Stating the obvious

As I read and learn about creative people, there is one element of their creativity that stands out. Creative people create. Duh. But it's true. Painters paint, sculptors sculpt, writers write, composers compose, knitters knit, weavers weave, jewelers jewel and so on. It's such an obvious thing but so many people miss it.

Consider that in our modern world, we all can be creative. There is nothing stopping me, for instance, from going a few clicks from this page and buying everything I need to be an artist, an easel, oil paints, brushes and canvases. No, wait, I want to be a weaver. In six to ten working days, I can have a loom, shuttles, nice yummy wools and oh, some yarn made from pop bottles for a table runner. Pop bottles on pop bottles. Very cool. The very fact that I am typing this on a computer tells you that there is no reason why I can't write that murder novel that's been in my head for about twelve years now. So why don't I?

I might make a boo boo, a mistake. It, whatever it is, may not be perfect.

We remember our mistakes but forget the mistakes of others. We exaggerate our own mistakes. We forget that successful, creative people had to create student works, bad art, trial runs, mock-ups and the one that knocks me out, muslins. What are muslins, you may ask? They are garments made from muslin that a designer makes to test the drape and fit of a piece before making the final product from some fabric costing a gazillion dollars a yard. I have a hard time imaging taking the time to make the muslin of a garment, sitting in an atelier making a garment that will never be worn.

I also have a hard time imagining spending years grinding pigment before putting a paint brush to canvas or spending time sharpening the nib of a pen before beginning to write. Yet for creative people in years past that was the reality.

Do I want to go back to those times? Not. Do I want people to be creative? Absolutely. How do I see this happening? By knowing that mistakes will happen and keeping them in perspective. By learning to say,

• "I'm practicing...
• "I'm experimenting with...
  
• "I'm trying something new...
• "I'm making a mess...
• "I'm playing with...

When you understand and accept that not everything is going to be perfect, you can't make a mistake. You recognize that there will always be room for growth, no matter how good you have become. So go. Make a muslin. Write a shitty first draft* or two. Weave a sample. Paint a color chart. People won't know it was meant to be a still life of kiwi fruit if you don't tell them. Knit a swatch, so what if it's three feet long?

And be thankful you are not grinding rocks to make paint.


* Read Anne Lamont's Bird by Bird for more on the shitty first draft.