Tag: skill

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Creativity and Perseverence

My youngest son started drawing one day. I do not know what prompted him to do so, but I was quite impressed with his first drawing which was of a tree with a broken sword.

 

He really enjoyed drawing and started to do some more pictures, using only his   pencils and whatever paper he could get a hold of (nothing was off limits, this included his school assignments).  I started to purchase items for him to use for drawing (paper, pencils, etc.) as gifts for birthdays and Christmas.  He has gradually improved, and I have quite a collection of drawings hanging up around my house.

 

My favourite drawing he has done so far, is of a dragon swooping down towards its nest. He has added some wonderful details, dimension and the shading is well done. I am impressed that without any formal training, he has improved greatly in a relatively short period of time.  I really look forward to what else he will produce in the future and see how much he has grown in learning how to draw.

 

Why do I share this with you? To encourage you! Often, especially when we start something new, we get discouraged and want to quit without seeing our potential.  It takes time, perseverance, patience, practice and grace to improve in whatever skill we choose to work on. I think one of the best things we can do for ourselves is keep the first items we have created and look at them later in the journey of our creativity to see the improvements we have made and be encouraged by it.

 

The first few items I quilted, I wanted to toss as they were not great, in fact, they were horrible (in my opinion) and I was discouraged.  I am so glad I did not get rid of them because I can see how much I have improved.  Also, when people have asked me to help them learn to quilt, I use these items to show where I was in my creative journey and how over time, it has gotten better.

 

I look forward to seeing my son’s creative journey in drawing over the next several years. He has a lot of potential and I hope he keeps expanding on his talent.   I wonder what he will draw next?

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Perfection? Ha, ha, Just Kidding…

If you have visited the home page of Heart · Love · Giving (https://heartlovegiving.com/), you will know that I love learning, and crafting.  This past Christmas, I learned about making various items with pine cones (thanks to Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.ca/)), I had an army of ideas to work with).  It was a new experience for me to work with a hot glue gun.  My fingers were numb from the number of times I touched the hot glue (yeah, I knew better), and over time, I became more adept at the glue gun and hey, the crafts I completed, though not anywhere near perfect, still looked pretty good.  In a year from now, I won’t even remember the ‘imperfections’.

That has been part of my struggle with crafts…perfection. If I deem something I make to be ‘imperfect’, I only focus on what is not right, versus looking at the craft as a whole.  Why do I do that? I really don’t know.  It will often be a few months/years later I will look at said craft and think, “hey, that looks pretty good!” I believe this happens because the time and distance help me forget where the imperfections lie and stop focusing on them.

I have met many people who start something new, and they get so down on themselves about how it’s not perfect or they can’t make it look better or they are not creative, or they don’t have the skills.     Expectations are often way higher then realities, especially when we begin something new.  And, in my case, trying to do something new that is really for an intermediate to advanced skilled person is probably not the best way to go.

About two years after I started to quilt, a friend was getting married and they absolutely loved the double wedding ring quilt style.  I knew the couple’s favourite colours and started to work on it.  Well, let me just say, I was ready to give up quilting! It was a King-sized quilt and I was learning how to sew curved and Y seams (never done that before) and had a short time to get this quilt completed.  After I finished, I swore I will NEVER AGAIN do another Double Wedding Ring quilt.

I will admit, it’s been 12 years since I started quilting, and I have been thinking about making another one, but I have progressed in my skills of quilting and have many places/websites I can glean information from (you know, little hints or short cuts that will make life much easier).

So, what is my point in all of this? Be gracious with yourself!  (Yes, I am still learning to do that too).  Start easy and advance over time.  Will your first attempts be perfect? Nope!  Will you want to give up? Yep!  Eventually though, as you learn and develop your skills, you will look back at the ‘imperfections’ and see them as a part of the journey of learning.  Heck, you may not even see them at all!    Part of learning includes stories of difficulties and triumphs. Sharing your experience will help others too, so it is never a wasted moment.