Giving my brain a kick in the pants

I like making things. I'm a librarian, but I would also edge myself toward "artist" as well. Someday I will feel confident enough to take the quotation marks away from that word, but for now I try as best I can to spend some of my free time messing about with paints and pencils and bits of string and whatever else strikes my fancy. But sometimes... it happens. The dreaded CREATIVE BLOCK. It's not uncommon. It's the time of year, it's waiting for the sunshine to return, it's being busy with work, and housecleaning, and all sorts of tasks that fill our days. Eventually we notice that a number of days have gone by, and our brain feels a bit rusty. Imagine it like so:

It helps to have something to reach for, something to give our brains a bit of a kick in the pants. It's not surprising that for me, it's often books. Picture books, art books, science books, all types of books. Books with pictures and sometimes not. This week's "Things" are to do with Bibliocommons lists, so I decided to make a list of what I call "Creativity Boosters". That's kind of a lacklustre name, but maybe once I have kicked my brain around I will come up with something better. Christin pointed me toward Rainey's book list carousel tutorial! So GET READY FOR IT:



Look at that! Pretty sweet. I might add some more books to this at some point.

And books are great, but what about while you're waiting for those holds to come in? Let me present you with some YouTube videos. I find watching creative profiles of artists and authors from far and wide really inspires me to push forward with what I want to do. Here we have library-favourite Oliver Jeffers: Butcher Baker Picture Book Maker



And Alaskan garment artist Enzina Marrari: