How a mundane task turned into a creative day out?

The day began routinely walk the cat, re-started morning pages, wash the car, breakfast, do a load of washing and drop the car off to get four new tyres and full wheel alignment. I had booked the car in for a 'while you wait' service taking about one and a half hours. On a whim, well I noticed a bus stop nearby and thought why not. Dropped the car off and caught the bus into town. Of course, there was a bit of looking at the shops, coffee and watch the world go by and finally ended up in the library. 

Allowing the whim moment to keep evolving I went to a section of the library I hadn't previously been and wondered the shelves to see what might grab my attention. A black spined book with white child-like writing peeped out from its bigger neighbours. The way it peeped out reminded me of Calico when we play hide in seek. "Steal like an Artist" by Austin Kloen, intriguing title, unique format 6" square and just one hundred and forty pages long. Page nineteen caught my eye as I thumbed through, right there in black font while on an unplanned trip to the library are the words.

You have to be curious about the world in which you live. Look things up. Chase down every reference. Go deeper than anybody else - that's how you'll get ahead. From "Steal Like an Artist" by Austin Kleon.

mmm.. not sure where this will go, oh well!. Let's run with it. I had one of my sketchbook bags with me so pen and paper in hand. I firstly copied phrases, words and ideas that inspired. As I copied, new ideas came to mind, and I ended up doing a form of word association.

Word association is the process of using at least one word that is related to your topic as the starting point, then allowing your mind to spit bull (no filters) additional words and thoughts that spring to mind.

Start by writing the word at the top of the page. Look at the word and write down whatever comes to mind. Keep writing until you feel tapped out. Review the list and highlight the words that resonate with you. Write these words in columns across a new sheet of paper and one word at a time repeat the process. Once you've finished, sit back and have a look at the lists and again highlight the words that resonate with you. Often there are common elements. This collection of words is now the basis for further investigation. 

I was first introduced to this process during a workshop with Textile Artist Carol Wilkes via a dictionary wordplay exercise. We made a list of words that related to the assigned topic and using thesauruses and dictionaries we looked up each word and expanded the idea. The vintage of the dictionary can yield entirely different results.

Dictionary wordplay, word association and mind mapping are my go-to tools when exploring new subjects, deep diving a project investigation, resolving a stuck point or just exercising the mind with a bit of creative playtime. As you gather and collect inspiration include word association as part of the process, you never know where it will take you. My sketchbooks are works in progress and an ongoing resource; they often end up with all sorts of side thoughts, quick sketches, photos, collected bits n bobs and odd bits of paper. To get you started, I've put together a Word Association Worksheet, it's in PDF format.