Are people born creative? Is the urge to make things, to draw, to paint, to just put things together, an inherent part of our being? Many say yes, we are born with the desire to create, hence, the thirst for more knowledge. The quest for knowing is paramount to the human species and most of us will spend our lives in pursuit of knowledge. We have all seen the vastly creative child prodigy who could compose symphonies at age three or paint wonderful abstract paintings that have astounded the art world! But the majority of us aren't child prodigies and haven't astounded anyone. So we would say no, we are not creative. To be creative, we mistakenly believe, we must be a magical, mystical, artist and paint magnificent paintings or make monumental sculptures and if we arent doing this, then we simply are not creative. Our general line of thinking is that artists possess magical powers in being creative and therefore are so different from us. The truth is, artists are not magical, mystical or different from anyone else. In fact, the artist, they, us, we, you and I, are just like the next door neighbor, just average people. Some of us may look a bit odd :-) but that is beside the point. Any creative person is an artist by the fact of their own creativeness. Perhaps what is not average about the artist, though, is the burning desire to make something, to create. An artistic creative person's hands are always busy, even when it's only making bread. How many cookbooks on bread making have you seen? There are as many different books as there are cooks and each is very creative in shapes and tastes of bread. The knitter or crocheter who is not satisfied to merely make things from other people's patterns, will make up a new pattern or expand and change the existing pattern. A creative person is not satisfied to just copy another's design; they want to do their own thing. That desire is what separates the creative artist from the crowd. Creativity will show up in many ways, not just painting or sculpting but in decorating and beautifying a home, using scraps to make quilts, planting gorgeous flower beds, sewing and so on. There is a creative streak in all of us. Find what you are creative in and excel in it! Make your mark! |
