Profess Creatives

Sometimes when I see another artist’s work my awe quickly turns into a point of reference for comparison.

“Why can’t I make art as good as that?”

Some days I nip that thought in the bud quickly. Other times I might go down a spiral that causes me to disregard my creative growth over the last decade. 

The truth is this: every artist starts out bad.

Those who get good are those with the audacity to practice past the ‘ugly phase’. Therefore, if you want to become an actualized artist, you have to commit to pushing past the ugly phase of your work. 

The other day, God gave me a visual reminder of the importance of the ugly phase in creative growth.

I was having a conversation with one of my friends who happens to be nine. That day, he gifted me a piece of art he did. Seeing how proud he was to promote his art as a child really inspired me to reflect on how far I’ve come along my artistic journey from when I was a child. 

When I looked down at the rudimentary painting of a tree, it instantly bethought me of a painting of a tree I did some years prior.

Embedded in both paintings was the concept of a tree.

Both were done at different levels of artistic prowess. But that does not make one better than the other; both equally symbolize important points of the creative journey. 

The lesson is to cherish all parts of the creative journey; even the parts where I though my art was cringe. Those parts of the journey would have still contributed greatly to my creative maturation.

And It would do me no good negating the lessons I have learnt in those times.

Now I hang both paintings above my bed as a reminded of how far I’ve come from and the long journey is still have ahead.

My interaction with my little friend reminds me to keep growing like a tree without being preoccupied about the size of the other trees around me.