Let Your Inner Child Play

As children we begin with a playful view of the world, we observe life through our eyes and interpret what we see with the tools we have. With art we may see a man or woman and draw a stick figure. We copy the images around us and we don't care whether we draw outside the lines or not. As time goes on we may be encouraged by grown ups to expand our artistic talents or we may have the critique monsters banish the creativity deep inside.

Some of those children may go onto art school, college and university and train in the arts. They gain tools and skills and techniques. The other children may never have gained the techniques and give up on art altogether, until creativity comes a knocking, once again.

So as time goes on, those children that gave up all artistic endeavours at a young age may find creativity pushing through into other areas without being aware of it. For me, my creativity was buried deep down for over 2 decades. My creativity seeped out into my jobs in retail, through making the merchandising of stacks of shelves into a work of art. My last boss even told me once that the way I merchandised the shelves made it look like a painting. I guess it all came together. I like colour and balance and it was my way of channelling the repressed artist within.

This year (2011), a little over a month ago, I started to paint again for the first time in years. I started drawing, I began to take my creativity seriously. I realised depression I had suffered for many years was a result of my repressed creativity and having nowhere to channel it. So now I do.

In small ways to begin with but what matters is I allow myself to paint, draw and write in whatever way feels good. This can be incredibly childlike, with flat drawings and paintings and no dimensional quality to them to adding more detail.

I bought basic inexpensive acrylic paints, brushes and a plastic palette. I bought cheap paper and a little better quality and I invested in some inexpensive but okay felt tip marker pens. And I started sketching what I loved to draw as a child (animals, trees, flowers).

What I discovered was, that as I created, whatever 'it' was, I felt better in myself, more in charge of the direction of my life instead of feeling like I was being tossed about in the current of life. Art has become an anti-depressant in itself. The key to starting again and painting as a child is allowing yourself to be whatever you need to be. And to not critisise or compare your art with those who have been painting for years.

Julia Cameron in her book 'Walking In This World' said:

"Begin where you are, with who you are. In order to go where you want to go creatively, you have to start somewhere. And the best place to start is precisely where you are. This is true whether you are a beginning artist or someone with long miles down the track. In fact, seasoned artists can waste time and energy mulling the dignity of their acquired position in the field when the truth is, they still need to just start again."

Many people make the mistake when first beginning a fledgling creativity experience to do something they found difficult, and work on improving it. Not only does this bring frustration, but it can stop the beginner artist in their tracks.

As we take our first baby steps to exploring the world through our creativity, we need to do what we love and find easy to do. Maybe its drawing with a pencil, stick figures, houses, hills and sky. Perhaps sploshing around with paint and colour. For me, I got out my acrylic paints and made a real mess in my palette. My colours were not even in the seperate compartments anymore, one colour dripped into the next and I had a lot of fun simply loading my brush up with mixed colours and spreading it on the page. It really did not matter what I painted, my inner child wanted to play with colour.

If you have the space maybe your inner child wants a big roll of paper on the floor, and stick her fingers in the paint and finger paint instead. Get messy, it doesn't matter what happens - it's just all about fun.

And if you are an artist with many years under your belt, perhaps those skills and techniques could have a rest for a day or more and simply do what you used to do as a child. It may bring your art new avenues of thoughts and inspiration.

One essential thing to remember when beginning to paint, bake, create..whatever outlet you are using, is to not compare what you are doing with other people. And this goes for comparing in life generally. Comparison can be the killer of creativity and when we look at someone who may have been creating art for many years and compare their finished products with our own fledgling art, this can crush the spirit of the inner child beginning its new adventure through play.

Remember, every artist, musician, movie director, chef started somewhere. And many beginnings are fraught with what could be described as chaotic mess. It's not mess really, simply unearthing talents and joy buried within us. Art needs to be carefree, done for the joy of creating, not for the purpose of the end result or the creation. Julia Cameron says that it is about the process of our art not the product. When we start to look at the product we can get into all kinds of head funks. We might imagine a career down the line in painting, or writing or cooking etc etc.. and the mind uses this need to know the future as a way to sabotage our new beginnings. I know this from experience as I have to consistently remind myself of this too.

Paint for you, write for you, draw for you, make music for you, crochet for you..... whatever needs to be expressed through your unique expression and channel, do it.

You won't regret it.

"...Painting for process is not about having a cathartic experience, throwing paint onto the paper a la Jackson Pollack. It's about being respectful of the process, holding the brush carefully like a pencil, and being present when connecting the brush to paper.

The key to the creative process is to let go of the concept of "product...."

Extracted From '50 Creative Questions To Create The life You Want'.