Beginner’s Mindset
Using invented and unconventional mark-making tools, we set out to show that creativity isn't a skill to be mastered, but a mindset to be practiced.
BEGINNER’S MINDSET
MARCH 2026
What if we approached creativity with the very qualities it takes to be a beginner: patience, humility, openness, and a willingness to experiment? That was the question at the heart of this workshop.
How it unfolded:
Week 1 — We explored mark-making with invented and unconventional tools, discovering what each could do.
Week 2 — We each took a single tool deeper, then paired up to teach one another the techniques we'd found.
Week 3 — A collective "what if we…" brainstorm, allowed the project find its own natural shape.
Week 4 — We brought it all together into what became a large, interactive storybook about a tiger.
Thank you to the participants of this workshop: Micheline, Vianney, Lucia, Philip, and Myriam.
What emerged: A Tiger's Tail
Murals of seemingly random marks slowly took the form of a book; the story of a tiger who, across eleven chapters, learns one quality of a beginner at a time while he traverses through the jungle. It was written collaboratively.
Here are a few lines from the journey:
Curiosity
1
"Such an exciting place to be! The possibilities are endless. I'll just have to see where the road takes me."
Patience
2
"Time can be long and short according to my perception. If I stay in the present, and breathe, I can fully experience the moment."
Humility
3
"Still, there was no turning back: time to learn again."
Sharing
4
"What is it that I can share? I don't know that I have enough. But I can share me, and maybe that's enough."
Experiment
5
"Time to try something different… Where could this go?"
Openness
6
"Behold, behold — without judgement, what is and what isn't."
Yes
7
"In the end, the tiger learned that 'Yes!' was much more fun than 'No.'"
