Ever since I can remember, I’ve always been really into crafts. Unfortunately, it’s quite the messy ordeal afterwards and I definitely didn’t look forward to the clean-up! This is why I mostly ditched traditional creative tools like pastel and paints for digital alternatives like the Ipad or Huion Kamvas. Tools like Procreate and Adobe Illustrator definitely give me a wide array of creative leeway to work with— and without all that added mess!
Every now and again though, I do miss the feel of having that actual tool in my hand while creating something that feels more tangible—literally. Sometimes, it’s just nice to go back to your creative roots.
Fortunately for me, there was this Tyle Painting Workshop happening at Avondale Library during the Whau Arts Festival here in New Zealand. What’s more, it had all the tools laid out and prepared for us, and all we were expected to do was paint— and maybe have fun while we’re at it!
I quite enjoyed the fact that there was absolutely no pressure to create anything even slightly resembling a masterpiece! And sometimes, all you really want to do is dip your paint brush into some paint and just paint some tyles away. Even when you don’t really know how ridiculous your tyle will turn out!
OH TO BE YOUNG AGAIN
Looking around the room, most of the participants were very young kids accompanied by their mothers. It takes me back to a time when I myself would paint in such a carefree way. I did remember being very confident about my artistic abilities back them. I would always proudly show off my work to anyone who would look at it.
As I have gotten older though, I think that is where insecurities started coming in. I began to see all these people who can do art so much better than I can. This not only killed my confidence but made me decide that maybe I was not as creative as I originally thought I was, and that maybe art was just not for me.
The thing I missed about seeing all these people doing excellent artwork was that to get to that point, they had to work twice as hard. Seeing only the results makes you forget just how important practice and dedication is in order to make something worthwhile.
WHAT’S MOST IMPORTANT
In the end, I think the most important thing to consider is that if you actually enjoy creating. It’s cliched advice but it’s true. It doesn’t really matter what anyone else think, and you should definitely not make that the reason to stop being creative.
Moving forward, I will do my best to ‘not think what others might think’ of my work, and continue sharing them. I’ve always been kind of scared of negative feedback all my life, but I have realized how this is just counter-productive to my overall growth in the long run. If you always just look for people who will praise you, then you will never know about the faults you need to correct.
So you know what, let me just go ahead and show you my nuclear masterpiece! It was definitely not the best looking tyle made that day, but you know what, at least I can say it was mine.
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