Creativity

EXPERIMENTAL EXERCISE: A LITTLE GLUE INSIDE MY SHOE

| Patricia

“I was reading a book titled The History of Glue – I couldn’t put it down.” ~ Tim Vine, Comedian

In an effort to do something creative every day, I sometimes find ways to experiment with unusual materials. 

After finishing my morning bedside sketch, using coloured pencils, I noticed the pile of multi-coloured pencil shavings from sharpening them and wondered how I might use them in another art exercise.

So, taking a new sheet in my small bedside sketchbook, I dribbled glue on to the flat surface, creating a network of lines encased in an outline of sorts. I then took the pencil shavings and sprinkled them on top of the still tacky glue. I propped the sketchbook up on a basket beside the bed to dry.

Later, I realized that the glue was more runny than I thought, and had dripped off the page. When I put my shoes on, I realized that the glue had dripped into the inside of my Clark’s clogs and was now also all over my socks!

To me this piece could represent a flock of birds or butterflies alighting in a stand of saplings, or maybe wilted flower buds browning on wintry stems. Kind of like a Rorschach test. What do you see?

So, today’s message is don’t mistake your brush cleaning jar for your cup of tea; and watch out for dripping glue into your shoes, LOL. What strange or funny things have happened to you when you are working on a piece?

Art created 2/22/2026.

All artwork and creative writing is Copyright © of Patricia White. No use of this content or concept may be used without the express permission of the artist/author.

Finding Creative inspiration

| Patricia

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” ~ Albert Einstein

Love this quote from one of my art instructors at the Dundas Valley School of Art (Ontario, Canada) back in the 70s.

Gordon Perrier was not only a renowned painter, but a creative thinker of the first order. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to attend his courses.

The expansive way I’ve grown to think about the arts, painting, drawing, plastic arts (mostly hand-built porcelain clay works), creative writing, etc., was influenced, in part, by these early creative experiences.

Where do you find inspiration for your art or creative writing? Leave a message in the comments.

All artwork and creative writing is Copyright ©️ of Patricia White. No use of this content or concept may be used without the express permission of the artist/author.

10 Fascinating Facts About Art from Neuroscience

| Patricia

“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.” ~ Albert Einstein

Great article: exploring art in relationship to the brain.

Did you know that creating or viewing art can rewire your brain? Whether you’re an artist, an art lover, or just curious about the mind, the relationship between art and the brain is fascinating. From boosting memory to enhancing problem-solving skills, art engages our brains in unique and powerful ways.

Art can make you a better problem-solver.

Working with clay will calm you down, more so than drawing with a pencil. Note: I can attest to this having worked in plastic arts for years. Nothing like ‘playing in the mud’.

Empathy shapes how we experience art.

Different kinds of art light up different brain areas.

Creating art can boost memory as we age.

Instruction in art-making may make your brain more relaxed.

Art-making activates reward pathways in the brain.

See story here.

All artwork and creative writing is Copyright ©️ of Patricia White. No use of this content or concept may be used without the express permission of the artist/author.

Altered Ego: Daily Notes App Drawing

| Patricia

“There’s a mysterious alter ego in everyone. Some call it hallucination, some call it art.” Bhavik Sarkhedi, Author and Branding Expert

This Daily Drawing is part of a recent series of posts showing work that was created in the Apple Notes App (essentially a writing app) using just the basic drawing tools within the text-based app. The basic art is sometimes resized and enhanced in Procreate 5  on my 12.9” iPad Pro. Over the past year or so I have experimented with simple drawings made with these rudimentary drawing tools iPad Pro using a second-generation Apple Pencil as my sketching pencil, ink pen and paint brush. 

Altered Ego Notes Drawing June 18, 2025

I often write a paragraph or two story idea reflecting my daily Notes app sketch. Here is an excerpt from the Altered Ego work-in-progress story:

“She woke up feeling fuzzy-headed, one foot still in the sleep world and the other planted firmly on the floor beside her bed, feeling something heavy and oppressive commanding her thoughts. Thoughts that were still back in the realm of the sleeping, not quite connecting with the waking world.”


This exercise has been an effort to show that all the bells and whistles contained in dedicated paint applications are not always needed to create interesting art. If you try the experiment of sketching in the Notes app with its in-app drawing tools, please post a link to your work in the comment section.

All artwork and creative writing is Copyright ©️ of Patricia White. No use of this content or concept may be used without the express permission of the artist/author.

Watery Orb – Notes App Drawing

| Patricia

“We forget that water and life cycles are one.” Jacques Cousteau. Oceanographer

Daily drawing created in the Apple Notes App using just the basic drawing tools offered within the text-based app. The basic art was then imported into Procreate 5 on a 12.9” iPad Pro and enhanced. I find this method fabulous for brainstorming and coming up with concepts for future analogue or digital works. Many make it into the manuscripts of stories that I write. Some of the imagery inspires a written piece—a story, a poem or a concept.

Watery Orb Notes Drawing July 20, 2024 Copyright©️Patricia White
Watery Orb Notes Drawing July 20, 2024 Copyright©️Patricia White


In this art I see breaking waves with white splashy foam rising up with the surf. As I continued to look at this piece, a sense of magnetospheric catastrophe emerged, perhaps with a geomagnetic shifting of the north and south poles, essentially wiping out much of earth’s living organisms, including humans. It‘s interesting how art can elicit a wide range of thoughts, reactions and conjectures, which are, after all, fodder for creative artists and writers.


All artwork and creative writing is Copyright ©️ of Patricia White. No use of this content or concept may be used without the express permission of the artist/author.

CREATIVE INSPIRATION: New book based on neuroaesthetics

| Patricia

Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us by Susan Magsamen & Ivy Ross

CHECK OUT THIS ARTICLE IN THE WASHINGTON POST. IT STATES SO MANY THINGS I BELIEVE ABOUT ART. For me, art is a ‘MUST’ do activity. It keeps me CENTRED, expresses concepts or thoughts that otherwise may disappear into the ether. It KEEPS my AGING HANDS and brain dexterous. I create EVERY DAY. It may be a sketch, painting or other VISUAL art; or WRITING a chapter in a story or development of a new character; it may be slapping together a COLLÁGE from found materials; or knitting a row or two on a NEEDLEWORK project; it might be FOOD preparation or INVENTING a new vegan dish to sustain our health. I create for the FULFILLMENT of creating SOMETHING from NOTHING .

The author states that “Art is NOT a LUXURY for our downtime, but an important CONTRIBUTOR to physical and mental WELL-BEING”, says Susan Magsamen, co-author of an upcoming book on the new field of neuroaesthetics, which studies the brain’s responses to art. Book: This is Your Brain on Art – Penguin Books.

To Magsamen, founder and executive director of the International Arts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, her artistic pursuits are ABOUT FAR MORE THAN HOBBIES. “I need it for my SOUL and my HEALTH and my SURVIVAL,” she says. “It’s not a NICE to have, it’s a HAVE to have.”