The Mama Judy and Jill Podcast
Welcome to the place where we, Mama Judy (bonus mom) and Jill (bonus daughter), have conversations all about art and the creative process.
We chat about finding inspiration for artistic expression, conquering the hurdles that hinder creativity, and empowering the creative spirit.
Along the way, we share techniques, tips, and stories from our experiences with fiber arts, mixed media, hand stitching, painting, and MORE!
Our goal is for you, our listener, to walk away inspired to create (whatever creating looks like to you).
Whether a seasoned artist or someone just starting out, we look forward to you tuning into the podcast each week.
Questions or podcast topic suggestions? We'd LOVE to hear from you!
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The Mama Judy and Jill Podcast
Episode 22: Unlocking Creativity - A Chat with Kimberly Mason
Creativity is often a deeply personal and transformative process, but many of us find ourselves held back by fear and self-doubt. In this week's episode, we dive into this critical intersection of creativity and fear with our special guest, Kimberly Mason.
A busy wife, mother, and pathologist by profession, Kimberly shares her personal journey of longing for artistic expression and the roadblocks she's faced along the way.
One of the biggest barriers to creative expression is fear. Fear of vulnerability, fear of judgment, and fear of disappointment often stop us from pursuing our creative dreams. Our conversation with Kimberly uncovers the importance of creating a safe space for creativity and the value of taking small, consistent steps towards our creative goals.
Tune in to find out if the art "challenge" we propose to Kimberly helps get her creative juices flowing. If you're feeling stuck, this same challenge might be just the thing to get your own creative momentum going.
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Oh good, you made it. We are so glad you're here. Welcome to the Mama Judy and Jill podcast, an intergenerational chat about life, art and the creative process. I'm your host, jill, and joining me is my wonderful co-host and bonus mom, mama Judy. Let's get started. Well, hi, welcome back. We're so glad to see you. Mama Judy and I this week are joined by a wonderful guest. Her name is Kimberly Mason and she's going to tell you a little bit about herself today. But how this interview came up is Kimberly and I bumped into each other at a concert down here in Asheville, north Carolina, and we had a little conversation about being artistic and being creative and some things around that. So that's what we're going to be discussing today. But first of all, kimberly, welcome. And why don't you just tell our audience a little bit about yourself?
Speaker 2:Okay, well, I am a mom and a wife and a pathologist, which is, for those of you who don't know, is a tissue doctor, a laboratory doctor, and you may be familiar with the show CSI and be thinking I'm a forensic pathologist and I do death investigation. That is not what I do. I look at pieces of live people, as opposed to the alternative in CSI the whole dead person. So that's what I do for my professional life and that it's spent a lot of time doing mom family stuff too.
Speaker 1:Wonderful. Well, thanks for being here, hey, Mama Judy hey.
Speaker 3:Jill, Hi Kimberly, Hi Judy Great to meet you.
Speaker 2:Okay, you can call her Mama Judy, mama Judy, okay, good.
Speaker 1:Absolutely All right. Well, we are going to get started with a sentence. You actually we went back and forth with emails a little bit and Kimberly, the way that she told me something about before we got started on the podcast, I thought was very interesting, which we thought Mama Judy and I thought could be a good jumping off point. You said I'm not really an actively creative person in the way I think I'd like to be. Okay, I just love that and I'm, of course, looking at the way I think I'd like to be, which is very intriguing to me and I think we would love for our audience. We have a lot of creative people that are listening, but there's still people out there that are listening that they are not sure. They may have reservations about jumping into being creative for whatever different reasons. So today we're going to learn a little bit about you and maybe figure out what's going on and see if there's something you'd like to expand on creatively, and we just thought this would be a fun chat, yeah good.
Speaker 2:Well, as far as like how I'd like to be, is that what you're asking me to expand upon a little bit?
