The Lessons of Artistic Creativity

So many of the important lessons in my life have come from time spent in the creation of physical objects.  I have always liked to create with my hands.  First it was painting and drawing, and then jewelry and stained glass.  Now I work in fiber and photography.

Many of these lessons were easier to learn because the creation was simply a fun project, and its success or failure was of no importance.  But even when I worked as a full-time professional stained glass artisan, life lessons were always presenting themselves.

The first thing I learned in stained glass was that even when you have a deadline and a client breathing down your neck, you cannot work with glass when you’re irritated or having a bad day.

You cut glass by etching a line on the glass with a cutter, and then breaking the glass along the line.  If the break doesn’t go as planned, it can be quite dangerous, as in the glass shattering in your hands or falling shards going through your leg or foot.

Cutting glass takes focus and precision.  I quickly found that irritability rattled my energy field, influenced my ability to focus, and even disturbed my physical coordination so that cutting precisely was difficult.  The more mistakes, the worse the irritability until I finally realized what a perilous situation I was creating.  A few small injuries taught me how easy it would be to lose a finger or cut an artery as a result of a bad mood.  I learned that when irritable or upset, it was better to walk away than risk almost certain injury and/or a ruinous mistake.

From these experiences I discovered how negative emotions influence everything I do and every interaction I have.  My irritability, anger or frustration spreads unease and anxiety that affects everyone around me.  This negativity also casts a dark cloud on all my efforts and ensures that things will not go as well as they could.

Negative emotions can even cause my computer to malfunction, which of course, causes even more frustration.  So now, whenever I have a computer problem, I check my emotions immediately.  If I detect even the slightest bit of irritability, I shut it down, walk away and come back in a better place.  As long as I do this, my computer usually fixes itself in the time between.

Stained glass also taught me how mistakes can be blessings in disguise.  When you work at a glass studio you have access to one-of-a-kind pieces of art glass that can never be reproduced.  If I made a mistake and cut one of these the wrong way, or it broke a differently than I planned, my piece was ruined.

Unless I could see it in a new way.

If I could somehow work the different break line into the design in a new way that complemented and enhanced the project, the piece often turned out even better than I had originally planned.  The necessity of saving the glass, and the piece, forced me to innovate, dig deep and find creativity I didn’t even know I had.

Now I work in fiber.  I make quilts, wall hangings and quilted bags (mostly made with scraps from the larger projects).   I allow the fabric to determine the design and thus the kind of construction needed for the project.  But this means that I almost never use patterns and have to come up with new and different construction techniques all the time.  I make many mistakes, but the mistakes teach me new ways of doing things.

From working with fiber I have learned not to be afraid of even the most ambitious or seemingly impossible (for me) projects.  I just take things one step at a time, and before long, the project is finished and is usually much better than I imagined.  I have learned that mistakes are part of the process and do not berate myself for them.  Instead I use them as ways to push my creativity and improve my technique.

Creating tangible objects not only allows my soul a way to express itself, but the physical nature of the creation process offers analogies and metaphors for the rest of life, and makes it easier to accept and learn from mistakes, failures and disappointments.  It has also given me the courage and confidence to start projects I haven’t the faintest idea how to do, and has provided the patience and perseverance needed to see them through to the end.

It has also taught me that we can use our creative ability in every aspect of physical life, from cooking and gardening, to home repair, carpentry, building stonewalls, and just plain doodling.  Creative expression can be found in the how we decorate our homes, how we dress and the clothes we select, as well as how we move our bodies.

So many people tell me they are not “artistic” or “creative”.   We are all artistic and creative because we all have souls waiting to be expressed.  If you think you are not artistic or creative you simply haven’t found your medium.  Start looking today.   Then let the fun of artistic creation make the rest of your life easier and more enjoyable as well.

You can learn more about the energy realm in my book, “It’s All About Energy:  Adventures in Expanded Reality”, found on Amazon, in local bookstores, and on my website, www.transformationalexpansion.com.