We're diving into some creative mashup magic today, friends! Timothy Kimo Brien is here to sprinkle a little fun into your artistic habits, inspired by Mike Brennan's workbook, *Make Fun a Habit*. We're tackling Chapter 25, aptly named "Monster Mashup," where we learn that mixing things up can lead to some surprisingly tasty outcomes—yes, even that Elvis burger with peanut butter and bananas! So, whether you're a culinary whiz or just someone who likes to throw random pantry items together, this episode's all about experimenting, blending, and creating something uniquely you. Grab your favorite snacks and get ready to unleash your inner artist—who knows what deliciously weird things you might whip up!

Making Fun A Habit Series

30 days to add fun to your creative practice. I will be going through Mike Brennan's Make Fun A Habit workbook and help you make fun a habit. I had the pleasure of interviewing Mike on my other podcast Find A Podcast About and talking about his podcast Creative Chats. This workbook leads you through steps to rekindle the fun in your life and get you into a space where you are your most creative. This is a 30-day book and I will tackle each day as if it were a week and provide insights on how to use his ideas in your creative practice. Each chapter is broken up with a short story, questions to ponder, action items, and tips.

Assignment

Questions

1. Where can you identify products or ideas that you encounter everyday that were the results of a mashup?
2. What two different category or themes do you find interesting? What would happen if you mashed the two up together?

Action Items

1. Create two columns on a page on the first colum write down the first category and on the second column write a category that you would like to mashup the first category with. Once you write these categories down begin to brainstorm. Once you are done create a third column with the ideas of the mashup from the first two columns

Tips

1. Look for inspiration in unexpected places
2. Use visualization techniques
3. Don't be afraid to fail
4. Have fun

Takeaways:

• Using Mike Brennan's workbook, we can transform our creative habits by making fun a daily routine, which is a game-changer.
• The 'Monster Mashup' concept encourages us to combine unexpected elements in our art, leading to delightful surprises.
• Exploring our pantries for mashup inspiration can lead to deliciously unique culinary creations and artistic experiences alike.
• Don't fear failure in your creative endeavors; every experiment brings you closer to discovering what truly works for you!
• Visualizing your creative projects can help you map out your ideas even before you start gathering materials.
• Remember, art should be fun! Embrace the ridiculousness and enjoy the process of creation without taking it all too seriously.

Links referenced in this episode:

• findapodcastabout.xyz
• tkbpodcaststudio.com
• podmatch.com

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Create Art Podcast Commentary Monster Mashup hello friend.

This is Timothy Kimo Brien, your head instigator for Create Art podcast where I use my over 30 years of experience in the arts and education world to help you tame your inner critic and create more than you consume. So we're continuing on with our Make Fun a Habit series and that comes from Mike Brennan's book, Make Fun a habit.

It's a 30 day workbook that you can use to put fun back into your creative habits. Now I found Mike Brennan through my other podcast, Find a podcast about which you can find@findapodcastabout XYZ.

And that's where I help you find your next binge worthy podcast and outsmart the algorithm. But let's talk about Mike for a second. He has a podcast called Creative Chats and I've been listening to that for a quite a long time.

And I reviewed his show and you can find it on my other show if you would like to check that out. But he made this workbook, it's a 30 day workbook and it's a real easy read to get through.

But what he does is every chapter is a new day and he has a different topic that he is tackling. So that way he can help you get that fun right back into your creative habit.

Now, how the book is set up as he tells a little story that's related to the topic and then he gives you questions to think about, action items for you to do, and then tips. So that's what we're going to do here today.

We're going to go through one of the chapters and actually we're going through chapter number 25, which is called Monster Mashup.

Now the story that he tells about this is a time that he was in Nashville, Tennessee and he's a really picky eater and he talks about this Elvis burger that he had, which is, you know, your burger and then your peanut butter and bananas and bacon. And he was really hesitant because he's a picky eater and he was really hesitant to try this burger.

Now for me, I don't know if I would try it or not, but I might give it a shot. My kids like PB and J with bananas in them, so maybe this would be something that I would try.

But when he tried the burger and remember he's a picky eater, so he tried the burger and he found it was delicious, Absolutely loved it.

And, and it's with things that you wouldn't think normally go together and we can See this in our everyday life, if we just go to our pantry and throw two things together, it can turn out to be the most wonderful meal that you've ever had. Think about it. Some of the best things that you've ever had in your life. Mac and cheese, for instance. I make what I call, oh, my God, Mac and cheese.

