We who write, paint, draw, dance, speak take pride in creating “art”.
Creation implies something new, but maybe it’s only a novel way of saying the familiar, perceiving the norm. You grow something beautiful out of the ground we walk on everyday; create a masterpiece out of the air that one breathes.
How often do we acknowledge the structures that existed before you attempted to plant the seeds. The formation of thoughts that could only come out because of precisely shaped lips or from words that were said before your time on the earth.
I am not referring to some god or grand design, but simply nature. Anything and everything that had a beginning has something else to thank.
Sometimes when I start believing that nothing I can say or do is truly new, it can be a bit depressing (sorry)! It’s like reading the news and knowing that the front page will always be a tearjerker.
So what’s my point? If you don’t see yourself as an artist, you should. Just because you didn’t think it first, say it first or create it in paint, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t add on.
Maybe you don’t feel like you have a purpose yet, or perhaps you feel trapped by a history or life that you were born into. Take a moment to picture yourself as the Picasso of the age, painting layers on layers of paint. You wait for each to dry and repaint when you decide that it doesn’t suit your taste. Some years later, an amateur painter will come and scrape your paint away and try to find the original layers.
That’s how I think life works. I don’t believe that anyone can come into the world and not leave a mark… or perhaps, that everyone should aim to.