Speaker 2:Yeah, how I think I'd like to be rather. Well, you know, I love, I love seeing what people create and learning about their process and what they're expressing and that sort of thing, and I feel like they're like I would like to generate more of that myself, but I don't know that I've either. I'm not sure what stumps me if I don't, if I believe that I don't have it in me, or it's just not going to be good enough if it is there, or if it's not worth the effort, because I, you know, I've always kind of enjoyed artistic endeavors, but I've always let other things come and come ahead of those.
Speaker 2:So I was a science math girl who kept putting the art classes off and you know, I just stuck with science math. That served me well and I just kind of didn't really make much time for the art part. Now and then I'll I'll put a little bit of energy or effort or time into it and it's kind of fun. But I think I'm a little afraid to put too much into it because I'm afraid of being disappointed. Maybe I don't know.
Speaker 3:Possibly.
Speaker 2:So, but does that, does that resonate with with you, Jill, or Mama Judy?
Speaker 3:Absolutely You're disappointing yourself.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. You know it really. I think it's a common thing Kimberly all of us. Before I say this, let me just say that some of the most artistic people I have run into are what surprised me, in that they're left brain science people, but they also have this wonderful artistic side, so all you need to do is develop that side.
Speaker 3:But from what you said, I think one of the most common things for all of us and this goes for experienced artists we're very, very vulnerable when we put our stuff out there. Oh yes, and I think what happens is perhaps somewhere along the line. Maybe when we were young kids, we got hurt when we expressed our vulnerability. So we have a tendency to lock it inside, and that alone, I think, can keep a person from going forward if we don't feel safe. And so what I? What has helped me in the past? When I get to feeling like that, or especially when I was younger, I would only show my stuff to people that I trusted, and by that I mean people that I feel comfortable. If they gave me a critique that wasn't as flattering as I wanted it to be, I would not get put off by that.
Speaker 3:But I think that vulnerability exposing our underbelly, so to speak, because when you create, no matter what it is, it's really coming from the heart, from that unspoken, unseen part of ourself, and it's tough to put it out there for the world.
Speaker 3:And I'm going to use a word from your profession it's hard to put anything out there and let the world dissect it, which is what happens when we put something out there for people to look at. They dissect it and that can be a very, very scary place to go. And so for anybody, including in my past and people listening, that's something you want to take in very tiny steps, and maybe the first step is just the self analysis. If, when you're by yourself, you ask yourself what's holding you back. If you get an emotional charge from something like somebody might not like what I do, then you can just bet that's where it's coming from. And then, once you identify it, it's a lot. It's like bringing the boogeyman out of the closet when you were a kid. Once you bring something to light, then you can work with it.
Speaker 1:I have a question. So, when you've dabbled or done some creative expression in the past, what was it like? Are you drawn to a certain medium or what do you like to do?
Speaker 2:Well, I've had the most success with photography and I think it's because I can sort of do the composition instantaneously and capture it without the all of the hard parts of collecting the materials and planning it out. And because I'm not a great planner or organizer, the frontal lobe stuff is kind of not great. It's not great. You know, like I love order but I'm not good at creating order, you know that sort of thing.
Speaker 2:But so with photography I can just kind of compose, I can see it and take the picture and capture it. So I've had the most success with that, probably, but different things. I love to make art with the kids and so I've had a lot of fun just doing like I actually got a few things. So I made these little things with my daughter. It's cardboard that we put chalk on and made these little monsters and then put a magnet on the back.
Speaker 1:How you know, so you're listening to audio. Only Go over to the Facebook page, no, the YouTube page, and I'll tell them where they can look and see this sweet little. It's cute, right.
Speaker 2:I mean we used to recycle materials and she sells them at this little festival we go to called Leaf. Oh, okay, so I've had you know so kind of the I think the low stakes, low pressure kind of things like playing, doing crafting with the kids with recycled materials. You know there's no financial outlay or expectation and I think that that's where I that's another place that I've had pretty good success.