And my kids absolutely love it because after they eat it, they're like, oh, my God, this is so good. And I've given it to other people.

But what I do is I take, you know, macaroni and a bunch of different kinds of cheese, make kind of a bechamel sauce out of it. But then I also put fried onions in there as well now.

And then I also put in chopped, diced tomatoes and a couple other things, and people just rave over it. That's a form of art right there. The culinary arts. Why do you think they call them the culinary arts?

Because if it doesn't look good, you're probably not going to eat it. So. But sometimes, you know, the stuff that doesn't look good tastes fantastic, or stuff that doesn't smell the best absolutely tastes fantastic.

So that's what Mike is encouraging you to do with your art. Mash two things that don't look like or don't sound like they're going to go together and see what comes out of it.

So let's start with the assignment that he has for us. The first question is, where can you identify products or ideas that you encounter every day that were the results of a mashup?

Go right to your pantry. I'm serious. Stop the podcast. Go to your pantry, go to your refrigerator, and put two things together and see if it works out.

Now, it may work out great. You may end up with food poisoning. You know, check this stuff in your refrigerator.

Make sure it isn't expired, but just take two things out of the pantry, out of the refrigerator and put it together and see, you know, if it tastes really good. I kind of think back to, you know, when people were, you know, creating these different recipes. How did they know to put A with B? They didn't.

They tried it. You can do the same thing with your artistic practice. I've done it before where I've taken a poem and I've put music to it.

You know, people sometimes call that a song. Well, there you go. You have words and music put together. Boom, you have a song. There's other things that you can do with it.

You can put somebody dancing on a stage and then put a video on behind it. Boom. You have an experience right there. Who would have thought these things went together? I don't know, but that's the beauty of it.

You give it a try.

So the next question that it gives us are, what two different categories or themes do you find interesting, and what would happen if you mash the two of them up together? So I've already told you. One of the things that I've done is I've taken words and music and put it together.

And what I did is I took two separate things that weren't necessarily written for each other and put them together, and I got something really cool out of it. One thing that I tried a long time ago was I took my favorite poem by T.S. eliot, the Hollow Men, and I did some audio soundscaping with it.

So that way, you know, you would hear one voice reading one of the stanzas, and then you'd hear another voice, a little bit lower, reading it, but backwards. And what turned out was something magnificent. It's one of the best things that I can say that I created with an. With a audio soundscape with it.

So that's two things that I'm always working with, is words and music. You might have something else that you're working with. You know, maybe it is painting and movement.

You know, you get up and turn on some music and cover your hands with paint and then put it on a canvas, or cover your feet with paint and put it on a canvas. Whatever it is, give it a shot for yourself. What's the worst that can happen? Is somebody going to shoot you in the head for it? I doubt it.

In this day and age, I doubt it. But give it a shot for yourself. What do you got to lose? I don't think you have anything to lose at all.

You might come up with something really awesome. Collage is a great, great way to do it.

To take two different kinds of magazines with two different kinds of themes, like maybe a nature magazine and a interior design magazine. And, you know, cut out different things from them and put them together and see what you got. Okay, action item is next.

And he does something a little bit different here. The action item that he gives us is to create two columns on the page.

The first column, write down the first category, and on the second column, write down a category that you'd like to mash up with the first category. So the example he uses is Christmas and superheroes. Now, once you write these categories down, brainstorm with ideas. Don't censor yourself.

Just go with it. Okay? Anything is game. And then Once you're done, you create that third column with the ideas from the mashup from the first two columns.

So your idea is you have, let's say in the first column, Christmas superheroes. Next thing you know, you've got a Christmas tree with a cape and the stories of the super Christmas tree. I don't know, give it a shot for yourself.

I'd love to see what you come up with. Alright, so finishing it out is the tips that he gives us. And what he says is look for inspiration in unexpected places.

Again, go back to your pantry, go back to your refrigerator and put two things together and see what happens with it. Experiment with it.

You know, go to the grocery store, go to the art store or the craft store, go to two different aisles, grab two different things and see if you can't put them together and make something totally unique out of that. You know, make that third thing be something totally unique. Challenge yourself that way. If you're looking for inspiration, there you go.

There's your inspiration right there. The second thing is, the second tip he uses is use visualization techniques.

So let's say you can't get to the store, you can't get to the craft store and go ahead and pick stuff out of the aisles there.

