There are many times across our lives where we feel the gentle nudging or incessant tugging of creation. Sunlight filtering through forest leaves, dappled and dripping in golden haze whispers, “Paint me.” The rich, tangy flavors of an exotic dish during travels abroad asks you to, “Try making me at home!” The crisp, refreshing sip of an iced matcha, the windows open in the kitchen, lemon zest floating on the breeze...you find yourself mentally noting each sensation and thinking that this moment is poetry in action. Creation says, “Write.” And yet here we are: not writing, not painting, not cooking, not creating. Why?
"The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists." -Charles Dickens
Of course there is always the inner chatter of “Well I am not a painter. A cook. A poet. No, no. I am not creative enough. I wouldn’t do it justice. Better left to the real artist.”
Which is quite adorable considering there are really only two requirements for humans to be an artist or creator. That you (1) be human and (2) simply practice the skill you want. I am a painter because I am human and I use paints. I am a poet because I am a human and I write words in various poetic forms. Same, too, goes for you. You don’t have to be good at what you do. You just have to do.
This means there is really no such thing as a ‘real’ artist. There’s just real humans who make art. The greats we so admire simply have a few more hours under their belt. Odds are, they have failed a great many more times than you have even tried. So try.
In your trying, however, please remember not to wait for the angels of inspiration to come crashing through your door. Don’t wait for the muses to descend with picnics and paradisiacal circumstance for you to pick up your pen or your hammer, your needle or trowel!
Creation is a muscle and the more it is used, the greater it grows. Many a novice creative believes that they will act when creativity strikes! But the odds of this are slim, considering creativity emerges from action and atrophied muscles are not inclined to move without great, great exertion. (And the spirit of Creation urges, never forces.)
Michelangelo, artist of the Statue of David and the Sistine Chapel once said, “If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.” This is because Michelangelo didn’t wait for creation to strike him. For if he had, we might might never know the glory and wonder of his masterpieces. He got lost the creative practice. He understood that mastery is made in the mundane, and greatness from habit. For our lives and our works are merely the sum total of how we spend our days. He, like all creators who cement themselves in history, made art a ritual and creation a necessity equal to eating or sleeping.
As did Da Vinci, Rembrandt, van Gogh, Monet...Kahlo and O’Keeffe...Shakespeare, Homer, Austen, Dickens...Beethoven, Mozart, Bach....Presley, Mercury, Swift...Across all mediums and for all time, the artists who become world renown creators start as a nobody. But what they all have in common is that they lose themselves in the creative act. They do not separate themselves from their art but make it a part of their living, breathing selves. A daily habit. A nonnegotiable practice.
They see the world as their canvas. They make magic in mundane. Why? Because every creative knows the mundane, the raw and real, is where the true magic is. And this is the difference between the stale, formulaic structure of construction verses the living, breathing aliveness of creation. As Dickens said, “Creation is loved before it exists.”
It is dreamt of, visualized, prayed for, practiced, obsessed over, and wholly consumes the artist and creator. It is this fiery passion and clear vision awakened through hours and hours of practice. So stop waiting for creation to strike.
Act, and magic will follow.
There are many times across our lives where we feel the gentle nudging or incessant tugging of creation. Sunlight filtering through forest leaves, dappled and dripping in golden haze whispers, “Paint me.” The rich, tangy flavors of an exotic dish during travels abroad asks you to, “Try making me at home!” The crisp, refreshing sip of an iced matcha, the windows open in the kitchen, lemon zest floating on the breeze...you find yourself mentally noting each sensation and thinking that this moment is poetry in action. Creation says, “Write.” And yet here we are: not writing, not painting, not cooking, not creating. Why?
"The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists." -Charles Dickens
Of course there is always the inner chatter of “Well I am not a painter. A cook. A poet. No, no. I am not creative enough. I wouldn’t do it justice. Better left to the real artist.”
Which is quite adorable considering there are really only two requirements for humans to be an artist or creator. That you (1) be human and (2) simply practice the skill you want. I am a painter because I am human and I use paints. I am a poet because I am a human and I write words in various poetic forms. Same, too, goes for you. You don’t have to be good at what you do. You just have to do.
This means there is really no such thing as a ‘real’ artist. There’s just real humans who make art. The greats we so admire simply have a few more hours under their belt. Odds are, they have failed a great many more times than you have even tried. So try.
In your trying, however, please remember not to wait for the angels of inspiration to come crashing through your door. Don’t wait for the muses to descend with picnics and paradisiacal circumstance for you to pick up your pen or your hammer, your needle or trowel!