Speaker 1:I was gonna say you just reminded me I did the same, because I have only stepped into my creative expression in a more confident way over the last like year and a half or so, with a lot of Mama Judy's guidance. But when Billy was younger we would go to town with the construction paper doing Halloween stuff in the window and I had so much fun and I almost felt like, well, this is just for little kids stuff. So I was probably feeling like I'm well, it's more cutting out for him this image. But I mean, I had so much fun and I didn't feel like I was gonna be judged by it. It was just fun and, seeing it through his eyes, I think that's probably a common thing for Mama's. If we don't consider ourselves creatives, we get into that expression of being creative, which is still being very creative, but it's a little bit more protected.
Speaker 2:Yes, more protected, I think that's true. More accessible that way, and we wouldn't judge our children's work, so we don't turn that same eye on ourselves. I think too.
Speaker 3:Yes absolutely, and you have really hit upon some key words Kimberly Expectations, judgment protection that's what it's all about. So your steps and I am gonna call it your artistic steps of working with your kids is a wonderful foundation because the more you do with them and you see their success, it'll feed into the way you feel about your success and that's when you choose to develop it. Obviously, right now, with a full-time job, being a mother, being a wife, perhaps there isn't enough time to consistently do what you want to do, but every step you take like that is fantastic and I love it. And I absolutely love the fact that your daughter is selling them, because I follow an artist in New Mexico and I would say this woman is probably in her 60s who makes animals that she sells that your daughter's work reminds me of, so that is not just child's art.
Speaker 2:That is art.
Speaker 3:That is what people would call a primitive art Americana. So that whole process is absolutely wonderful.
Speaker 2:Oh, good, well, thanks. Well, it's gratifying for me. I think it's really fun.
Speaker 3:And that is the word you never wanna lose track of, no matter how hard things get in your developing your own art in the future, Always remember fun has to be the number one thing. It doesn't mean you won't work hard at it, but if it's not fun, step back and take a break.
Speaker 1:Yes, gratifying. Well, kimberly, I'm curious with your photography, then. Do you so? Do you take pictures? Would you have like a good, you know, like a DSLR? Do you use your iPhone or both, and do you? Carry it with you, or is it kind of tucked away?
Speaker 2:I have a DSL, a single lens reflex SLR right, yeah, so it's digital, so I guess that makes it a DSLR. I had a film camera that I really loved and I actually took some darkroom classes years ago when we lived in Memphis and that was a lot of fun. And when we bought our house in Asheville there's a basement with a bathroom and I thought future darkroom. But you know that organization creating order, part of my brain, that is not so great. The darkroom has not ever happened, but maybe one day if those materials are still available. I don't even know if you can get darkroom materials anymore with all the digital, but I have had fun with my digital camera.
Speaker 2:And now with editing tools and all of that. That can be a lot of fun. And the cameras on the phone are really good to if you're not gonna enlarge it to make resolution isn't as good on those, but yeah.
Speaker 3:And there are some wonderful products not what's the, not Photoshop, and I mean professional type products out there that you don't have to do the darkroom in order to do the things on your iPhone that you would normally do with in the darkroom. There's some great products out there.
Speaker 2:There are. I've played with them a little bit and just a little over my head. Little too technical for me. I haven't become adept at using those. But I can use the Apple tools pretty well on the iPhone and on the computer. So I don't know.
Speaker 3:But it's fun. Well, at least you have those techniques to continue to play around with, and as you get more familiar with those, then your interest in doing it will probably increase, I'm guessing yeah maybe so.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I have a question then. Just because we had this conversation, we kind of talked about maybe some underlying fears or things that come up for all of us, and At this point, are you in any way looking? Is that something that you really want to make a bigger part of your life? Is it something that's kind of been nudging you inside?
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely, definitely yeah, there's a desire there, but I'm a person who kind of like, I do need a little nudge, I need a little direction, I need a little plan. I think that's why, every now and then, I'll sign up for a class and whatever. I did do a little sketching class and that was fun, but that ended and the sketching ended, and I took a little pottery class and that ended, and I probably won't do that again. I don't think that's my medium, but so yeah, but I think it would be great if I did a little something every day, even if it's just a little tiny bite. But I don't know, for whatever reason, I think there's some perfectionism in there. For sure, something kind of is in my way, like maybe I need a prescription or something. Some of my plants might help me make them up with a plan.
