Wednesday

What will you teach the new generation about creativity?

Hi there.. I'm joining in on We Scout Wednesday .. the topic is 'What will you teach the new generation about creativity?
.. hmm.. I never usually do this sort of thing.. but I'm gonna play!

A couple of the major aspects regarding creativity that I am passionate about ( aka ..I have learned this the hard way).. is ..

1)Any creative path is just that.. a path.. a journey.. keep going.. sometimes just one foot in front of the other.

I have had times of great despair with my art.. not liking the work I am producing ..becoming frustrated and overwhelmed.. but I have always found that if I find at least ONE thing about the work that I like.. and create another .. and another.. I can see definite improvement remarkably with each one.
My old pattern of throwing it under the bed in disgust.. giving up and berating myself mercilessly for days isn't that helpful, productive ( or enjoyable!).

I have found it best to just allow the work to come, ..acknowledge it, If I don't particularly dig it, then calmly press on to the next one. If I LOVE it .. then dance around the room like a wild woman.

2.. We are all artists.

It's true.. I know this one to be true.. If we wanna do it. .we can.. the untapped artist is in us all.
I tapped into mine at age 30.. sitting there patiently all that time..while I told people I could only draw stick figures..

Guess what.. I hadn't ever really tried.. I think I thought it had to be programmed into the DNA.. you have to have an 'artist father' or close relative. But when I decided 'I need to paint..I need to draw.. well... I did.
Many bizarre, hideous, moving and beautiful drawings later. I'm still painting.
It's so great ..with this facebook thing, people from highschool find my site and write.. 'Wow your artwork is amazing I can't believe that I didn't remember you were an artist!".

haha.. cause I wasn't. I decided I would be later on.. I made a choice..
and took action.. peeled back some veils and layers of doubt and voila..
( oh yeagh I also spent many , many hours practicing)

the great news is .. there is tons of crazy dancing around here now.. and it's pretty clean under the bed !

So to recap..

* Nurture and cherish your creative spark..

*Believe in yourself..

*We are all artists in some form or another, it just depends on how you choose to express it,

*If you want it bad enough .. keep going. and try to be nice to yourself.. ( tell that crappy voice in your head to shutup!)

Oh and I think it goes without saying.. be very careful who you ask for feedback from.. some of the ones we love the most... hmm.. not always the best for this kind of thing :) some weird, screwed up 'protecting/sabotaging package' often involved there.
Luv ..Helen xx
New Zealand Fantail
Watercolor

(One that didn't go under the bed..)

5 comments:

  1. Well I for one am totally inspired! I think most artists have gone through this one point or another in their life. All the self doubts, feeling not good enough and wondering whether it's worth the energy at all! So, I'm still pushing myself along the line...sometimes dragging too!! (^_^) oxx

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  2. I completely agree with the limiting who you get feedback from. I joined writers' groups and quickly discovered that too much feedback was a BAD idea! It just created noise and was another way to procrastinate! So glad I came by!

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  3. oh what an inspiration!!! without creativity the world would not be the same place....wonderful watercolour piece too!!

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  4. Remarkable how you get your watercolors to look so soft and fuzzy and feathery! I could almost scoop him up into my hand. And that, I hear, is worth two in a bush.

    I like the thought of you dancing like a wild woman. I have no doubts you dance a LOT. That's how you stay so slim. :)

    Thanks for the inspiration. Oh! And I canNOT believe you thought that you - at one point - could only draw stick figures. Gah! And what I love knowing is that you didn't start until you were thirty. Sometimes I doubt I'm an artist because I never grew up doodling or feeling compelled to draw. I started drawing regularly two or three years ago, and I'm sort of hooked.

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  5. Helen , thank you SO much for your LONG & totally meaningful comment on my blog yesterday!! It touched my heart and warmed me up and I went to sleep with a smile :) :)

    I've read the post you mentioned, and the story of the dove is SO powerful! It gave me chills! Here I am, sitting around waiting for a sign, not properly realising that the falling star I saw on Tuesday morning might have been just that. In my current state, I'm drowning everything the Universe throws at me in linear logic and I come up... silly ;)

    I went on a little blogpost journey here, read the posts that came as suggestions below the March 26 post - this one, and Creative Honesty (March 19). This bit: "Deep within me , there is a knowing that I am 'skimming the surface', not digging deep enough to where my soul truths lie hidden, swathed in layers of 'what others expect' and ' my own insecurities'." EXACTLY - that's where I AM!

    THIS post here is beautiful, too - I'm drinking it in :) Too early for cheap Chardonnay here ;) but I think I will crawl out of my funk. I believe I will! I 'just' need to dig a little deeper...

    I think your paintings are AMAZING, and in a warped way, it helps me to know even a true artist like you feels the doubts creep in at times!

    Thank you so much - you rock!!
    Big hug!

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