My art is not your art and your art is not my art...

Yesterday, a group of friends and I were having a party. Part of what we were doing was drawing on t-shirts to wear to the Roller Derby. By the way, if you have never been, you should go! It was my first time to the derby and it was totally amazing!


During the process of t-shirt decorating I heard over and over several of the ladies say, "I'm just not creative"... "I just can't draw like you".... some people did not say this and just worked on their shirts and were instantly praised by those who felt they were uncreative and unable to do this. The funny thing is, everyone's hand decorated t-shirt turned out great! Yes, you could tell that perhaps some spend more time doing the crafty thing and that, of the group, I definitely have spent the most time drawing things in perspective... but all of the shirts were creative and fun and accomplished the goal of being cute and fun to wear to the themed Roller Derby! 


My point is: maybe drawing is not your art to nurture. Maybe you are not going to be a painter. That is OK. Maybe you are going to be a painter and you need to nurture that in yourself... but maybe your art is something else that is not traditionally referenced as an art form. I truly do believe that everyone is creative. Just because you do not have the technical skills of drawing does not make you an uncreative person! I have never heard a 5 year old say, "I'm just not creative"... "I cannot draw". You give a kid a crayon and a piece of paper and they'll show you all kinds of things they just drew and they will also talk freely about everything it is that they CAN do and how much of a big girl or boy that they are! 


As adults, have we lost our ability to move in confidence towards what we feel our hearts telling us? Have we lost our ability to discover our own "art". Let us at least consider the possibility that we are all creative (even if you don't believe it yet) and that we all have an "art" that is our own. Let us entertain that thought and then let's start believing it is possible too. Perhaps then our actions will follow our beliefs and we will begin to seek out those things that will nurture our own art form, t-shirt decorating it may not be, but whatever it is, let's give it some food to grow. 


*side note* some of the ladies saying they were uncreative are definitely amazing singers and actresses who regularly perform on stage to adoring audiences. yes, even those whom the world would reference as "creative" or "artistic" types sometimes have bouts of creative insecurity : )