Book Review #7

(Found the artwork for this book here)

Shel Silverstein was (and still is!) on of my favorite poets. He made me feel like it was more than OK, but expected to be silly, to play around, to experiment, and be creative as a child, teenager, and adult. That is saying a lot for a poet who can effect all ages of my life, even now. I still pull the book down from my self occasionally and flip open to a random poem and giggle out loud.

Silverstein is the king of using different perspectives and views. Each poem is a different voice and story and inspired imagination. If I get stressed or feel uncreative, I like to just take a deep breath and make something fun to relieve the tension. One of the ways in which I do this is by painting on polaroids. It reminds of the pictures from children's books and gives me away to combine reality with fantasy.

It's really easy to do if you have polaroids around that you're not really excited about (or ones that you do like but don't mind painting). I used cheap-o acrylic paint from a craft store. When you want to mix colors, it's good to do that before the paint dries, but if you want strong lines between colors it is important to let the colors dry. Also, if you make a mistake you can can wipe the paint away with a damp cloth. What do you do to re-energize your creativity?