Create art, podcast, commentary, change.

Hello friend.

This is Timothy Kimo.

Brian, your head instigator for create our guest 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.

Well, we're continuing on with our make fun.

I have it series.

And, uh, that's actually from a book by Mike Brennan.

Make fun of habit.

It's a workbook.

It's a 30 day workbook to put fun back into your life and

to make it a habit for you.

Now, I did have the pleasure of interviewing Mike on my other podcast,

find a podcast about you can find it at find a podcast about dot X, Y, Z.

And, um, I had a really good chat with him on that.

He has his own podcast called creative chats and his full disclosure.

I'm in one of his groups, um, that, uh, we, we meet up on Facebook

and, uh, encourage each other.

So, um, shout out to Mike on that for sure.

I really liked this workbook because what it does is it.

Helps you rekindle that fun that we all need as creatives in our life.

And why not have fun?

So like I said, it's a 30 day workbook.

What I'm doing is each episode.

I'm turning into a chair, you know each chapter I'm turning

into an episode of this podcast So give it a shot for yourself.

The links will be in the show notes there for you.

Uh, if you want to check it out for yourself, highly recommend it.

And, uh, what he does is he'll take one idea and then have a little story

and then, uh, have some questions for you to think about some action items

for you to do, and then some tips on how you can add that idea into your

life and develop a habit of fun.

So this episode, we're going to be talking about Change.

And no, I don't mean nickels, dimes, quarters and pennies and

half dollars and, and a dollar coins and all that kind of good stuff.

Not talking about that kind of change.

I'm actually talking about, you know, changing things up for yourself and

in all aspects of your life just to, you know, find the fun in your life.

So.

What we'll do here is we'll go through the questions first that he gives us.

What can a change in your environment look like?

So a change in my environment is one thing I like to do is,

uh, do cleanup of my workspace.

And, uh, that can be dusting that can be, you know, uh, removing

the leftover food from a project.

Uh, I just got done recently doing a picture, a painting for my wife and

my table was You know, all full of paints and, uh, canvas and brushes

and all that kind of, uh, stuff.

And for me, just cleaning that up and making a, uh, a clear space so I

can start my next project, which is probably going to be another painting.

And, uh, because, well, my wife's birthday is coming up soon.

So yeah, I'll do another painting for her, for her birthday.

Um, Don't tell her I said that, but you know, just a simple change like

that in your environment can really, uh, really improve your creativity.

It gives you space to do something new, you know, it, it, it

clears out the clutter, gives you space to do something new.

And, um, you know, a lot of people have a fear of looking at

a blank canvas or a blank page.

I don't, it's, that's an opportunity to fill it up with something great.

So.

That's what a change in my environment looks like.

It helps me, uh, clear out the old and bring in something new.

What is the objection that arises immediately and why?

Well, Change can be fearful.

You know, if I, one thing that I have had a problem with is doing watercolors

and I haven't done it yet, but, you know, switching over from acrylics to

watercolors, um, my, my objection is that.

In the past when I done watercolors, it turned out to

be just a big old muddy mess.

And I don't want to do that anymore.

You know, it just, I have Tia Sunshine who's been on the show here previously.

Uh, she does wonderful, uh, watercolors.

I have a couple of her paintings hanging on the walls, uh, up in my house.

And I see that and I'm like, wow, that's, that's a lot of work.

And, um, my previous attempts at it have been horrible.

Well.

That's something we need to get over.

You know, if that is something that you want to do, then you just need to get over

the past failure and go, all right, well, this time it's going to be different.

I'm going to use this approach.

I'm going to use that approach, or I'm going to have somebody

teach me how to do it.

So that's the objections that pop up in my mind.

If I were to, you know, change my painting style, uh, which it, you know, from

acrylics to a watercolor, I just don't want to, you know, a stupid muddy mess.

But I'm getting over that.

How can you address this concern and still move forward?

Well, I think I just talked about it.

That's finding somebody that can teach me the right way of doing it, finding a

different way of doing whatever it is.

And, um, I think that's how I'm approaching it is that.

You know, I'm going to look at some YouTube videos.

I'm going to look at some other resources, maybe take a painting class,

uh, locally here in town from a, uh, from a painter and, uh, have somebody

kind of, you know, teach somebody that already knows how to do it very well.

Teach me some basic things so that way I don't have a big muddy mess anymore.

The next question is, what was the best trip you've been

on and what made it the best?

I have been on so many trips and these trips can, you know, make

a change in your environment.

Um, I actually have a trip coming up to Charlotte, North Carolina for a podcasting

conference at the end of June of 2024.

So anytime I go on these trips to a podcasting conferences, Um,

on the way back, I'm like, man, I never have to do that again.

Or if, you know, I get really flustered when I'm there.

I'm like, I always tell myself, you don't have to do this ever again if

you don't want to, but I think one of the best trips I've ever been on,

um, that's, that's a loaded question because I've been on some trips that

some people would be like, really?

That's the best trip you've been on.

And, uh, just for the excitement and adventure of it, uh, there

was a trip I did from Richmond, Virginia to Phoenix, Arizona.

I did it by bus and there was a lot of hijinks along the way and a lot of delays.

And, uh, Oh my God, I was exhausted after it was done, but I had a lot of stories.