Well, think about the things that are in a craft store and just visualize it in your head to kind of give you an idea of where you want to go with it before you even go into the store. And then, you know, my challenge to you is go in the store and make that thing happen, but use those visualization techniques.

You know, let's say again, you can't go to the store, but you can go online and print out pictures of what you would do and then just mess around with that picture and see what comes of it. So use that visualization technique. The third tip is don't be afraid to fail. You're going to fail. You're going to fail.

Depending on what you determine a failure is. I look at failure as, hey, I experimented with something. Did I learn something from it? Yeah, this does not go with that.

You know, pickled okra does not go with cottage cheese. Not that I have tried that, but it's kind of difficult to get pickled okra where I'm at.

But maybe it's difficult where you're at too, but, you know, it's not that great. But maybe pickled okra with something else, with some other kind of cheese is gonna work a lot better. Who knows? Give it a shot for yourself.

Let me know what you think, you know, if nothing else, write into me and go. No, Tim, actually, you gotta try the pickled okra with cottage cheese. It's just an idea that came off the top of my head.

The last tip that it gives us is to have fun again. The title of the book is Make Fun a Habit. You know, don't stress it. Have fun with whatever mashup you're going to do.

And, you know, hey, if it tastes totally horrible or if it looks like, you know, a diarrhea on a canvas, okay, cool. You know, now you, you can sell that and go, hey, it's, you know, title it Diarrhea on a Canvas. There you go. But just have fun with it.

Don't, don't take it so seriously. Now, some of our art is very serious. You know, I write really serious poetry, but sometimes I just have fun.

You know, there's one that I call Deep Dish Dreaming that is just all about the virtues of deep dish pizza and imagining deep dish pizza as a woman and the consumer of the deep dish pizza is her boyfriend. Why not go for that? You know, have fun with it. Sometimes we got to be absolutely ridiculous and, you know, put a smile on our face.

And, you know, I always try to read that poem whenever it gets a little too serious in the poetry reading. Pull that one out and, and have a great time with it. All right, that's what we have for you here today at Create Art Podcast.

I want you to feel free to reach out to me. Timothyreateartpodcast.com I'm going to be doing a whole new series after I get done with Make Fun of Habit.

And I've got a bunch of topics that I'd like you guys to chime in on. And, you know, that way we can have conversations. Won't necessarily be an interview, but I just want to know your ideas.

So if you're interested in that, shoot me an email and I'll give you the list of the topics I'm going to be covering. It should run for about six months. Also, let me know how the show is going.

I want to know what's going on in your area, what you're struggling with and what you're doing really good with and stuff that's helping you out. And I want to know if this podcast is helping you out because I really want to make this a five star podcast for you.

That way you'll feel confident in sharing it with friends. And that's the best way to grow a podcast in my estimation.

Now, speaking about growing podcast I mentioned earlier, I run another one called Find a Podcast about. You can find it at findapodcast about xyz.

And again, that's where I go and listen to a bunch of different podcasts and come come back to you and tell you which ones I think are binge worthy. And that way you can outsmart the algorithm. So check that out for yourself. A few other things that I'm doing is I did start up my own business.

It's called TKB Podcast Studio. You can go to tkbpodcaststudio.com and you're going to see there my portfolio of all the podcasts that I work on and what I can do for you.

So if you've ever thought about starting up a podcast, let me know.

I'm going to be there to help you from the idea creation and inception all the way to, you know, publishing that podcast and making it the best you can possibly make it.

I want to partner with you on that and I want to use my quiet professionalism to help you, you know, be heard and lead through all the noise that's out there. TKBpodcaststudio.com is the place to go for that.

Now, some of the guests that I do get on the show, some of the interviews that I do come from a service called Pod Match and I do have, you know, the link in the show, my, my affiliate link in the show there. And what Pod Match does for me is it helps me get the best guests that are going to do great things for you, that are going to bring value to you.

Now, do I get a little bit of a commission from them appearing? Yeah, a little bit. Nothing to write home about. But the big thing is that I only bring in the guests that I think are going to benefit you.

Not necessarily benefit them, although all the guests that have been on here in the past have really benefited from being on the show. But my main aim is to help you with your creativity.

So check PodMatch out if you're a podcaster looking for guests or if you're a guest looking for podcasts. Alright, that's all I have for you here today. I want to thank you so much for listening to Create Art podcast here.

I'm going to let you get on with your day. I need to get on with my day. But go out there, tame your inner critic. Create more than you consume. Make some art for somebody you love. Yourself.

I'll talk with you again next time. Sa.