Teach me to be creative

 

How do you teach a ‘creative’ class? Better yet, how do you take a mail order course to learn how to draw and become rich and famous?

These ads were in the back of comic books to entice the young mind to save up a piggy bank and mail in a fee to get a booklet on tips and tricks to become an ‘artist’. You could hang the diploma on the wall, but you may not be creative?

I personally feel we are ALL born creative. Why not? There is this big world to explore. Sights and sounds and motion and colors and other people like you to discuss what you see and feel.

Being creative is expressing your reaction to the world around us. To some it is writing. To some it is making drawings or paintings or pottery or prints. To some it is using the body to express the feelings inside. To some it is to make a noise that the body can move to.

Some can categorize this as the ‘arts’, but there is more to being creative. The person who had the idea of making flying buttresses was creative. The person who made the transistor to make a portable radio that turned into your mobile devices was creative. The brothers who turned thoughts of bicycles into airplanes were pretty darn creative. That guy who plugs in the first light bulb was creative because it had never been done before.

“I can’t draw a straight line” some will say as an excuse from applying an idea or a vision on paper. “That is why someone created the ruler”, I reply. If drawing isn’t your method to express yourself, maybe it is cooking or gardening or crafts. Going to the ‘Arts in the Park’ craft shows is not viewing the Guggenheim, but each one of these tables are full of people’s creative expressions (for sale).

Note to all: Unless you are a creative doctor or mechanic or some software whiz-kid, being ‘creative’ is not a money maker. Sales people used to say, “You are just drawing pictures” and my response was, “I could do your job; you can’t do my job”. Still, it is difficult to sell an idea without a ROI.

To me, the best way to be ‘creative’ is take your time. Take in what is going on around you. Take time to look closely to the flowers and the trees. Look at the shadows and the patterns on the leaves and bark. See how they lean to get the most sunshine and how they react when it rains.

To really see what being creative is all about, watch children. As they draw chalk images on the sidewalks or explore the weeds or blend colors that don’t match because they haven’t been taught not to. Techniques and media refine the wonder. Experience and repetition cultivate the style.

Be creative however works for you. It will show up in your dreams.