Two days ago I didn’t feel like posting another image for December Reflections 2018. Yesterday I didn’t feel like it either. Today, when I still didn’t want to post an image, I realized that I had seen the last of December Reflections 2018.
I’m perfectly fine with that. As our family Christmas gathering approaches, I find my interests have moved to wrapping gifts for our grandchildren, cleaning house, and preparing food. I’m also spending more time learning about and practicing watercolor painting. This is so much fun for me!
I finished the watercolor painting above this morning (using one of my photographs as inspiration) and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. While not perfect I learned a lot painting this and I totally loved the process. I took the partially finished painting to class and learned from the teacher how to paint the glass vase. After practicing painting it a couple of times I worked up my courage this morning to try it for real.
My second watercolor class ended this week and I hope to take additional classes next year. But I’m finding a lot of nice tutorials online and watercolor painting books that are also helping me learn. I have discovered that I love painting flowers (which makes sense, since I also love to photograph them). This week I checked out this book from the library and after looking through it, bought it.
Creativity is a practice
Photographer, Brooke Shaden said in a recent post, “Creativity is a practice, not a guarantee. Creativity leads us to fulfillment. It connects us to each other. It solves problems, gives us purpose. If we practice creativity, our craft grows, but so does our life.”
I agree with this idea totally. Creativity is a practice. In fact I believe that creating is more important for how it helps us grow internally than for what we “produce” when we create. For me, creating brings me joy.
As with any practice, it is easy to get sidetracked by expectations or focused solely on outcome. Little self-critical voices whisper poisonous criticisms in my mind, fear of failure keeps me from exploring new things, unrealistic expectations sometimes keep me from practicing.
Think about how a child learns to write. At first they painstakingly work on simply writing their name. The letters are often crooked and jiggly. They are different sizes and messy looking. We don’t say, “That kid will never learn to write! Look at how terrible he is.” We celebrate, “Look! Johnny wrote his name! Wow, you are learning so much.”
It takes years and much practice for a child to learn to write well (and some of us never learn to write legibly). The same is true for almost any skill.
Why then, are we so hard on ourselves when we try some new creative activity?
This was my first painting in the first watercolor class I took this fall.
If I had listened to the negative voices in my head about how terrible it was, I would never have continued practicing watercolor painting. I would have given up and said, “I just don’t have the gift.”
It’s not about having a gift or talent. It’s about being open to exploring, practicing and learning! This next painting is from my third watercolor class.
I was amazed at how much difference practice and learning a few skills in loading the brush with paint made! Mistakes are a signpost on the road to learning. Without making mistakes we never learn.
When was the last time you treated your creativity as a practice?
Have a wonderful holiday everyone!
May you walk in beauty.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
0 Comments