Unlock Your Creativity: Use What You Have

Create art podcast commentary using what you got. Hello friend.

This is Timothy Keem O'Brien, your head instigator for Create Art podcast where I use my over 30 years of experience in the art and education world to help you tame your inner critic and create more than you consume. So at the time of this recording, we have just started into 2025.

Here we are in January and I'm continuing on with the Make Fun A Habit series and what that is. It's 30 days to add fun to your creative practice.

I went through Mike Brennan's Make Fun A Habit workbook and I it was so impactful on me, I wanted to share it with you. And I actually did have the pleasure of interviewing Mike on my other podcast, Find a Podcast about and talking about his podcast Creative Chats.

So if you'd like to listen to that, definitely check out the links in the show notes for my other podcast and for Mike's podcast. So if this is your first time listening, the Make Fun I have it series is just like what it says.

It's a way to bring that fun back into your creative practice. Because if your creative practice isn't fun, then what's the point of doing it? And the Make Fun A Habit workbook is a 30 day book.

And what I'm doing is I'm taking each day and turning it into a podcast episode. Today we're going to talk about using what you have. Now, if you haven't gotten the workbook yet, I do have a link in the show note for you.

But basically what it is, he tackles one idea and he gives you ideas on how to use it in your creative process. And each chapter is broken up with a short story, questions to ponder, action items, tips and what have you. Let's jump into use what you got.

Now, I'm not a super wealthy person. I'm wealthy in family, friends, the love that's around me. But monetarily, yeah, I'm doing okay. But I don't have unlimited resources.

I don't think any of us have unlimited resources. Even the billionaires that are out there, yeah, they have billions of dollars, but there's a limit to what they can spend.

So when you're thinking, hey, I don't have anything around me, you actually do have a lot of things around you if you just look at it creatively. Even at my worst, when I was living in Chicago on a bean bag, I had things around me that I could use. I had my computer there that I could use.

It was a desktop, it was an Old desktop. And because my roommates had dogs, it was covered in dog fur and dog hair and was getting on the fans.

But I still had things that I could do with that computer. And I had my notebook on me. I had a lot of music around me. I had pens. So I was writing a ton of poetry at that time.

So even if you don't think you have a whole lot, just look around you. Do you have a pen, a pencil, something to write with, something to write on? Then you have something that you can create art with.

Heck, I'd even argue if you have a voice, you have something you agree with. You can sing a song at any time or create a song at any time. So you may not even need a pencil and a piece of paper to write on.

You just have your body that you can use and turn into a piece of artwork if you so desire or wish. So let's go into the questions that Mike gives us. And the first question is, what can you do with what you have? So I've already jumped into this.

Do you have a piece of paper? Do you have something to write with? Something to write on? There you go. You can start with that. If you don't have that.

If you're listening to this on a smartphone, you probably have a note app in there, or there's free note apps that you can use to put your ideas down. But just saying, I don't have anything around me. I can't make anything artistic when we limit ourselves to.

I'm a painter, so I have to have this type of oil paint and this type of canvas, and it's way too expensive. I have to have this type of brush. Okay, yeah, you can limit yourself that way, but what's the fun in that?

It's more creative to overcome challenges, to overcome limitations, than to be dictated by them. The next question is, how can you use your skills and knowledge to your advantage? I was very blessed.

I consider myself very blessed that I was able to go to college and get a lot of my academic learning taken care of in the arts. And so I have that knowledge inside my head. Yes, I have the degree. Yes, I have the student loan payments for the next I don't know how many years.

But that knowledge is in my head, and that experimental nature and that creative nature is in my head.

So I can look at a blank canvas and put something on it, or I can look at a blank page and start writing and not editing while I'm writing, but just putting it down on the page and then later on doing the edits, doing the corrections, or finding a different path to go down. But you have these skills as well. You have ideas. I don't care what vocation you have, you have these ideas.

And just at the very least, let's get it down on a piece of paper. And it doesn't need to make sense to anybody. You don't have to show it to anybody. Just get it down on a piece of paper.

Get those ideas out of your head and in the world in whatever fashion you need to do that. Next up is who can you ask for help? You can ask me for help if you like. You can email me timothyartpodcast.com if you're needing some help out there.

But think about who's influenced you. If there's a artist out there that you follow, start trying it. Start with them, ask them for help. If there's a singer that you really enjoy, why not?

The worst that can happen is you get no answer where they say, leave me alone. The best thing that can happen is they become your new mentor. Go out there and find that mentor for yourself. If it's me, fantastic.

You know how to get in touch with me. But if you need, if you have somebody else in mind, ask them, because you never know what the answer is going to be. It could be yes.

Next question is, where can you find more information? Oh, my God, the Internet. Have you heard about this thing called Internet? Everyone's uncle Google. You can search online for things.

You can go onto YouTube and find paintings, videos or writing videos, or music videos or dance videos, or whatever art, whatever discipline that you're into, the information is out there. We have never had so much information easily available to people out there at a relatively low cost, low barrier of entry there.

Go online again, the person that you ask help from, that's where you can find more information. If they reply back to you, find out where they got their information from. Next question up is what are some creative solutions to the problem?

