new things, we like to explore new things.

And he was telling a story of his mom and he went out just kind of on a road trip, no particular place to go. And they found a lot of great things on their trip home. And he used that for his creativity, for his artistic practice.

So this is something that I highly recommend, taking these kind of road trips with no particular place. You know, grabbing a map, throwing a dart at it and go to that place and explore it.

You know, I can't think of a better kind of trip where you don't know what's going to Happen you. You know, a lot of times we are very regimented in our vacations and in our explorations.

Sometimes we just need to, you know, throw caution to the wind and go out there. And maybe it's, you know, you don't go halfway across the country for it. Maybe you just start with your own town where you live.

Myself, I live in Fredericksburg, and there is a ton of Civil War history and Revolutionary War history right here in this town. So definitely there's a lot for me to explore that I've lived here for 11 years, 12 years that I haven't explored.

And I should just, being a Sagittarius, I should be exploring out in the local area that I'm at. So that's something that I'm going to be working on here in 2025. And I've lived in many other places.

I lived in Rockford, Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, Abilene, Texas, Richmond, Virginia. I lived in Carbondale, Illinois. And, you know, I lived in Mombasa, Kenya for a few months when I was in the Air Force.

So exploring around, finding things that other people can't see is a form of creativity. And a lot of times it's going to spark your imagination and your inspiration.

So if you're stuck with something, and you know how I feel about, you know, writer's block or artist's block, just step outside your door and go find something in your neighborhood, in your town, your city, the state that you're in. If you're outside of the United States, you can do the same thing, explore your country.

And you're going to have a ton of inspiration that is just begging for you to throw it down on a canvas or throw it down on a page, or maybe you're a dancer and you are inspired to create a dance for all the little towns or cities or your neighborhood that you're in. So let's go ahead and jump into the assignment, which we always start off with the questions.

And the first question is, what kind of experiences are you hoping to have? And that's in relation to, you know, the journey that you want to take on. And I look at it this way. I'm not expecting anything.

You know, if something comes of it, great. If nothing comes of it, it's an experience. The journey in and of itself is an experience.

It reminds me of a book by Saul Williams that I have, I believe it is said the Shotgun to the Head or one of his books. And I actually got to meet Saul Williams, who is a musician, artist, performance, poet, activist, and in the book he wrote to me, enjoy the journey.

And I, you know, and then he obviously signed his name to it. And I've kept that book for all these years. And that's kind of a mantra that I live by, being a Sagittarius. Enjoy the journey.

And I know I said I'm not really into astrology, and I'm not, but I do take that to heart.

The whole going on a journey, exploring, never sitting in one place for too long, because if we sit in one place too long, that can cause us to stagnate. If we're sitting in our studios all the time and not going out and reaching our neighbors, then what are we doing?

So the next question is, what are some of the places you have always wanted to visit? Oh, boy, do I have a list.

So when I was a kid, for some reason, I always wanted to go to Tokyo, Japan, because I loved, you know, seeing the comic books and the anime that was coming out of there. And I always thought, you know, hey, this is such a foreign place. I'll be, you know, so out of place here.

And, you know, just to soak all that in, soak all that culture and soak all those experiences in. That's someplace that I've always wanted to go. Another place, which a lot of people find weird is I want to go to Turkey.

I want to go to Istanbul, because there is so much rich history there that we don't really know about or we're not taught about here in the United States. So I think it would just be a great time to go there and check out Istanbul. You know, it's just one of those things that I want to go.

I want to get on a plane and go right now and just explore and, you know, find out if they've got a coffee shop. Find out if they have a record store. I'm getting ready to go on a work trip to El Paso. I've been there once when I was in the Air Force, but.

And then one time I was there on a bus trip to Phoenix, and we stopped there for a few hours, and I didn't really do anything there. So I'm excited to go to El Paso in a couple of months here and check out their scene.

You know, the coffee shops, the record stores, bookstores, all that kind of stuff. So that's a place that I'm going to go, definitely visit, and I'll report back to you on what I found.

All right, the last question is, have you heard about local hidden gems and where are they? So here in Fredericksburg There's a lot of local hidden gems that are, you know, within an hour of the actual town that I live in itself. And there's.

There's art fair up in the Occoquan and Crozette, and I definitely want to check those art fairs out. I haven't done it yet, But I think 2025 is the perfect year to do it. You know, why not? I been here 11, 12 years now.