Speaker 1:I just want to mention one thing. That is Inktober, so it's different than with photography, because my son Billy that he's a real good sketch or drawer, but he does it some, but in October he commits to doing it for the 31 days and you post it on Instagram so it holds, he holds accountable, but something like that could be interesting.
Speaker 3:And it could be.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and maybe if it were around your photography? There's probably challenges like that where post a picture day, whatever it is, and even if it's just something simple or I hadn't thought about that, about playing the social media kind of approach.
Speaker 2:I've not thought about that. I'm not much of a fitting myself out there person with these things, so that sounds scary to me, but maybe, well, that would be something worth considering.
Speaker 3:One good place to start, because what you're doing when you do that is that's your first foray out into the big wide world with your art. And there are a lot of things, like Jill said, like on Facebook, for example, people will challenge other people. Okay, I've been nominated by XYZ to put a picture a day that I draw out there, and that's a nice environment because both it's safe because people are out there that are not necessarily out there to critique your work, but it gets you into the habit of going. You know, I can do this, I can put something out there. And one of the biggest things is, if you do, just be okay with whatever comments or the amount of likes. And the reason I say this is I have suggested in the past to people to try something out on Facebook, but then they said they would sit around looking at Facebook waiting for people to like their picture.
Speaker 3:Well, that hasn't gone a word, I know. So if you chose to do something like that, kimberly, really it's for you, it's not for anybody else. It's just something for you to say okay, I can do this, I can take this step, I will take this step, and that's all that. It's there for, it's not for anybody else. It's not to collect those old so-and-so likes me, it's just you taking that step into a brand new world.
Speaker 1:And Kimberly. That's how I started doing my stitching stuff. I only put, I started a separate Instagram account just for my art stuff and I thought this if I tell myself I'm gonna post pretty frequently something that I'm stitching, I will, I will hold myself accountable. So I started doing that, but it was more for me and I am so grateful now that I did that. Because, number one, there's this cool like artie community that I'm now part of that I never would have known about. But, more importantly, it's fun to look back. You know if you could look back at your photographs or I'm looking back at my stitching stuff and see how I've grown and also yeah, you have that archive and also seeing where I knew.
Speaker 1:when I see something, I knew I was struggling with perfectionism there.
Speaker 2:Or.
Speaker 1:I was so scared and embarrassed to post that, but I told myself I have to because I said I'm going to and it felt like one I posted. I literally felt like looks like a four year old who created this and it was kind of embarrassing, but I did it anyway. And so now and it was kind of I felt like I needed that to push myself to be creative. Cause, if I were just to say to mama Judy, yeah, yeah, I'll do some stuff or whatever, it wasn't gonna hold me enough accountable. So that is why I created my Instagram art account and now I'm so grateful I did.
Speaker 3:Kimberly, I just wanna say one thing. You talked about trying pottery. You tried sketching. That's great, because what you're doing without any expectations there, you're exploring to find the medium that grabs your heart. Over the years I've done beaded jewelry, bead embroidery, stained glass, felting, painting, mixed media, you name it. I've probably tried it one time and each one of those, for a very short period of time, grabbed me, but then they went away and I realized, like you said, well, that stopped when the class was done. So when you do that, you're just exploring and then just tell yourself, well, that one really didn't grab me, and that's okay Because you've learned to be creative, because you've learned through every single one of those classes that you've taken.
Speaker 2:Good yeah, I bet that's really helpful to hear, because sometimes I think maybe it's my fault, like I wasn't good at it, nope, and I've just I've kind of failed myself. You know, especially when I see a lot of class doing really well, that whole comparison is the thief of joy thing. I've experienced that a lot.