Uh, to share with people, uh, when I did that trip and I actually, at the time I

was in college, I pulled up to Richmond.

It was on a Monday and I had to teach a Monday morning class

after being on a bus for 24 hours.

So.

Yeah, that, that was a adventure laden trip and I love those kind of trips

where have you always wanted to travel and haven't gone yet?

Uh, I would like to travel to Tokyo.

I would like to travel to Turkey.

Um, you know, just, just to be in an environment that where everything is, uh,

when, when I look at Japanese letters, I can't tell what I'm looking at.

Uh, when I'm looking at Arabic, I can't tell what I'm looking at.

When I go to Paris, which I've been twice, I can kind of read the signs

and I, I understand it pretty well, but I just want to go someplace where.

I don't know.

Yeah, I can look at a sign and go, I have no idea.

I have no clue what that means.

And just to get lost into something like that.

So for me, uh, that would be something that I would love to do.

All right.

So for our action item, embark on a weekend exploration, look

up interesting places on Google near you that you can explore.

So this weekend, um, it's Uh, it's after Memorial Day, so

I will go ahead and do that.

Uh, there's a lot of, uh, historical places where I live here in

Fredericksburg, Virginia, a lot of, uh, civil war and revolutionary

war sites, and probably one thing that I haven't done is, uh, battle

the battlefields that are out here.

So I think I might go ahead and do that.

It's not that far.

And, uh, I think I can go out there and walk around and do that.

So.

We'll give that a shot and I'll get back to you and see

how, uh, see how that happened.

So Mike's tips for us is, uh, first one is to be open to new experiences.

I'm a Sagittarius.

Uh, I'm not super into astrology, but I know that we like to do a lot of travel

and I know I fit the bill for that.

I love to do a lot of travel.

So I'm usually open to new experiences.

Um, Maybe not new people, but new experiences.

So I might adjust that for myself and, uh, be more social and, uh, and,

and be open to the more new people.

The second tip obviously is be social.

So that is something I definitely need to work on and, uh,

I will definitely do that.

Next tip is take your time.

That is hard for me to do because once I get going on a task,

I'm like, very task oriented.

I want to get it done right here, right now, 10 minutes ago.

So I think when I do that trip to the battlefields here in Fredericksburg, I

think I'll just go out there and do it.

For a nice leisurely stroll, maybe throw on some, uh, headphones and, uh, listen

to some music as I walk around and wander around this last tip is to be present.

So maybe I won't take those headphones.

I probably will.

And listen to a podcast, but, um, being present.

For where you're at and for what you're doing, being mindful of it is

something that I'm learning how to do.

And, uh, I think that's something that we all need to do.

So that way, when we're rendering what we're experiencing for our audience, they

can be there with us if we're there and we can get a more accurate picture for them.

We can communicate better with our audience when we're present.

When we're receiving that inspiration.

So definitely work on being more present.

I'm going to work on it.

I hope you work on it too.

All right.

Well, it's the time in the show here where I let you get on with the rest

of your day, but I want to just let you know about a couple of things here.

If you'd like to reach out to me, you can email me.

Timothy at create art podcast.

com.

I love to get feedback from all of you.

So definitely feel free to write into me.

Let me know what you'd like to see on the show.

If you'd like to see more interviews, if you have critiques of the show,

if you would like to be on the show.

Shoot me an email.

Let me know what you're doing, where you're at, because I

want to feature that for you.

I want to help you, uh, put your stuff out in the world.

And this is a good safe space in order to do that.

Uh, we, you know, I've done a lot of interviews already this year.

Uh, wouldn't mind doing more interviews.

I'm always looking for a good interview to do so that way I can share it with you

and hopefully you get something out of it.

Speaking about getting something out of it.

If you got something out of this episode, then by all means, share it with a friend.

I'm not going to bite your fingernails off.

I might bite my own off, but I'm not going to bite yours off.

Most of your podcast apps or YouTube, they have a share function that

you can share it with a friend.

If you got something out of it, give it to somebody else.

That's an ask that I have of you.

And also let me know, you know, what you'd liked about the show,

what you didn't like about the show.

I have a thick skin.

You can let me know.

I also run a newsletter.

It's a monthly newsletter.

It comes out on sub stack timothy.

brianatsubstack.

com.

And you can sign up for that newsletter comes, like I say, once

a month, it gives you ideas for stuff that you can do for the month.

Usually it comes out about mid months.

So definitely check that out.

I'll only send you one email a month.

I promise.

I promise.

And obviously you can catch me on Instagram and Twitter and

obviously the YouTube channel.

So.

Definitely go ahead and do that for yourself.

I do want to let you know that I do run another podcast.

As I said earlier, find a podcast about, and what I do there is I go

out and find podcasts that I find are binge worthy and bring them back

to you and talk to you about them.

And you can find that podcast at find a podcast about dot X, Y, Z.

And if you have an idea or a podcast that you think is binge worthy and that

you want To let the world know about, you can contact me over there and I'd

love to hear from you on doing that.

All right.

Well, it is time to let you go.

So I want to thank you for taking the time to listening to this episode.

Now go out there, tame your inner critic, create more than you consume,

change up your area in some way, shape or form, change up your

practice somehow, and go make some art for somebody you love yourself.

I'll talk to you next time.