The joy of creating

I was reminded last night of when I was a child. I loved hiding in my bedroom with some kind of craft or art material, just creating and exploring the materials. I tried calligraphy, jewellery making with my dads solder iron, baking, cutting and glueing. I even made velvet hats that I sold to my friends at primary school. It seems I was entrepreneur even back then. Nothing else mattered, I was so engrossed in the process of creating. There is nothing like the buzz of making something from scratch or creating a new idea and seeing it come to life.

My son tonight asked if he could have a special place like my art studio to draw. So we cleared a space for him with his own paper and one of my old tool boxes filled with art materials. It is set up right next door to my studio space ( the spare room). It feels great. He said that we are like creative neighbours now. He now is experiencing that same joy. Sometimes creating art is a lonely business. Gone are the days of art school when you were constantly motivated by other students creative energy. Well now I have my creative buddy to help with that. While I type this he is sitting doing his stick men that he so loves and inventing his next comic book.

Art is now how I make my living, it is sometimes hard to keep that innocent joy of creating. When you are thinking about selling artwork, it can be hard not to be trapped by the thoughts of having to sell it and creating what you think people want to see. I have actually found that these thoughts are counter productive. They don’t help you in any way. People want the authentic in what you make, it is your voice and your original story and expression that attracts people to your work. It is true that not all people will like it, some people may even hate it but retaining the joy of creating is paramount in creating authentic art work.

So tonight after I finish this post, I am going to play and have some fun, I may make a mess and it might end up in the bin but maybe just maybe, out of this fun a master piece may be born.