Speaker 1:Yep, we all do.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm. So that's lovely to hear and you know, kind of I see that in my work too. I mean, if we have a difficult case, it's good to be able to eliminate a possible diagnosis. You know, as we narrow down the possibilities and we can find the right one by narrowing the possibilities.
Speaker 3:So that's exactly what you're doing and taking. Yeah, that's perfect. And maybe then, kimberly, by relating it back to what you do and that you're comfortable with at work, it will feel OK from this point on to take a class now and then and not feel that that, because it didn't grab you, it was your fault, because now you know you're just eliminating all these possibilities out there. You know, some people are very lucky in that something grabs them from the beginning and they that's it, they hang on. And there are a lot of us out there that have to go searching and exploring and experimenting and that's all part of your artistic process. So is your children's work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I love hearing that, because when you say it I think well, of course. So I sort of know this intellectually, but like I don't know emotionally, I don't. I mean, you know, sometimes there are different parts of your brain that are in conflict, and you know yeah it's good to to hear it from you.
Speaker 3:Well, and you know that what you just described is exactly what happens with everything with the human being. I don't care what it is. We can know it intellectually, but we don't really know it until we know it emotionally. That's the most important, because the brain is good, as you know, figuring out, solving problems, but the emotional part is hooked to the heart and the soul and that's when you really can go oh, wow, I get it. And so that's all you're doing. You're giving that child within you, just like you're giving your children the option to go out and play and find something they enjoy by taking all these courses. You're giving that child within you, which probably has gotten buried beneath the pathologist, to go out and have fun. Go out with your kids with a box of chalk and and take care of all the sidewalks around town with chalk painting and go with him and have fun, because that's how you're going to find what your child wants, your inner child wants.
Speaker 2:I love that Well.
Speaker 1:I have another suggestion, because we did a podcast on this where Mama Judy and I talked about play dates with other people.
Speaker 2:I was just listening to that one this morning.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, so this is a sign I feel like you need to have a play date with someone.
Speaker 2:Yes, and you can do two.
Speaker 1:And also if it's a somewhat consistent thing, then you can show up and even if like if you were to come over, we should have a little play date, you come over and even if it's you bringing your phone and you're going to do some editing on some photos while I'm sitting there stitching and we can just visit. That would be fun.
Speaker 2:I would love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because I do think it helps to have something to look forward to the next time to hold us accountable and that might be the case for you, because I've taken other courses too or classes and then, once the attention's done and the homework's done, I'm like well, what do I do now? Like you said earlier, you kind of want to step by step plan or at least somebody kind of going alongside and bouncing ideas off or something.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, I've experienced before that having a community around you just increases your success of whatever it is you're trying to do. Yes, so yeah, I could see how, and you too mentioned that finding a community on Instagram or some social media really helped you along the process.
Speaker 1:So, it did.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that could do a lot for me.
Speaker 3:Well, good, and that's the other thing that, as you were talking, kimberly, that I wanted to remind you because we all know it again. But you might have a goal out there, what eventually you'd like to be able to do. But you're right, it can seem very, very overwhelming, and just take it one tiny little step at a time and eventually you'll be there when you're ready to be there. But it's not an all or nothing type of thing which oftentimes we do. Oh well, I can't paint like Monet, so I guess I won't start.
Speaker 2:Definitely guilty of that All are.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay, just that one step at a time, because if you think about it, how silly are we as human beings to think that we can go from point zero to 100% without ever putting in the time to learn how to get from point zero to 100. In a way, we're kind of being a little egoistic in that respect.
Speaker 2:I can relate to that too.
Speaker 3:But it's scary, sometimes overwhelming too, to look and go oh my gosh, I don't know how to get there. And so whatever class you take, whatever photography technique you work on, whatever play date, every one of those is a building block to the future artists that you will become.