Okay, so let's say you don't have the Bob Ross painting kit. You don't have the money for that. You can find, I don't know, take some notebook paper.

Take some, take some drawing paper and some acrylics and start going, start painting on that.

Let's say you don't have a number two pencil and a steno notepad, which when I first started writing, I had to have a steno notepad and I had to have a certain type of pen and I had to have the right amount of rum and Cokes in my system to be able to write. I don't need that anymore.

My creative solutions for the problem was typing on my computer because steno notepad can get wet when you're spilling a drink on it or when a pen can run out of ink. So I just moved over to my laptop, my desktop, and started writing there. So those are creative solutions to the problem of where do I start?

Okay, next question is what are ways to save money? And money is a very touchy topic for a lot of people.

I think ways to save money are finding out what you absolutely need, what is the bare essential, and then upgrading from there. Not necessarily what's the cheapest, but what's going to have the biggest return on investment for you.

Again, it may not be cheap, but it may save you money in the long term. And that's something that you need to decide for yourself. You need to do research for yourself. Conversely, what are ways to save time?

That's the next question. Question number seven. So I use a lot of assistance when I'm doing a podcast and my digital audio workstation does a lot for me.

I use AI to help out with things. I use canva, create episode art. I use magics to create the music that you hear at the beginning and at the end.

Anything I can do to save time that can do multiple things which helps me save money, is what I'm looking to do. I don't need to redo the music each and every time for each and every episode.

You may want me to do that, but that takes a lot of time that I don't need to do. I don't think it adds that much.

When you hear the music coming into the episode and if you've been here for any amount of time, you know what you're going to get into. You know what's coming next. Next up is how can you build relationships with people who can help you.

And that's by putting yourself out there, that's by asking questions. Maybe it's a Facebook group, maybe it's on LinkedIn, maybe it's on TikTok or whatever social media you're using.

You can start there with the relationships. You can go to conferences on your particular artistic discipline.

There's makers groups out there, getting out into your community, putting yourself out there. And I know a lot of us artists are introverts, but do you want to get better? Do you want people to buy your work? Do you want your name out there?

You need to go out there because nobody is searching for Tim Bryan till they've Already heard Tim Bryant or until they've heard somebody in my network talk about me, and then they come and look for me. But for somebody to talk about me, I need to know who they are, and they need to know who I am. So that's the secret to that.

Next up, last question is how can you learn from others and share your knowledge Again, by asking questions, by letting others know in your field, in your discipline, what you're struggling with. That's for me. That's the way I learn. And I ask a lot of questions of people. I mean, you hear me ask questions on this podcast all the time.

When I have guests on, I usually like to ask about eight to 10 questions. I learn from them, I gain knowledge from them. I'm not an expert in what they do. They're the expert.

And I want to find out and get to the root of how they do what they do and why they do what they do. And I want to get at the root of knowing what you do and how you do it. And if I can help you do it better, fantastic.

But maybe you have information that I don't have and you can help me do something even better than why I'm doing it right now. So that's how I learn from others, and that's how I share my knowledge. All right, next up is action items. First action item is to set a goal.

We talk a lot starting off the new year with resolutions and all that kind of jazz. I'm not a huge fan of that, but set a goal for yourself. I want to learn X by whatever date it is.

You want to learn how to do oil painting and how to mix colors by June of 2025. Great. Set a goal for yourself. The more information you can put in that goal, the better off you are. Next action item is identify your resources.

Do an inventory of what you have in your house right now or in your studio right now. Just inventory it.

That could be a creative thing just in and of itself, and it could be a thing of frustration, and that could be your next art piece. But look at what you have around you, and don't forget to include what you have between your ears as a resource.

The third action item is brainstorm solutions. So no matter.

This is not where you edit yourself, but brainstorming really means to have that brainstorm, to let everything come out, no matter how ridiculous it is, no matter if it's a solution that doesn't apply to the problem at hand.

Just brainstorm it out, put it out there, because you can't do the next step without having the ideas out there, without having the ideas for the solutions. Once you're done brainstorming, then you can go up to the fourth step here or the fourth action item, which would be to choose a solution.

Choose something that you can feasibly do, something that you've identified your resources, it goes with your goal, and actually choose it. Next step is to take action. So we've chosen our goal, we've chosen our solution, we got our resources, we know what we want to do. Then do it.

Don't ruminate on it. Because if you're going to take forever to choose that solution or go, I'll take action on it next year. No, take action on it now.

You have your solution. You know what, you know what you can use to achieve that goal. So go do it. And then the last action item is reflecting on your experience.

So you're going to, even if the goal is completely blown up and you didn't reach it or anything like that, reflect on your experience.

I've had it happen where I'd like to do National Novel Writing Month and National Poetry Writing Month, and I've had years where I had surgery right at the beginning of November. So I wasn't able to do National Novel Writing Month for a year. I got it started, but I wasn't able to complete it. That's okay.

Yes, technically it is a failure, but it was an experience that better planning, especially for my health, better planning will help me achieve my goals. Okay, here are the tips and there's four tips here. First one, be organized. Remember when I was saying take stock or take identify your resources.