Creation is a muscle and the more it is used, the greater it grows. Many a novice creative believes that they will act when creativity strikes! But the odds of this are slim, considering creativity emerges from action and atrophied muscles are not inclined to move without great, great exertion. (And the spirit of Creation urges, never forces.)
Michelangelo, artist of the Statue of David and the Sistine Chapel once said, “If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.” This is because Michelangelo didn’t wait for creation to strike him. For if he had, we might might never know the glory and wonder of his masterpieces. He got lost the creative practice. He understood that mastery is made in the mundane, and greatness from habit. For our lives and our works are merely the sum total of how we spend our days. He, like all creators who cement themselves in history, made art a ritual and creation a necessity equal to eating or sleeping.
As did Da Vinci, Rembrandt, van Gogh, Monet...Kahlo and O’Keeffe...Shakespeare, Homer, Austen, Dickens...Beethoven, Mozart, Bach....Presley, Mercury, Swift...Across all mediums and for all time, the artists who become world renown creators start as a nobody. But what they all have in common is that they lose themselves in the creative act. They do not separate themselves from their art but make it a part of their living, breathing selves. A daily habit. A nonnegotiable practice.
They see the world as their canvas. They make magic in mundane. Why? Because every creative knows the mundane, the raw and real, is where the true magic is. And this is the difference between the stale, formulaic structure of construction verses the living, breathing aliveness of creation. As Dickens said, “Creation is loved before it exists.”
It is dreamt of, visualized, prayed for, practiced, obsessed over, and wholly consumes the artist and creator. It is this fiery passion and clear vision awakened through hours and hours of practice. So stop waiting for creation to strike.
Act, and magic will follow.
There are many times across our lives where we feel the gentle nudging or incessant tugging of creation. Sunlight filtering through forest leaves, dappled and dripping in golden haze whispers, “Paint me.” The rich, tangy flavors of an exotic dish during travels abroad asks you to, “Try making me at home!” The crisp, refreshing sip of an iced matcha, the windows open in the kitchen, lemon zest floating on the breeze...you find yourself mentally noting each sensation and thinking that this moment is poetry in action. Creation says, “Write.” And yet here we are: not writing, not painting, not cooking, not creating. Why?
"The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists." -Charles Dickens
Of course there is always the inner chatter of “Well I am not a painter. A cook. A poet. No, no. I am not creative enough. I wouldn’t do it justice. Better left to the real artist.”
Which is quite adorable considering there are really only two requirements for humans to be an artist or creator. That you (1) be human and (2) simply practice the skill you want. I am a painter because I am human and I use paints. I am a poet because I am a human and I write words in various poetic forms. Same, too, goes for you. You don’t have to be good at what you do. You just have to do.
This means there is really no such thing as a ‘real’ artist. There’s just real humans who make art. The greats we so admire simply have a few more hours under their belt. Odds are, they have failed a great many more times than you have even tried. So try.
In your trying, however, please remember not to wait for the angels of inspiration to come crashing through your door. Don’t wait for the muses to descend with picnics and paradisiacal circumstance for you to pick up your pen or your hammer, your needle or trowel!
Creation is a muscle and the more it is used, the greater it grows. Many a novice creative believes that they will act when creativity strikes! But the odds of this are slim, considering creativity emerges from action and atrophied muscles are not inclined to move without great, great exertion. (And the spirit of Creation urges, never forces.)
Michelangelo, artist of the Statue of David and the Sistine Chapel once said, “If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.” This is because Michelangelo didn’t wait for creation to strike him. For if he had, we might might never know the glory and wonder of his masterpieces. He got lost the creative practice. He understood that mastery is made in the mundane, and greatness from habit. For our lives and our works are merely the sum total of how we spend our days. He, like all creators who cement themselves in history, made art a ritual and creation a necessity equal to eating or sleeping.
As did Da Vinci, Rembrandt, van Gogh, Monet...Kahlo and O’Keeffe...Shakespeare, Homer, Austen, Dickens...Beethoven, Mozart, Bach....Presley, Mercury, Swift...Across all mediums and for all time, the artists who become world renown creators start as a nobody. But what they all have in common is that they lose themselves in the creative act. They do not separate themselves from their art but make it a part of their living, breathing selves. A daily habit. A nonnegotiable practice.
They see the world as their canvas. They make magic in mundane. Why? Because every creative knows the mundane, the raw and real, is where the true magic is. And this is the difference between the stale, formulaic structure of construction verses the living, breathing aliveness of creation. As Dickens said, “Creation is loved before it exists.”
It is dreamt of, visualized, prayed for, practiced, obsessed over, and wholly consumes the artist and creator. It is this fiery passion and clear vision awakened through hours and hours of practice. So stop waiting for creation to strike.
Act, and magic will follow.
