The Mood Board #010
Searching for playfulness, slowing down, and carving out space to create
the PALETTE
Why does playfulness get put on the back burner? As kids, we let our imaginations be free and unrestrained; our creativity pours out of us, unconfined by things like work and busyness and insecurities.
I was wholeheartedly playful as a kid. My sister and I would lock ourselves in the basement and immerse ourselves in Barbie World, playing until our mom pulled us back into reality to eat mac and cheese for lunch, before we’d thump, thump, thump back down the stairs to our magical little world. And we’d put on elaborate dance and theater performances, practicing over and over to perfect our pirouettes and, more realistically, our chaotic break dancing, completely unbothered by the fact that we had to go back to school the next day.
There were no restrictions on my creativity. I was free to take in the world around me and turn it into something. It felt so natural to me, being creative. And it still does. But I’ve found it’s harder to access, harder to take the input from the outside world and turn it into tangible creations.
But I feel the need to create bubbling up inside me. It’s begging me to slow down, notice the world around me, and be playful. So that’s what I’m determined to do.
The Mood Board has historically been curated by images I’ve found on Instagram, along with a few from my personal archives. This week, you’ll find every image has been drawn, photographed, painted or designed by me. I’m challenging myself to do this more often – to use this space to play, to create, to feel inspired, and hopefully, to inspire you to do so too.
I feel it’s absolutely necessary for me to take in interesting and beautiful things, to sit around and do nothing, to daydream, doodle, and jot down ideas. I want this newsletter to be a space for me to share all of that with you. So, in this tenth newsletter (that means I’ve been doing this for 20 weeks already!), that is the focus, and I hope it continues to be going forward.
As always, thank you for being here, and I hope you can find something to inspire you this week.
xo Brianna
P.S. Now that I’ve been sending these for a while, you might notice some tweaks and changes as I figure out what’s working, what’s not. But fear not! The inspiration, creativity, and of course, colorful things are here to stay. :-)
the MOOD
PLAYFUL | PERCEPTIVE | PATIENT
the WORD
persnickety (adj.): placing too much emphasis on trivial or minor details
“She’s being kind of persnickety about the party; it’ll be fun no matter what!”
the BOOKS
The Pairing by Casey McQuiston*
Bisexual exes run into each other in Europe four years after breaking up. Amidst the insanely romantic landscapes and delicious food around them, they challenge each other to a little competition to see who can sleep with the most people in Europe. But, ya know, they don’t seem totally over each other either. I’m loving it so far! It comes out on Aug. 6. Preorder it here.
The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
The music producer’s book on creativity has a lot of reflections on creativity and how to tap into it your own creativity. I’m enjoying reading this one in little bits and journaling about my thoughts on it throughout. Order it here.
Poor Things by Alasdair Gray
This is the book that the Oscar-nominated movie starring the wonderful Emma Stone is based off of. I haven’t seen the film yet, so I’m excited to see what happens in this Frankenstein-esque novel! Order it here.
NOTE: I make a small commission off of books ordered through the Bookshop.org links. Thank you for supporting me and my writing through using my affiliate links!
*Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin for the ARC via NetGalley.
the LISTEN
Incredible album. Incredible song. That’s really all I can say. Also yeehaw.
the READS
Three stories (all from Substack this week!) that I enjoyed recently:
In Search of Heat – Feelings Not Aside by Kayti Christian
The Magic of Mood Boarding – Take Your Time by Dianna Cohen
Notes of: A Garden Party - À La Carte by Ali LaBelle
And one by me:
‘Mechanic Shop Femme’ Is Making Auto Care More Accessible - Milwaukee Magazine
the PROMPT
My friend Allison told me about eye yoga this week. She texted me randomly about it (see below), and I was admittedly super confused – BUT then I looked it up and it’s really cool! It strengthens your eye muscles and may decrease eye strain. As someone who stares at a computer nearly all day, I am definitely going to be trying this out. And the prompt this week is for you to give it a try too. We all stare at screens to much, so it can’t hurt to give our eyes a little extra love. :)
the CAT
So many incredible recommendations!! Thank you for curating and including me <3