Creativity in June: Play, Colour and Letting Go

June feels different.

There’s a looseness to it. A lightness. A sense that things don’t need to be quite so serious.

Shoes come off more often (I'm nearly always barefoot, even in the studio). Sleeves get rolled up. You find yourself saying yes to things without overthinking them.

And creatively, June invites something simple:

Play.

Less Thinking, More Feeling

After months of noticing, observing, gathering… June is the moment to loosen your grip a little. This isn’t about careful studies or thoughtful reflection.

It’s about:

• colour over precision
• feeling over outcome
• doing something just because it feels good

Think less “What should I create?”
More “What feels fun?”

A Month of Sensation

June is full of sensory moments if you let yourself lean into them:

Warm grass under bare feet
Sun on your skin
Cold drinks, melting ice cream
Bright, clashing colours everywhere
The hum of summer starting to build

These are creative starting points, not things to analyse, just things to experience.

Creative Things to Try This June

Instead of lots of options, here are a few playful starting points to lean into this month:

Turn a Moment Into Colour

Next time you’re eating something summery, an ice cream, fruit, a cold drink, pause for a second.

What colours does it feel like? Not just what it is, but what it feels like.

Is it soft pinks? Sharp yellows? Melting whites? 

Create a quick colour response, paint, pencil, or even just naming them. 

Barefoot Creativity

Go outside, take your shoes off, and stand still for a moment.

Then respond to that feeling:

• quick marks on paper
• loose lines
• colours that match the sensation

Let your body lead, not your eyes.

Wear the Colour

Choose an outfit based purely on colour, not logic.

Clash things. Match things. Go brighter than usual.

Then later, create something using that same palette, a painting, a page, a photo.

Perhaps find fabric in the same colour and make a weaving or paint directly onto the fabric.

Take Something From a Place

If you’re near water, a beach, river, even a puddle after rain notice what’s there.

Shells, stones, colours, reflections.

Bring something small home (even if it’s just a photo), and use it as a starting point for something creative.

Look at the object close up and draw it, grab a huge sheet of paper and expand the object over the whole page, or draw it again and again layering and changing the view. Just play around and see. 

Let It Be Messy

June creativity doesn’t need to be neat.

It might be:

• half-finished
• a bit chaotic
• more about the experience than the result

And that’s kind of the point.

Play isn’t productive. It doesn’t need to be.

But it reconnects you to something important, that sense of curiosity, of making without pressure.

A Gentle Creative Prompt for June

Do one thing this month just because it feels fun.

Then respond to it creatively, quickly, loosely, without overthinking.

That’s it.

P.S.

This is definitely a reminder to myself. I can get very caught up in trying to make things “work” or “mean something”… when sometimes the best thing I can do is loosen up, play with colour, and not take it all quite so seriously.