I’m not sure what you picture when you think of an artist learning.

I used to think it was textbooks and schmancy art schools.

So much of my creative secret juice comes from

play,

curiosity, and

actively doing the complete opposite of what I’ve been formally taught.

Letting go of “should be”s, influences, and trends has birthed my most free and interesting works.

So here’s your permission slip if you need one - gather inspiration like a free artist. Play, cut, collage, contrast, just to see what happens.

I’ve left some ideas to get you started, but the point is to let your body do what it wants. Yes, this means the sometimes uncomfortable task of not listening to your inner logic voice.

If you have young kids around you, they’re great examples of doing this well - get down on their level and copy what they do to get started.

Find seemingly “dull” coloured items around your home and look for colour in them.

Here I used an old water colour palette to copy the purples, pinks, yellows, mustards and greens in some dried leaves and garlic.

Ideas: use pencils, a colour picker on your phone, zoom in on photos, or just your eyes.

You can do the same thing with textures - slow down and touch every day items - feel the grains in a wooden table top, the texture of patches on a wall, the ridges along a leaf or a cucumber.

Scrape rocks against each other to find the with colour inside, and feel the different textures.

Ideas: In Sydney, you'll likely find grainy, crumbly sandstone in oranges, creams, and reds.

On river banks, you'll likely find clay-based rocks with much finer texture - pictured here broken up and ground to make pigment.

Mix this with water or oil to make your own paint!