Speaker 2:So validating to hear you say that, because I think I have actually said that to myself before, but I'm skeptical somehow.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a very common thing too. We're skeptical because we don't think that we have the talent enough to do something like that. We dismiss ourselves too easily. We give that power of being a great artist over to other people without giving ourselves the chance to see whether or not we can really do what we think we would like to do, and again, that's a very human characteristic. The only thing that stands between you or me and being a great artist is ourselves, and I wish I'd quit getting in my way, that's a significant obstacle, though that's right.
Speaker 3:Sometimes I have to slap her and get her out of the way.
Speaker 2:Well, a friend told me recently about a painter who's paralyzed from the neck down. He paints with his mouth these beautiful paintings. I'm like, oh, and I have two hands and I won't get out there into it.
Speaker 3:We just have to get out of our way. Let me just tell you guys both what my activity as far as my art was today. I took a piece of paper and pasted other pieces of paper on it. That's all I did all morning to make pages for future journals. But that step is an artistic step in what I want to create. So artistic steps are sometimes very mundane and very simple, but they're all part of the process, right? Okay there, okay, good 10 minutes.
Speaker 1:Yes. What do you think about us? Well, us suggesting a challenge for you today? Sure, I'm up for it. Of course, you have to tell us also what you want to do, but what sounds good. And then we could even say let's just say, for the next two weeks, 14 days, let's just talk this out. We haven't talked about this yet, but could you commit to do one thing every day? What you do is you email us the picture, or, if you decide you're going to create an art account or just put it on your own, just post it there if you want to do that. But we don't want to force you into doing a social media account if you don't want to. What do you think?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm up for it. Okay, should I tell you what it will be? Or can it be a different thing every day? I don't know.
Speaker 1:Whatever, yeah, what do you think? Tell us what sounds good to you and feels good to you.
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, I'm one of these people who see the appeal in everything like I would like to have some of that and some of that, and so you know, no, what should I do? I?
Speaker 1:have an idea.
Speaker 2:This is why direction is helpful for me.
Speaker 1:I have an idea and then maybe, if Mama Judy has a different idea, you pick what you want. But one thing I could think of is we get off this call and you sit down and you just think of 14 words. It could be orange leaf couch, you could look around, your window, light whatever. Write 14 words down and start from the top, and the first word on the list is tomorrow. And if the word was shade or lamp or something like that, you take what feels good to you, if you're going to do photography, if you decide to sketch or whatever you do, but it has something to do with that word.
Speaker 2:I love that idea. That's a great idea. It is a great idea. I just I need something to narrow it down, so I have a very specific focus.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Otherwise I'll just kind of get overwhelmed. So I love that.
Speaker 1:Okay, so when we jump off, if you have time now, just jot your words down, look around, think about it and maybe just the word comes to you that you love. It doesn't have to be in your eyesight, so do I do? 14 days, yeah, yeah, 14 days, sure, 14 days, and then we could jump back on Zoom and you could just give us your little update. What do you think about that?
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how do you felt about it and I know this is asking a lot too, so you don't have to do this, but it would be interesting if you ever felt like to jot down if you were feeling emotions or something like either. Sure, I just felt pure joy this day. Some days I felt fear. It would be interesting to hear, because I know so many of us relate We've been there. Yeah, how does that sound?
Speaker 2:Absolutely, I think that will be very interesting. It'll be interesting for me, so hopefully for others too.
Speaker 3:Okay, it will trust me, kimberly. It will be for others also Okay.
Speaker 2:Maybe some other people would like to join us in this project.
Speaker 1:Yes, I'm thinking the same. I'm going to join it. I'm going to join the challenge. I don't know what I'm going to do, but it's probably going to have to do something with stitching or paper collage. But every day I'm going to do the same thing. When I get off, I'm going to write 14 words down and then what we'll do is we'll just come back together for five, 10 minute video to tag on to the end of this in a few weeks. So we'll just do that before this episode airs, so that we can have that all together. Well, this has been fun. Any final and parting words of wisdom? Mama Judy.