So let's go definitely check that out. There's also the battlefields that are just right outside of town, and those are the Revolutionary War battlefields.

So I definitely would like to go check those out because I have a good buddy of mine, Kyle Bondo, who's a big Civil War and Revolutionary War history buff and who also helped me, you know, really get serious about podcasting. And he's gone through all those fields, and I really regret the time that I did not go with him on those.

So definitely I want to check that out for myself and for my kids to let them know, you know, the cool place that they live at. I believe it was maybe a year or two ago that my kids got to go on a field trip to Jamestown here in Virginia. I've never been to Jamestown.

I've heard about it, never really been. And that's, you know, about an hour, two hour ride. And I definitely would love to go check that out.

They didn't have a great time because it was a lot of history, a lot of walking around, and they weren't really interested in it. But I would definitely like to go and give it a shot for myself.

And then there's Williamsburg, which is just another couple hours away from our house. And they have what's called Colonial Williamsburg, where, you know, everyone dresses up in the old garb and all that kind of jazz and.

And, you know, has a good time with that and teaches history and all that. So I would love to check that out for myself. Maybe I will. And I will let you know via this podcast what I find.

Okay, so Mike, for his action items, has one action item, and that is play the Take the Long Way home game.

Basically, what that is is you and a buddy grab a map and, you know, pick a place and go there and just explore wherever that is, and then write about your experiences or somehow record those experiences and just do things that you wouldn't normally do in a place that you've never been to. And the great thing about it is you have a buddy there with you to go on that trip and to just, you know, for Safety reasons.

It's good to have a buddy and, you know, just to have somebody there to help you be a little bit more bold. Because sometimes when we're in a new place, if we have a friend there with us, then it's a lot easier to be there.

You have somebody to talk to and somebody to share the experience with versus just going by yourself. Myself, I'm more of a solo kind of traveler, but I think that would be a great idea for me to do.

Whether it's just, you know, whether it's with my wife and my kids or with a friend or two here, definitely, you know, that's something that I need to do. So give that a shot for yourself and let me know what you decide to do. Okay. So he ends off with about six tips here. They're pretty easy.

It's all visiting local places. So he suggests visiting local parks and gardens, local museums and art galleries. And art galleries have had a kind of a big resurgence.

I know here in Fredericksburg, we have what's called first Fridays and the first Friday of the month. And a lot of towns have this. The galleries are open late. The artists are there.

You can look at their works, talk to the artists, you know, and you might get some inspiration just from looking at other people's art or talking to other artists. And it's a great way to get to know your local artist.

So if you're practicing, you know, if, like myself, we all know that I am horrible at watercolors. I turn out mud. But very easily.

I could go to one of these art galleries and seek out somebody that specializes in watercolor and go, hey, can you teach me how to not make mud anymore? I'd really appreciate that. I'll pay for lessons, but can you help me out with that? That's something I am interested in. There you go.

If you're having some problems with the art that you're creating, why not go and use those opportunities to seek out people that could help you out? Some other tips he has is to go to local shops and restaurants. Yeah. Support local as much as you can.

You know, the big box stores and the, you know, the big corporations, they've got enough money. And the chain restaurants, they've got enough money. They don't need your money. It's the local mom and pop stores that need your money. So go for it.

Another idea is going on local hiking trails. Again, I bring up Kyle Bondo. He's a huge hiker and biker.

And, yeah, I really should have gone on a lot of trips with him, but unfortunately I did not. But definitely go, you know, a hiking trail. All you need is shoes and some clothes, and there you go and somewhat of a sense of direction.

So don't get lost in the hills, because unless you're, you know, listening to this podcast, and then you can go ahead and get lost in the hills and just follow my voice back to your car. A couple more things is local festivals and events.

I know here in our town we have a lot of events and festivals, so definitely check out your area there where you're at. Again, you're getting out in public. You may bump into somebody that is interested in the art that you're doing.

You may bump into people that have bought your art, whether it be a book or a painting or whatever it is. You'll run into those people. Or you may run into people that are doing the same thing that you're doing, and you build your community that way.

Or you just go and have a good time and have some fun. Then the last tip he has is go visit local landmarks again.

You can't swing a dead cat around this town here in Fredericksburg and not hit some local historical monument. So definitely check that out for yourself and see what those monuments are.

