Being creative can and should be fun.  Yet if you are anything like me, it can also be a bit stressful at times.  I have a tendency to take my creative efforts very seriously.  I like quality and I like to be happy with the results.  Thinking about this, I realized that my creative happiness is often dictated by the outcome and not merely by enjoying the process.

Recently I managed to ruin the watercolor painting I’d been working on.   Several hours spent were now lost. To my surprise and great joy, this didn’t upset me.   Instead, I flipped the pricey piece of watercolor paper over and started again.   I decided to use the same picture, not to replicate what was already attempted, but to try a new approach.

As I get older, I find it liberating to reach beyond the known, beyond the familiar, to discover new possibilities.   That’s partially because I’m thankful to be getting older!   A few years ago, I was in a very bad car accident.  It was God’s mercy that I lived.   I find it exciting and motivating to know God is not done with me yet!   It changed me.   I’m not quite so uptight and I laugh more.   I still have a serious side, but I now see things in a different light and gauge what’s truly important from a different perspective.

I’m also learning to produce art, where before I was very good at copying.   Sometimes I even let the paint flow outside the lines and I’m okay with that.

There is a place for structure–for example when writing: “Never end a sentence a preposition with.”   My Mom used to tell me that and it still makes me smile.  Yet, occasionally I’ll write “outside the lines” by starting a sentence with And or But, simply because I think it adds strength to what I’m saying or I like how it sounds.

I now join in the fun of group texts with my family.  I enjoy the humor, not only in what’s said, but also adding some witty reply of my own that catches them off guard.  I love the, “haha, good one mama.”  Simple, yes.   And Silly.   And not eternal.  But life changing.

So, I will gladly start my painting over, knowing the process alone will be fulfilling.  And who knows, I might be very pleased with the result and share it with you.

I’m the author of: Created to be Creative
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