Prayer

Creativity within…

The theme of last weekend’s Premier digital conference was Create. If you’ve read my blog before you’ll know creativity is a key theme in my life and it was so great to hear people talking about how we can all be creators, how we can all express ourselves and release some creativity.

So. I can draw, I loved art at school, I was good at it and I went on to become an artist selling my work and run2015-11-14 21.58.58ning my own gallery. However, english? not so much. I remember a teacher once saying to me that my writing was (something like) boring, predictable and unoriginal. Ouch. Now this isn’t a rant at teachers at all, but really teachers, you have a responsibility! I grew up thinking I was unacademic and no good at main stream subjects like english and maths. But you know what, school isn’t everything. I now have a degree in history of art, have run my own business, am currently studying theology and, just won runner up blogger of the year for my writing (it may of course still be boring, predictable and unoriginal but now I have a prize for it, so to my english teacher, ‘in your face’!).

So where am I going with all this other than sounding a bit boasty? Well, here’s the thing, we are all creators. Yes all of us. As an acreation1_SMALL2rtist I used to be really frustrated when people said to me, ‘oh I wish I could draw’. Because at school, where you learn to be creative, that’s what you get taughthere’s a still life, draw that, or do a portrait of yourself, so if you can’t do that, then you are ‘rubbish at art’ (& art teachers, I do know things are now a bit more encompassing than that!). But art is more than that, it is an expression of ourselves, a release of emotion, a portrayal of something within us. Everyone has the possibility of releasing what is inside of them, in fact I think people should find a way to do just that, it’s so valuable. It doesn’t matter what it looks like, sounds like, reads like, it’s just for us, for you.
Now, I can draw something like looks like what it is but my favourite thing when I
was working most was to produce big abstract canvases. Into them I poured out my feelings, emotions, vision, pain, and yes a bit of my soul. At PremDAC15 I went to a seminar by Rev Ric Stott, a Methodist minister and artist. He was very inspiring and one thing he said was that ‘painting is an excavation of the soul’. Wow what a line. Like it’s personal but not entirely within our control, it’s like a process that has to be done, to find the gems, to find truth or hidden treasure. But deep, intrusive and even with an air of violence.

…o0O0o…


My husband is a musician, so for him music is his creative outlet. On creativity he says that everyone has their own creative outlet, a ‘go to’ place. So when you write or play or create you are inspired to do so in the way that feels right for you. When downs4he writes a song he says he writes from the feeling he is experiencing. Embodying it, feeling it, releasing it. Whether that is from feeling love for someone or something, to a sense of frustration or anger, or a place of the realisation of God’s grace. So those feelings are part of the expression, which I think means it is more real and authentic. Some of those songs never see the light of day, just like some of my pictures, drawings and prayer doodles stay in my sketch book or behind closed doors, they are too personal but they were, are, valuable to us.

…o0O0o…

We all have the ability within us to create, in different ways and not to be held back by words that have been spoken over us or by those ‘I can’t’ or ‘I’m no good at’ thoughts.  Ok so you are not Grade 5 at the piano, you can’t draw a person, you can’t spell (neither can I, that’s what spellchecker is for) you might be ‘unoriginal or predictable’, it might be stick men, it might be ‘chopsticks’, but who cares?! Let your feelings your inspiration, your emotion pour out of you. Have courage and be creative…

 

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