The Creative Process

Today I want to talk a little bit about the creative process. 

There are people walking around thinking they don't have any creativity whatsoever. They envy people with what they call 'creative talents' and wish they were 'blessed' with some. We are all born with the potential to live a life filled with creativity but some of us loose it as we grow up. 

It happens without we even noticing it. We live with all these preset rules about what is right and wrong. To give you an example:  You are five years old and one day you decide to get creative.You take your oil pastels and paper and without thinking you simply start to draw a house. Your  house has a roof shaped like a heart and a triangle and circle represent your windows. 

You think it's pretty awesome and love your drawing. You are enjoying the process of creativity and you continue drawing. It doesn't matter at all that your flowers are bigger and taller than the house.

Now if  someone tells you that you can not draw a house like that and it is stupid to draw the flowers so big you may  think that what you thought was amazing was only making sense to you. You will start to doubt your own abilities to be creative. 

The next time you draw you are not going to create with such freedom because you will remember all the negative remarks about your previous drawing. What is happening here? You are slowly loosing your own way of expressing yourself. You are being shaped to do things within preset rules. The end result will be that you won't enjoy being creative anymore. You will start believing that you can't do it! I think it's really sad. I am giving a simple example but I think you get the point. 

If we can only look behind all the rules and simply enjoy the experience of being creative there will be a lot of happier people in this world. 

Underneath your blackest emotions

Far above your brightest wishes 

Stands a world for you to hold 

~Samael~

Keeping an art journal is about going back to your roots and enjoying the simple act of expressing yourself. No rules and just doing what feels natural and good to you. Have fun and get creative and do it  for yourself. And when you  find that creative child within you again you will start creating with a free spirit and I promise you that you will be amazed by what that child has to offer you! 

Keep smiling, keep creating!

~Ansota~