“Don’t wait for inspiration. It comes while one is working.”

-Henri Matisse

Honest admission: I have not been true or fair to myself creatively for most of my life. We could conduct a long and complex history of my creative brain using circles, dots and lines to map it all out but at the center would be one thing, insecurity. Insecurity over not being talented enough, original enough, over not having good enough ideas to stand out from the crowd, insecurity over having an original idea that I liked and everyone hated; the list goes on. All of this insecurity led to years of trying to contrive art that would somehow satisfy the unknown, unseen Gods of Art instead of satisfy the Goddess of Art that is within me. And YES I JUST SAID GODDESS (sometimes it is appropriate)!

 Feeding the part of me that is true and real, the actual artist soul within me has not been easy because first I had to dig that part of me out. It was so hidden! So covered up! So much scar tissue. The excavation is ongoing and now I actually believe it will be a lifelong process. But that is extremely exciting! It means I’ll never reach my limits.

When we are young we will proudly draw a picture of a house, a horse and a gleaming crayon sun and present it with all the pride of Warhol. By the time we are 10, sometimes much sooner, we don’t even want to try making things because what if the things we make are not “good”? The fact is that most art is bad before it is good. That is the process. This counts if you are 5 years old or 55 years old. As we get older our inner critic drowns out any love of the game. But it doesn’t need to be this way! Remember that if you draw a picture, nobody ever needs to see it. If you decided to learn pottery, you can smash your failures with glee! Want to learn to paint? First experiment, make an extraordinary mess and then do it at least 100 more times. Want to paint a self portrait? Paint your cat first and free yourself to do it badly. Don’t even tell anyone! We need more creators in the world because they are better for us all. So go and make something. Make one thing every day. Even if you have a bunch of pipe cleaners in your bedside table and you mold one little sculpture each night before bed, trust me. It’s worth it. Create.