Exercising the Other Creative Bits || Leamington Ontario Photography

I find that when I feel in a rut creatively, it's time to pull out a different medium. 

I'm not a great painter - I hardly take the time to do it. But I have to admit, putting on my spotify playlist, pulling out the paints and the new canvas, I sort of fell into a different space today. My heart opened, my head turned off, and I found that my hands had a mind of their own. 

I'm sure that someone who studied art could find all sorts of 'errors' in my "Study of a Feather'. (you'll see it way down at the end of this post) But I don't care! I spent so much time as a potter worried that my pieces weren't good enough. I spent so much time as a mother thinking I wasn't doing it right. I have spent so much time as a photographer worrying about being good enough. And guess what? I didn't need to worry. I LOVE the bowls I have left that I threw with my own hands, and I can see my kids turning into great people, and I look back over the last few years of photography and see how much it's grown.

So after all the worrying, it doesn't matter.

There are a few reasons it doesn't matter. 

One is that I'm actually doing the work, I'm playing, I'm creating. How can that not be good enough? And if there's anyone out there who's going to criticize my work, I'd challenge them to go out and make their OWN work & have a blast doing it!

Also, it just so happens that the hardest critic I'll ever face is myself. So does anyone else's opinion matter, really? No one on the planet could be any harder on my work than I already am. 

But here's a little secret. I've been doing some work on letting go of all that judgement. And it's led to some really cool things. 

Like Melody's photo shoot the other day. 





And starting to plan a fun session with a bunch of local long boarders. Beginning with a short but sweetly fulfilling session with my son Jeremy. 



The sun was a strong as it could be, I struggled with exposure, and man my eyes were tired from working in such a bright environment. But he was grateful to see how he looks when he boards, and she was so open hearted and loving towards herself when she exclaimed "I'm so pretty! Send these pictures to me so I can share them!" 

Ahhhh, that's a big ass return on my investment, I'd say.

Pick up your brushes, your camera, throw your clay, go out to  your garden and cut yourself some fresh blooming flowers for your desk.

 Just do something that makes your heart a little less shut.

And, let's be honest, every potter has a different pair of hands, that nothing they throw will ever look like anyone else's anyway! And each parent is raising individual kids with different gifts and abilities. So why not just embrace them, and at the same time, your ability to think on your feet and to meet the challenges as a human being doing the very best they can in that moment? And as far as any photography or painting or even the way you dress goes, does anyone really ever know what's beautiful to someone else anyway?  

NOPE.

Do your art, love your art, strive to grow in your art, do the best art you are capable of, then do some more.

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best. 

Henry Van Dyke

So, even though I'm a little shy to post my process with my "Study of a Feather" here - I'm going to post in anyway. I had so much fun with it. How could I not love the end result? 

The hardest stroke to make is the first one. And after that, it's just instinct taking over. 







 You've got something really special to share with the rest of us. PROMISE.

~L

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