Creativity

Many of us believe we are not creative. When we think of creative people we think of Picasso, van Gogh, Hemingway, or Beethoven. You know,  really creative, artistic types. Not the ordinary Joe,  like you or me.

The truth is - everyday people are artistic and creative, as well. As Pam Grout relates; Howard Finster, a retired minister with a sixth grade education didn't pick up a paintbrush until he was in his 60's. One day, God said to him, "Howard, I want you to start painting."  He reminded God that he hadn't a clue how to paint and God retorted just as quickly, "How do you know?" Over the course of the next 28 or so years, Howard produced 46,000 paintings. True, a good deal of his artwork was not traditional art, however, Barbra Streisand, Woody Allen and others have paid upward of $20,000 for his artwork.

My son Nick takes beautiful and unusual photographs as he strolls through his San Francisco neighborhood. He enjoys experimenting with new recipes and is always baking something yummy. He is purchasing furniture for his apartment and takes pride in decorating it and hanging artwork on newly painted walls. Yet, still insists he isn't creative. Where do we get the idea that creative folks are not us?

Everyone has creativity. Some are mathematicians, or scientists or dancers or writers. It's all creativity. We simply must acknowledge it, coax it out, nurture it and it will grow.

Betty Edwards, author of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, compared creating art to reading. "We don't give kids a stack of books and expect them to know how to read. We wouldn't accuse them of not having the aptitude for reading if they didn't pick it up on their own." (from Pam Grout's Art and Soul).

Why do we think we should create a masterpiece the first time we take a stab at oil painting? Or write a best seller after our first draft? Practice, patience and the constant doing will produce a work that will be not half bad. It has the potential to be good, but it hasn't quite made it there. The secret is not to give up. Perseverance, my sweet.

What little nudge or inkling of a creative idea do you receive from the ethers now and again? Follow that notion and see where it may lead. What better time than now to follow those little whispers and hints? Just imagine what you might create.

xo