Creativity Cookies

Marshmallow Medium

By Dan Goodwin

Once you’ve chosen a specific medium to work in for your next creative project, you’ll automatically have a set of ideas and preconceptions about what’s possible in this medium. In fact more than that, it’s likely you’ll start to bombard yourself with a shedload of “shoulds."

You'll tell yourself that anything you create in this medium SHOULD be of a specific shape, size, content, dimension, tone, colour, and a dozen other restrictions. You'll tell yourself that unless you meet this perfect criteria with your new creation that it won’t be authentic or genuine, or you won’t be a “proper” artist.

This Creativity Cookie will help you throw all those restrictions out the window and create in your own unique way!

Little Nibble:

Think of your next chosen medium not as a cast iron box with rigid edges that can’t possibly be altered. Instead, imagine your medium as a giant pink marshmallow that you squeeze, squash, manipulate, reshape, tear into pieces, toast on a fire or dip in melted chocolate!

Whatever you do, it’s still going to be marshmallow that’s the core substance. But you allow your creativity and imagination SO much more freedom and space to experiment when you think in this way.

So to get your mindset loosened up in this area, write a list of all the things you could do with a marshmallow. Seems silly, yes, but go with it and you’ll realise how much this approach frees your creativity, rather than thinking only in a cast iron box.

Big Bite:

Now you’ve opened your mind about the possibilities of creating in a medium without having to stick to preconceived rules and “shoulds”, it’s time to actually get down to creating.

Pick a form you’re fairly comfortable in, then apply the Marshmallow Medium thinking!

How can you create in a way that pushes the boundaries of the medium?

For example, when you write a poem, do you have to write with a pen? Do you have to write on paper? Can you write in a layout other than straight horizontal lines? Do the lines that follow on from one another even have to be on the same page or can they be on multiple layers of pages? Does it have written on a flat two dimensional surface?

Anything that makes you pause and think: “Hang on, are you ALLOWED to do this in this medium?” is a great sign that you’re opening your mind and challenging what’s accepted!

Think marshmallow, think experimentation, and push the boundaries of your favourite creative medium today!

Head over to CCS to share your experiences of Marshmallow Medium and see what others have shared: Join in on the discussion here. •

© Copyright 2008 Dan Goodwin

05/23/08