Because, Creativity - An Invitation
Let's try it all. For fun, for joy. Not to be the best, no even to be good, just because.
I have always loved to draw and paint. But I’ve never been satisfied with only that. I’ve never been able to settle for just one type of creative pastime. When I was young, it didn’t even occur to me that I shouldn’t try it all.
I have made things with clay, messed about with papier mache, made models from matchsticks, knitted and crocheted, sewed things, embroidered things. I’ve tried my hand a felting, I’ve created hand made cards, decoupaged boxes and painted silk scarfs.
Even when I was trying to make a living from illustration and artwork, I couldn’t choose.
Advice for small businesses is that we should niche. Find our niche and stick to it, that’s how we’ll succeed. But success is relative. It’s personal. Is it really success if it isn’t making you truly happy, if it’s leaving you with an ache in your heart because you have so much more to give?
It seems that my creativity has and will always be capricious and unpredictable. I start searching for an idea on a project I’m working on only to find myself falling down a rabbit hole into a wonderland of ideas and inspiration that starburst inside my soul.
I have a head brimming with ideas and overflowing with inspiration. Things I’d like to draw. Things I’d like to write. Things I want to do….
I’ve realised that there’s a lot to love in just allowing all the ideas to flow and mix and reshape, appear and disappear. Though many of them will never alight with me, there is still joy in letting them light up my soul and fill me with excitement at the endless possibilities.
And I know that you feel this way too. Because you told me.
I love to be creative, for so many reasons and in myriad ways, cooking, knitting, painting, gardening, photography and writing - all are my passions… I love to spend time on each of those things as often as possible…
So I create because I love to, for me, for my friends - no pressure with all the magic and passion I’ve always had..!
When I was a teen, I wanted to learn to play guitar because I just thought that was possibly the coolest thing. I got one, got lessons, enjoyed it a lot until a few years ago life just got busier… and now my beautiful Fender Western Guitar is sitting in a corner… Maybe, when no one is watching, I will pick it up again this week..
I am reading Your Brain on Art (Magsamen & Ross) at the moment and it is blowing my mind in the best way. It's helping to remove some of the guilt and stories I had about the frivolity and unseriousness of my creative outlets. Now I feel like they are necessary! Not just for me but for people around me and wider society. When we create and play for JOY it feels great but it also keeps us well, helps us to stay curious, helps us to make connections, feel part of something bigger. I mean, it's just a massive WIN.
Cultivating something for your own joy is so overlooked, or at least it feels that way!
I love this, cultivating joy just for joy is the best use of our time and creative energy! I’m a silversmith as well as a therapist and love to get lost in making things that are wildly impractical!
You’ve really inspired me to start sketching again.. just for fun.. without judging myself on how it turns out, but just to enjoy the process, which I really love 👍💕
Creating something from love and enjoyment is what matters most.
An Invitation
I invite you to join me on an adventure, exploring and celebrating creativity of all kinds.
If you have a creative pastime that you would like to share as guest post on While I Was Drawing, send me a message!
Don’t worry if you don’t think you’re any good at it, because that just might be the perfect thing 💛.
Lets make things from clay. Lets knit and crochet and play around with felting. Lets try out lino printing and silk painting. Lets draw and paint and play music. And lets share that joy with others.
And if you’d like to have some fun exploring different types of creativity just for fun, join me for the first ever Because Creativity Live session in May (date and time to be confirmed), where we’ll be playing around with air dry clay to see what we can make.
After all, what else should we do with this one wild and precious life?
Bye for now,
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For a long time I thought I was doing it wrong because I couldn’t niche down. Now I just do what I love and put it out there.
Oohhh...multicraftual here ✋ my fun stuff is knitting and spinning, I guard it's *fun* boundaries carefully! I'm also highly susceptible to give things a go - recently lino cutting, and I've got cyanotype chemicals waiting for the sun to come out.
I started doing pottery for fun and though it's not my work it's feels as though it's sort of become a kind of work...if I don't sell pieces then the house will collapse under the weight of ceramics!