Wednesday's Walk

"Don't forget - no one else sees the world the way you do, so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell."
                                                                                                                Charles de Lint

On my walks I think about a lot of things.  I often think about how different we all are and at the same time no matter where we live in the world we can be very much the same.  That is one of the reasons I love to blog.  I meet people that I would never have the chance to meet otherwise and I learn so much from them.  It does not change my story but my life is enriched because they have shared their story.

The quote above is a great reminder why as artists we should share our story. You never know when your story will inspire someone else to share their work.  We are all creative beings but so often we are afraid to share our work.  We are afraid it is not good enough, not creative enough, not original enough.  But if it is your work and part of your story then it is enough.

Because others have shared their story and their knowledge, I am not afraid to share mine.  I will always have a lot to learn whether it is taking a better picture, writing an interesting blog post, or painting a picture.  But once I realized my work did not have to be perfect to share with others, it opened a whole new world to me.  Through my art I've learned so much about myself and others. Which is why I chose the picture above to share today. 

I took this picture through the hole in the gate in our backyard.  I was taking a class and I wanted to see what it would be like to take picture looking through something.  I liked the picture but it was just a picture.  When I looked at the picture for the 100th time today, I saw the red stop sign for the first time.  I have a habit of not seeing details.  Something that stands out to someone else in a picture or painting does not necessarily stand out to me.  So when I noticed the red stop sign today my first thought was,"How could I have not seen that before?"  But my second thought was, "Wow, I am started to look at more than the whole picture!"   In one of my painting classes the teacher has emphasized addding that surprise element of color somewhere in the picture.  Now, I am starting to see those special bursts of color wherever I look.  It makes the painting, the picture, the story and the world I live in just a little bit more exciting.  This is just one story I could tell about how allowing myself to express my creativity each day has enriched my life.  I see things I didn't see before.  The world is brighter and I see bursts of color that had always been there, but I just did notice them.

My creative story is different than yours. Your creativity story is different than mine.  But we all have them.  And we all can learn from one another and in doing so make the world a brighter more colorful place to live and work.  Won't you share a story today?  Tell us how expressing your creativity has changed your life.