CREATIVE COLLABORATION is an interactive book about seeing in new ways and making magical drawings out of scribbles, doodles and inkblots that create characters and tell stories. It's about the art of collaboration that combines two partner's different media, styles and ideas to create more than each can alone. NEW WAYS TO SEE, the beginning chapters, offer ways of developing visual imagination including: Cracks in Walls and the Man in the Moon, Hidden Images in Paintings, Stereograms, Ink Blot Magic, and Energy Prints. The main body of the book, BEFORE AND AFTER CARTOON CHARACTERS, shares the characters, and cartoons created by our collaborations. Every day we sent each other a scribble, doodle, or collage scrap, called a BEFORE. We changed the BEFORES into AFTERS and shared the transformations with each other. The creative flow was so much fun that we couldn't stop and some days completed 3, 4, and 5 AFTERS! We were amazed by the characters, from seemingly other dimensions, that came through our random doodles to tell their stories. Our 45 pairs of BEFORES and AFTERS will show how easy it is to see into random forms and outlines to create your own uniquely original, sometimes very strange, new characters. WRITING FIVE-MINUTE TALES TOGETHER, the final chapters, share stories that flowed from our choice of characters, as we took turns, alternately writing a few sentences until it was finished. Both children and adults can enjoy the humor and healing magic of DOTTY AND THE JESTER, MESSYMAN AND THE GRYPHON, CORA AND THE WISE WOMAN. Our drawing and story collaboration boosted our creativity to a new level. Our minds released more and more blocks and limits the further we went in the game. We learned from each other. My art partner learned to paint digitally through a simple free software program I found for her. I learned how to write captions to images, and create fairytales, her specialties. And by seeing within random squiggles, I somehow learned to draw simple faces, figures and animals. We feel this process continuing to create new brain pathways, new possibilities in art and life. We are grateful to be thinking and feeling in new ways and hope you will have inspiring and brilliant experiences with CREATIVE COLLABORATION as we did!
About the Author: Sara Deutsch, M.S., is college teacher, author, multi-media artist, and Creative Arts Therapist, who focuses on creativity as a healing force. Her journey led her into many worlds. She trekked alone in the Himalayas, and lived in virgin jungles of Hawaiian Islands, eating only fruit and wild vegetables. Sara draws from doctoral study in Psychobiology and East/West Psychology, years in a contemplative order, 28 years of private practice, multimedia explorations, and college classes including TELLING YOUR STORY, YOUR VISUAL JOURNAL, CREATIVE COLLAGE, DRAWING ON INTUITION, THE MAGIC OF MIND MAPPING and THE ART OF COLLABORATION. Her books include: TELLING YOUR STORY WITH THE FIVE MINUTE MUSE--Your Life in Short Stories, Poems or a Novel; CREATIVE MEDITATIONS WITH YOUR FIVE MINUTE MUSE--Exploring Ink Blots, Energy Prints, Collage and Digital Painting; FIVE MINUTE MAGIC FOR CREATIVE WRITERS--Send Your Critic on Vacation!; REMEMBER TO FLOAT--Mystic Haiku from Paintings to Inspire and Heal, EXTENDED FAMILY--Original Fairy Tales with Art and Heart; CREATIVE COLLABORATION--Magic Ways to Create Cartoons and Stories Together; and VIOLET MOON--Fairy Tales with Art to Heal the Heart.