Maybe it'll give you an inspiration to do a sketch or a painting or whatnot. You never know what you're going to see when you're going around your local area like that. Heck, you might have, you know, you take your.

Take your camera with you. I mean, they're on our phones now, so you can't really leave the house without it.

And there might be, you know, some people, some other people at the monument snap a picture of it, you know, asking permission for, say, hey, listen, I'm just taking pictures here. I hope you don't mind. And if they do, then leave them alone. But if they don't, you never know what you'll find.

And you might make a friend, might make a client, might make a sale. You never know. All right, well, I'm hoping you got some ideas out of this for yourself.

Basically, it's get out of your studio, get out of your house, and go search in your local area for things that will give you inspiration that will be your next creation. So now I'm going to switch on over to letting you know about a few programs that I'm involved with.

And one of them is how I get great guests, and that's through a service that I use called Pod Match, and that's how I get the best guests for this show. I do have a link to my affiliate code in the show notes there for you. So, yeah, I do make a little bit of cash.

I'm not going out and buying steak dinners with it, But I really enjoy Pod Match. So if you're a podcaster looking for good guests or if you have something to say, do you want to be on podcasts? Check out Pod Match for yourself.

You're going to hear a lot of interviews this year in the previous years, and a lot of those guests that I got were directly from Pod Match. So I definitely want to thank the folks at Pod Match for their service.

Have you thought about how to, you know, if you have a podcast, how to share your podcast? What's the easiest way to do it? Business cards are nice, but people throw that away. QR codes are, you know, still a little bit weird to me.

I don't know about you, but yeah, scanning a QR code is, I don't know. Well, I work with a group called Podcast Beacon and what they do is they make these little watches or key fobs or whatnot.

And if somebody says, hey, do you have a podcast?

You can say, yeah, just put your phone over my key fob or put your phone over my wrist here and it'll automatically pop up your website, your podcast, on that person's phone. And then you don't have to worry about them throwing it away. They, they have it right there on their phone.

They can go listen to it right away if they want. So definitely check out Podcast Beacon. I do have my affiliate link in the show notes there for you.

Now, if you got anything out of this podcast, feel free to share it with a friend. I'm not going to yell at you too much for doing that. I won't yell at you at all, I promise.

If you want to be on the show or if you have ideas for the show, you can reach out to me. Timothyreateartpodcast.com how easy is that? I mean, I couldn't have designed it easier than that, but definitely reach out to me.

I want this to be a five star show in your mind. The best way for me to do that is to know what you're thinking. I also do have a survey. It's the 2024 listener survey.

Links are in the show notes for that. Yeah, I know it's 2025 now, Tim, update the survey.

But if you would like to go ahead and fill out that survey, I would be highly appreciative of that. I want to know what's going on in your Mind, I want to know how this is helping you or if I need to do things to make it more helpful for you.

So definitely do me a favor, do me a solid. If you got something out of the show, let me know in the survey or reach out to me via email.

I'm very responsive to it, so I will definitely respond to you if you email me, as long as you're not spam. And last but certainly not least is I've started a podcast consulting business. It's called TKB Podcast Studio.

You can find that@tkbpodcaststudio.com and basically what I'm doing there is I'm doing podcast consulting and production.

So if you've ever thought about doing a podcast, you can reach out to me through the website there, there's an email associated with it, timothykbpodcaststudio.com and definitely check that out for yourself if you've ever thought about, hey, you know, Tim's doing this podcast. He's not that smart of a guy. Maybe I can do a podcast. Maybe you can.

And I'd love to help you do that and make a better podcast than the one you're listening to. Speaking about podcasts that I run, another one is I run the Find a podcast about and you can find it at findapodcastabout xyz.

And that's where I help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge worthy podcast. And a lot of times I get the podcast host to come on the show and get to ask them the questions that you want me to ask them.

So give that a shot for yourself. If you're looking for a new podcast to binge, check out that show. All right, that's all I have for you here today. I need to get on with my day.

I'm going to let you get on with your day, but I want to thank you so much for listening to Create Art podcast. It is a passion project for me. It keeps me in an artistic mindset at all times and I'm hoping that you are getting something out of it as well.

If nothing else, maybe it's helping you go to sleep at night. That would be fine with me as well. But I want you to go out there and tame your inner critic. Create more than you consume. Go on a journey this week.

Let me know about it. I want you to go out there and create some art for somebody you love. Yourself. I'll talk to you next time.