I just finished reading a very thought provoking post at www.aholyexperience.com . This is one of the few blogs that I read on a regular basis because I really learn something about myself.
Her son said everyone first wants to be an artist, until they show their work to someone who tells them it's no good.
I always enjoyed new crayons, coloring pictures, trying to draw things I imagined.
I remember art class in elementary school--don't smell the smelly markers, put a line here, do it like I do but don't copy your neighbor (?!), cut on the line......lucky anyone kept their creativity after that class!
I remember the teacher praising the "artists" in the class and generically looking over and grading the rest of the class.
In high school I took an art class and was so excited to be learning how to draw facial features. We had to draw the person sitting across from us. It didn't come naturally to me but I really enjoyed it anyway and hoped the teacher would push me to keep working and practicing. That didn't happen. Everyone made fun of each other's poor attempts and I don't know who felt worse, the one doing the drawing or the one being drawn.
That was the end for me. The years of my attempts at creating something from nothing were laughed at and pushed aside for the kids who really had talent. I was weak and lacked confidence and didn't want to try anymore, obviously I was not cut out to be an artist. I didn't want to be famous, I just wanted to be able to draw something and have it looked halfway good. I had things in my head, I just needed to know how to get them from my head to paper.
Now that I'm an adult I enjoy creating in the kitchen. Again, nothing too fancy but my family always smiles and eats too much of it so it must be good! I've always been encouraged in the kitchen and so I work at doing better and I enjoy it.
I look out my back window at an amazingly old and beautiful walnut tree we have affectionately named Wally. How I long to draw him. I imagine myself sitting down with a freshly sharpened pencil and a crisp white piece of paper and taking what's in my mind, what's right in front of me, and putting it to paper. I can see myself doing it and it turns out just like Wally. One time I did actually try it and it turned out like a bunch of lines on a piece of paper.
What if that art teacher had been an encourager? What if he had made sure all of us, and not just the real artists, had the tools to create the things we had inside of us?
After reading Ann's post today I'm renewed. I will not give up the dream of being able to draw what I see. I probably won't ever be in an art show, but I have things in my head that are just waiting to be put on paper.
Is there anything you have pushed aside because you were never encouraged, or worse, told you were no good at? Join me in giving it another try? Seek out an encourager, mentor, how-to book, someone who already has been successful--and don't let anyone snuff out your dream!
