No Crying in Art

The greatest luxury is creativity and art.  Even more of a luxury than viewing art is the honor of being creative.  It doesn’t matter what your creative outlet is, you are entirely in control of  its expression.  The nature of the arts is one of searching and discovery.  Like a child reaching for crayons, we seek the expression of something within us.

When number one son was a boy, he complained he was no good at art.  I took the children to the Cleveland Museum of Art.  There were pictures (like the one above) that had number one son thinking he was indeed good at art.

I gave my children cameras when we went on vacation.  Each child took very different pictures with their cameras.  Number one son took pictures of spreading vistas, and to his dismay, his sister took close up pictures of flowers, bugs and rocks.  The good son took pictures with people in them.  There was no right way to take the pictures.

As a writer I have known the self-doubt that others have expressed.  I questioned my talent, which has prevented me from sharing my work, but never completely kept me from writing.  It was actually dabbling in other forms of art that taught me my most important lesson.  I took up black and white photography to learn how to see shadow, texture, and framing.  I took up regular photography be of the color of nature.  But it was sketching and painting that in a class with other’s that showed me no one is happy with their efforts.

As a first time painter I got encouraging compliments on my painting, while the experienced people in the class complained about how awful their pictures were.  I thought all the pictures were great.  I wanted to tell these artists,

“There’s no crying in art!”

If you compare yourself to people you admire, you could believe you have no talent. Instead of comparing yourself to other creative people, study their work.  Figure out what it is you admire about the work of others, and what it is you would do differently. This will give your work more richness as you discover your creative path.  Practice makes perfect applies to any creative endeavor, but if you wait to be blessed with perfection from on high you will never delve into creative waters.

There may be rules to your art, but feel free to break the rules.  Worst case, you will learn why to follow the rules, and have a good laugh.  Each creative effort is an opportunity to explore and have fun.  So many things I’ve hated and put aside for some future time turned out to have a nugget of insightful beauty and creative sparkle.

This is why I blog.  My blog is the perfect testing ground to see if I actually can write every day.  My blog is also a testing ground for different kind of writings. September 6, 2014 I wrote my very first poem. After learning what a Tanka is from a posting on WordPress, I wrote  A Tribute Tanka.  I have now written ten poems, and begun a personal study of poetry.  (Remember that list of categories you have written about?  Mine is on the bottom.  Feel free to click on it for my complete poetry collection.  Feel free to leave a constructive criticism.)

Remember:  There is no crying in art.  So indulge in creative play.