Speaker 3:No, you're on the right track and, kimberly, I suspect in your heart, you know everything you need to do, and just one step at a time.
Speaker 2:I love that. One step at a time, that is great advice. I love it. Thank you for feel honored to be the recipient of all this positive attention and encouragement. So thank you.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you for joining us. Jill and I love to sit and talk with each other, but our goal is to talk with as many people as we can, people that go through the same human experience around art that we've gone through, and there is a lot of just simple human commonality around being artistic and artists, the journey, everything. So thank you so much for being part of it.
Speaker 2:Well, you're welcome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this was fun, all right. Well, thank you, and we'll be back again in the weeks to come to have a little recap to see how this all went for all three of us. One thing I don't know if we've made it clear is, I think, the fact that just doing something every day whether it's 14 days, seven days, 30 days, 60 days helps you build your confidence, get into that zone, feel the good feels that it can be to create something, and that will help you get that momentum going.
Speaker 2:I love it.
Speaker 1:Absolutely All right, it's worth while undertaking for sure so thank you.
Speaker 1:All right, thank you, ladies. Love you, mama, judy. Bye, kimmy, thanks for being with us today, bye. Okay, so we have gathered back together with Kimberly and what we've done is Kimberly and I both decided to do 14 days of something every day, and Kimberly and I texted back and forth a few times or throughout, the little bit of a challenge for each other. And I asked you, kimberly, well, first of all, welcome back, thanks for joining us, thank you, and I had texted you the other day and I said about how long. So we each did something artistic for a little bit each day for 14 days straight, just to have that consistency and to get that momentum going. And I asked you how long were you spending on each time? And you came back and said no more than like 10 minutes. I think you said I would say like five to 15 minutes.
Speaker 1:Okay and that was the same with me. So, first of all, give us, give the audience, a little bit of a peek into the types of art that you ended up doing. Okay, yeah well.
Speaker 2:I explored a few different media. I guess I got some Fimo clay out and made some small food items. I made a banana and a carrot and that was really fun because I put little brown streaks on the banana and the little sticker on the banana. It was so fun doing the details. And then I baked that in the oven and it was just adorable. And I actually gave that banana to my friend who ran the Chicago Marathon. She carried it with her as a good luck. Talisman, how about that?
Speaker 2:Oh that's cute, this is so cute, yeah, but anyway, so I did that. I did a lot of. I leaned pretty hard on just felt tip pens and watercolors because they're just so easy, and I went out of town for part of that time and I just threw them in the suitcase because they didn't take up much room. I just sat on the hotel room bed and did my little watercolor and my drawing and my watercolor and watercolor is just such a quick, easy way to add a little satisfying amount of color. I found yeah, so I guess really that's.
Speaker 1:And when I did a little collage, I made some tiny collages, yeah excellent and if you're listening, so the day that this goes live, I'm gonna go ahead and share on Instagram both all the images of what Kimberly did as well as the things that I did. And just to let you know listening, I did a little tiny like one, maybe two inch by two inch paper collage type journal, and so that was fun for me. So I, too, only spent five, 10, maybe 15 minutes each day. So what did you find Kimberly? Well, two questions. Did you enjoy it? Did it inspire some new something in you? And also, will this, will you go forward and incorporate some sort of artistic, creative type stuff on your daily or weekly basis?
Speaker 2:I definitely enjoyed it. I kind of felt like it was. I usually did it in the morning, not always, and, as you know, there were a couple of days in there that I just didn't get to it, and I did too the next day. So I was not strict in my regimen, but I found it best when I did it in the morning and it was sort of like I don't know, it's kind of grounding in a way. I felt like it gave me a little lift to start the day and I kind of felt like I was starting with a little fuller tank. Then my other wise, have you know, mood wise or whatever, energy wise. So, yes, I want to keep doing it. Have I? I haven't yet, but I'm going to. I have plans to make a little something. I'll be. I have an hour to kill while my daughter's in her dance class later today, and so I'm going to do a little art during that time.
