I’ve known the lovely Alice Keeler for years and, like, everyone, am always amazed by her creative output and contributions to the education community. Recently, I had the privilege to pen a guest blog post for her site, which was a bit on the lengthy side so it launched in two parts. The ideas focus on developing a creative culture with three different “wall” concepts. These are strategies that can be used in any learning space….physical or adapted to digital, and for any le

Is this a Weed or a Wish? This sketch is something I did a long time ago to illustrate perspective – some might think a dandelion is a weed (it technically is)….but of course we make wishes by blowing its fuzz…thus giving it a more magical, beautiful quality. Sometimes my daughter Gwen breaks the tediousness of the day with a real gem. This Sunday morning I was sipping on Prosecco and Italian gourmet marachino cherries attempting to compose a blog post (as you do), and she bu

One of my favourite workshops I’ve developed is “Image is Everything”. It’s a visual thinking experience that can be anywhere from 1-6 hours (or all day, or over a two day conference). The point is NOT to “learn to sketchnote” as so many related workshops are. In fact, although I do drawings to represent my or others’ thinking, I would not identify as a “sketchnoter”. A lot of my friends are, and they are fab, but I need to distill…I need to simplify into one icon only…that’s

taken while walking at a trolley station in San Diego Metaphorical Meanderings I recently returned from a speaking trip to both Austin, Texas and Worcester, UK (but then noodled around in Oxford, London, and Birmingham). When I travel, I don’t like to do the usual tourist thing…rather, I enjoy connecting with local friends (most of whom I’ve only previously known virtually), and losing myself as a flâneur of sorts – an urban stroller a la Baudelaire. Back in the days of old-s

This past week I was privileged to meet with dear old friends in the beautiful land that is the U.K. I culminated my part business / part pleasure trip in Manchester, where I spent a few days traipsing gleefully with Jeffrey (a California expat who has known me since I was 14) and Kimmo ( a lovely Finn who I met in France during a college trip). Jeffrey is a musician and music producer and comes complete with a cool studio in the heart of the North Quarter (I’m describing as

Yesterday listening to a beautiful rendition of Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit by Icelandic chanteuse Emiliana Torrini: I’ve always loved Lewis Carroll, mostly for his wordplay (and his pioneering use of photography in the early days). I’ve even done some birthday sketchquotes for him Whilst thinking on the potential uses for the phrase “Feed your head” I recalled the tale from the dormouse in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: `Once upon a time there were three little sist

Today I had the pleasure of watching (and reading) Howard Rheingold’s interview with Unflattening author Nick Sousanis. Like Howard, I am a big fan of Nick’s work- not only for the content (which is phenomenal), but for the essence of it- the “ness” I mentioned in an earlier post. I love the way Nick maintained a process journal of sorts on his “Spin Weave Cut” site and always points people there to be a part of his “living” work. That is what the #showyourwork movement (via

A few days ago I challenged Steve Wheeler (@timbuckteeth) to compose a blog post based on 1 of a choice of 3 images I sent him. Being the sharp mind he is, he happened to incorporate all three! He volleyed back with this image of bread spilled on the street, and was careful to say he took the photo in Paris. After some rumination here it goes – 3 analogies… Bread as Knowledge One if the first things that struck me was the tone of “waste”. It was particularly intriguing that t

I talk about remix a lot – probably more than most people. I even have a pretty meaty G+ community that houses all kinds of examples. I also sketch a lot- in fact, this past year, I’ve averaged about 10 sketches a day for my various projects: Serendipidoodle, #100daysofhashtaggerie, Drawmour, #threethirtysketchquote, and My day in One Word – not to mention the ones I do for keynotes (about 350 per one hour keynote). I upload most of these to my My-conography Tumblr. Sketching