Start Messing Around: A hands-on workbook for making your own creative inspiration Paperback – February 11, 2026

Start Messing Around is a hands-on workbook for artists who are tired of waiting for inspiration to show up.This book isn't about explaining where ideas come from or teaching you how to make "better" work. It's about noticing how ideas actually form--by bringing unrelated things together and paying attention to what happens next.30 prompted exercises pair two unexpected words and give you space to explore what they bring up for you: memories, feelings, shapes, textures, or associations. There are no right answers and no finished results required. Alongside the prompts, visual inspiration drawn from different materials and mediums helps open up new ways of seeing without telling you what to make or how to think.You don't need to complete the book in order. You don't need to finish every page. You can come back to the same prompts months or years later and get something entirely different out of them.This workbook is for painters, sculptors, ceramicists, fiber artists, woodworkers, and anyone who works with their hands and wants a more natural, repeatable way to generate ideas--without pressure, perfection, or waiting for inspiration to strike. Read more