Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.

Someone tagged me in a link to this article from the Sunday Times.

(Oh, I’m back on FB for about 20 minutes a day. Thinking even that may be too much.)

The article is about how to raise kids while maintaining their creativity. It says that, for many, in an attempt to get kids to excel, it is way too easy to thwart their inherent creativity. When you thwart their inherent creativity you end up with a knowledgeable kid who only knows how to learn the rules and subsequently follow the rules. But he’ll never question the rules. And he’ll certainly never rewrite them. Because he’s only ever been taught to trust in other people’s ideas, not to value, or even recognize, his own.

The article reminded me of a quote I heard in a Ted Talk the other day (because, you know, no FB) which I’d written down a painters-taped to my computer monitor:

Such a powerful idea. So between that talk, the quote, and the article, it got me to thinking about this subject, somehow, while in the shower. Where all the brainstorms hit.

Well, that and the fact that Molly had graffitied the shower wall with bath crayons sometime this afternoon. (I use them to write notes to myself about what I need to get done. Sometimes I also write little love notes to Elie. Go get some bath crayons and try it. Trust me, it’s good for a relationship.)

Anyhoooo, this is Molly’s art.

It started me thinking about art, which led me to start thinking about the “No Rules Painting” days we used to have back in NJ.

Which led me to start thinking about the fact that I’ve been talking for a long time about how I want to start doing art again. Talking about it. I say I want to do it but instead I spend 2 hours online looking for a shed where I’ll be able to store my supplies, and a tent of some sort that’ll offer me some shade. Anything, it seems, besides just picking myself up and doing it. Then, of course, the idea itself starts to be a question in your mind… “If I’m not doing it, maybe it’s cuz I don’t want to?”

But I DO want to.

And then it hit me.

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.

I never studied art for art sake. I’ve only ever studied art for industry. In fact, the only art I’ve ever really done is for industry- product design mostly. Straight up art- for the sole purpose of making something that can stir something emotional in another human being is not something I’ve ever done.

But I know I can. I’ve done it with words, why couldn’t I do it with art?

Actually, I did do it a bit in high school and early college, but I was so inundated with the idea that I had to use my talent to create something marketable and business-appropriate that the idea of art for arts sake seemed foolhardy. To say the least.

So I thought about the canvas I bought over a year ago. A gigantic 3 foot canvas. That’s right. I blogged it. All optimistic about what I’d do to it.

And I started- oh, how I started.

And then I did one thing I didn’t love and never touched it again.

It’s sitting on a shelf in my home, taunting me.

See that? The glitter swirl at the top? Just stopped. And I’m always embarrassed when people ask about it- and they do. They compliment it all the time and u just wanna sorta hide.