"I'm not good at art." How many times have you heard that line? How many times have you said it? At what age do we start thinking that and why? Maybe in 4th grade you looked at all of your classmates' paintings hanging up in the school art room and thought that yours wasn't the best, and that's when you decided. Maybe you stopped making art when it was no longer a mandatory class nor deemed an "important" learning tool, and you gradually forgot that you loved the way you felt when you got lost for a while in the creative process. Somewhere along the way, the unadulterated, liberating freedom of expression that you felt when you colored a page, drew a picture from your imagination, and painted with your fingers got lost in your struggle to find out where you fit into society and to maintain a foothold on the ladder of life.
You're not "good" at art - It's innate! It's in you! Just like you're not "good" at problem solving because, like it or not, you successfully solve problems all day long! It's what humans do! Creativity is always present - it's another one of those things that makes us human. Some people have kept their creativity tapped and flowing despite 4th grade art class, and some people have tucked it away for one reason or another, but it's a persistent itch that will never fade until you unleash your imagination!
It's time to reignite those beautiful feelings of mental focus, emotional nourishment, and sublime invigoration that embody the creative process. Maybe you have an aversion to paintbrushes and charcoal pencils thanks to that one really talented kid in school - luckily there are so many mediums out there for you to explore!
Understand that you don't have to master the craft - it isn't a contest, and you don't get a grade. Get inspired by noticing the art all around you - billboards and signs, graffiti and murals, engineering fixtures and bridges, architecture and furniture, flowers and ant hills, and on and on everywhere you look. Wander through a gallery. Enroll in an art class. Follow along with a DIY video. You just have to tap that intrinsic ingenuity and let your creativity flow. You're not "good" at art. You are an artist!
I am art.
