Today, I came upon this great post by Austin Kleon about creativity in writing and drawing. (You can read more about this here.) This really resonates with me. A lot of people ask me where I come up with my ideas, and I have my stock answers... "My mind just overflows with new projects, and I am the creative slave," etc. Heck, that's the something smart and sassy that wants to come out of my mouth. Thank goodness I can put a lid on it :o)
What IF I said I steal my ideas? Well, that is a big no-no in our creative world, isn't it? With the advances in Pinterest, and in the interests in protecting all the valuable ideas floating around in the universe, how can we keep things straight? I mean, really... can I help it if I see something especially mind-blowing (like a sweetly stitched doll eye) (yes, those are the sorts of things that thrill me!), then I go to sleep and dream about the doll eye. Two months later, after that doll eye has been percolating around in my sub-consciousness, I make a doll with what I think is a doll eye like the one I remembered seeing. Is that "stealing?" Often, if I come upon the original doll eye, it looks nothing like the one I created.
So, as artists, we have a path we must continue on. Because our inspirations are all our own, and each affects us uniquely, and comes out of the path we have walked up until this point. It doesn't matter if you are making a little coin purse, and there are simply hundreds of thousands of little coin purses out there. There is a little bit of you in your sweet coin purse, and your essence will speak out to someone who wants it. And they will buy your sweet coin purse, and take a little of your essence home with them.
The world needs you and me awake and alive, and creating some of our essence in every little thing we make. Whether it is the sweetest coin purse, or the wackiest drawing on the planet. It's you and it's me. And all the inspirational stuff life has to offer is what makes us come alive, and remake it, and put it back out there as something new, original and lovable. Now that's what I call being creative!
x, Val