Do an inventory of it. Definitely. That's how we start off. We find out what we have available to us and let's get it organized. Let's get it ready to go.

The next tip is to be prepared. I was when I was starting my, you know, writing career, I'd always have my stando notepad and a fresh pen ready to go.

So that way I could be at the bar and write my stuff down as soon as it hit me in the head. When I go to conferences, I have business cards at the go.

I even have a new thing, podcast Beacon, where somebody can put their phone over my little wristwatch looking thing and they can find my podcast. But always being prepared for great things to happen, that's what you need to do. The next tip. The third tip is be open to new experiences.

Yeah, when I first started podcasting in 2006, I never thought I would be going to conferences that just a, I didn't know that they existed, and B, conferences weren't something that I really thought about, my thought about doing. So open yourself up to these new experiences, whether it's listening to a podcast, watching a video, going to a conference, going to a meetup.

Allow that to happen. You never know where that inspiration is going to come from. You never know where that new connection is going to come from. So be open for it.

And the last tip is be willing to take risks. That's really important. You got to be able to put it out there for the public to see, for your audience to see.

And some of the stuff is going to be great, some of it's not going to be great, and some of your experiences with other people is going to be great, others, not so great. So take those risks. Sometimes they're going to pay off, not all the time are they going to pay off. But be bold about it. Take that risk.

Because if you don't take the risk, you're never going to know and you're always going to live in a world of regret. Okay, that's what I have for you on this episode. I hope you go grab the workbook from Mike Brennan that's Make Fun of Habit Workbook.

Again, links to it are in the show notes there for you, so definitely check it out. And I just want to let you know a couple of things that are going on with me.

First and foremost, I have a bunch of guests to start off the new year with in 2025. Now, how do I get these great guests? I get them from Pod Match. A link is in the show notes there for you.

And what that does, it helps me get the best guests for this show. So if you feel that, hey, I want to be a guest, or you're a podcaster and you need guests for your show, give podmatch a look. See there?

There is a small monthly fee for being on it, and the guests that I do have on it, I do get a bit of compensation for it, but it's nothing to write home about. But it's a great service. The more important thing is not how much I get paid from it, but the quality I get of guests that I get from it.

So give Pod Match a try and see if it works for you. Now, I alluded to this earlier in the episode, but as a podcaster, I like to share episodes.

I'd like to share my podcast, especially when I go to conferences and whatnot. I use a service called Pod Beacon. And what that is. Again it looks like a little wristband or wristwatch and it has your logo on it.

And somebody just waves their phone over it. They don't even have to take a picture, like a QR code. They just wave their phone over it and then boom, it goes to your website.

So give podbeacon a try.

If you use my link, that is my affiliate link, I do get a little bit of a compensation, but I know the guy that runs it and it's a really great service. So you may want to go ahead and check that out for yourself. Now, if you want to get a hold of me, you can reach out to me.

Timothyreateartpodcast.com if you're on my website, createartpodcast.com There is a way you can leave voicemails there for me if you want to do that. If that's the way you want to reach out to me. Here's the thing.

I'm trying to make a five star podcast for you, something that you'll want to share with your friends. I need to know what that's going to be for you. So definitely reach out to me on that. I do have a survey. It's the 2024 listener survey.

Yes, I know we're in 2025, whatever. But I do have a link for that survey in the show notes. If you'd be so kind to go ahead and do that survey for me. It's not a whole lot of questions.

I'd really appreciate it because again, I want to make this a five star podcast for you. And I mentioned it earlier, I do have another podcast called Find a Podcast About. You can find it at findapodcast about dot X, Y Z. I know crazy.

It's not a comm, it's an xyz. What I do there is I help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge worthy podcast.

And that's where I met Michael Brennan and I got a chance to talk to him. So definitely links in the show notes there. Check that out for yourself. If you're looking for a podcast on any topic, check it out.

I'll help you save a lot of time there. And the last thing I want to bring up here is my business. It's called TKB Podcast Studio LLC.

You can go to my website, tkbpodcaststudio.com and that's where I help my clients through quiet professionalism, lead through the noise and help them make the best podcasts possible for whatever topic they are interested in doing. I take you from Step one to step fun. So definitely give that a look. See for yourself.

If you're thinking about starting up a podcast, you can see my portfolio there of all the other podcasts that I work on. Give it a shot for yourself. Be happy to help you start your podcast in the new year. All right. That's all I have for you here today.

I am so thankful that you're listening to this podcast. Oh, and I'd be remiss not to tell you about the newsletter that I do have.

It's Timothy Brian B r I e n.substack.com Again, links are in the show notes. And what I'm doing with my newsletter is with every episode that I do, I am doing something with Notebook. Lm to do a recap of it.

So check that out for yourself. It's a lot of fun. And then I also give other with other newsletters, I give ideas on different projects that you can do for yourself.

Give it a look see and let me know what you think. But now is the time for you to go out there and enjoy the rest of your day. I'm gonna go enjoy the rest of my day.

Go out there, tame that inner critic, create more than you consume, and go make some art for somebody you love. Yourself. I'll talk to you next time.