Speaker 2:So, I'm already starting to kind of plan ahead like, oh, that's, that might be a good time. You know, if I don't get to it in the morning, then you know I find it a time later in the day.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Because I see, really get something out of it. And I didn't enjoy them all equally. I enjoyed some things more than others, but I had moments of kind of frustration. I think there were a couple of times I started over or I, you know, I just discarded the the thing that I still didn't ever spend a lot of time, but I found that, you know, I did enjoy some things, maybe more than others. I loved making the little fruits with the FEMA clay. That was a lot of fun.
Speaker 3:And you love your description. Oh, you said that by doing it in the morning, you felt more full, more energetic. That is such a great statement. Oh, because I think art does do that. It makes us feel lighter.
Speaker 1:And I, like you also said, grounded that to me also. I feel grounded as well, and you said that you did it mostly in the morning and so she was texting me and so sometimes I may have already kind of got going in my day, forgotten. I'm like, oh, kimberly just texted me, I got to go do my thing. But I think one thing I will always do is set a timer on my phone just every morning, even if it's at like 6 30 AM, art, you know something as a reminder Because, like you said, you've kind of fallen off because we said we were the 14 days and kind of fall off, and me too I've still done a little something every day, but not like this, and so sometimes even a reminder will be helpful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I think that's where the community comes in. Yeah, excellent.
Speaker 3:The checking in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Not in a shaming or guilting way, but just in a like I'm doing mine now. You want to join me, or that sort of thing.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, I love that. Ok, great, yeah, any other questions or thoughts?
Speaker 3:No, I think everything you've said is exactly what we were hoping for.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, Good Well it was a nice discovery for me to make.
Speaker 3:Oh, one of the fun things.
Speaker 2:How nice, how good it made me feel.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, and what you've shared with us in this whole thing, I think will be helpful to other people.
Speaker 2:I hope. I would love that. That would make me feel great.
Speaker 3:And if we get any positive? Well, if we get any feedback, we'll let you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, I hope you will.
Speaker 1:OK, well, good, I'm going to be checking in with you and we'll probably get better in person. I'll send you what.
Speaker 3:I do today. Ok good and I loved your banana. I was so impressed I really was Because I've never thought.
Speaker 2:I'm glad you loved it. I loved it too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it was fun. It was fun to see too, and she did like you did, a rose one time. You did this rose drawing, which I'm like everyone in giving that rose drawing to anyone, you can send it to me.
Speaker 2:It's gorgeous.
Speaker 1:That is gorgeous, but when I saw it I was surprised, because when I was drawing it I thought this is not coming together.
Speaker 2:Oh, this is terrible. And then I put the color on it. I was like, oh, it's not so bad actually.
Speaker 1:I didn't think.
Speaker 2:I'd be kind of happy with it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I loved it Right there. Kimberly, you even just gave an example of what we talked about in one episode, where sometimes something doesn't look good and then something happens either time, or you add another layer and all of a sudden you like it. So it's great yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'll tell you one more thing. My niece visited during this period, my 28-year-old niece and she too has felt intimidated. She's had interest in doing art but felt intimidated. So we just did a little project together and she had the same process where she was like I don't think this is good, I don't like this, and I made a couple of suggestions and she did that and another thing or two, and then she was really happy with it.
Speaker 3:She had a lot of fun too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so.
Speaker 3:That's special Good.
Speaker 2:I already got another convert.
Speaker 3:How about that? Good, Good, good good.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you for being our kind of guinea pig in a way. And I was so pleasantly surprised to see the creativity that came out of you through this thing. I mean, it was really fun to see and I loved seeing you trying different things and now you can determine what you like best. If you would have just done sketches every time, you wouldn't have known if you like to do that type of clay stuff. So yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2:Yeah absolutely All right.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you and we'll see you soon and happy creating.
Speaker 2:OK, same to you, same to both of you. Thank you so much. This was really fun for me. Good, I can't believe. Bye, guys.