As young children...all of us view the world "straight on"...with a fully frontal perspective and our "first language" in terms of symbols...is described in our picture-making. Our feelings happy, or sad are expressed with no hesitation or fear of rejection...in a personal palette of colours which we choose out of our own preferences. Our subjects are the important things about us in our still very limited world...and need no "rules"... classification or formulae to guide the creative process.How pure , simple...and joyful is that period in EACH ONE our early childhood lives!How sad that by the time we reach adolescence...that joy and creative feeling has vanished...forever in the greater population of adults.
I can't tell you the number of times I have had grown adult men and women say:" I can't even draw a stick man" or...I haven't got a creative bone in my body."As well, they seem unable to recognize that true creativity is not reserved just for visual art expression.Yet where individuals are willing to risk returning to their creative journey in visually expressing themselves...I find that most all not only find a level of achievement they had never dreamed of... but they regain a level of self-esteem they had earlier believed the could never have thought possible for themselves.
As in all situations in life where individuals wish to change an area of their lives,there must be clearly seen a strong need by the individual to seek that change and a willingness to receive advice and to risk persevering beyond a lack of success in the past. I liken that process to: learning to print individual letters of the alphabet in both cases...proceeding to associating sounds to each letter...followed to joining those letters into meaningful vocabulary..then to the making of phrases , sentences and paragraphs...and finally to the creation of stories, essays, prose, poems and other creative language forms of expression.
What I am trying to say is that any person open to instruction and practice can work through the basic creative building blocks towards making a creditable picture or painting. However, I am also stating that most people who undertake the challenge of visual expression can hardly expect to reach or surpass the level picture making that their mentor or teacher has acquired,dedicating an entire life to that end. What they can achieve is a vast amount of personal pleasure and a new and bold adventure which will enrich their lives beyond their wildest dreams.
