Exploring like a toddler … that’s what art is about. For me, anyway.
I know that I care about the finished product, and there’s no escaping that fact. I want the final piece to be something I care about; something that tells the story I need it to, and does so through both the composition and the overall look of the piece.
However ... not every piece is a piece to finish.
I realized a while ago that when I get too stuck on those final pieces, I lose all joy.
I think it's where most of us adults get stuck. We live in a "finished" world: we (think we) need to present and share every single thing. We think everything is worthy of judgement and that we've got it or we don't, black and white, that's it.
But if I've learned anything from making art for so long, from working with kids for over twenty years, and by running Creative Rebel Studio for the past year, it's that we need to let go.
So I want to explore art like a toddler. Like MY toddler did.
Grabbing a car to drive through the paint, for no reasons other than that it was there, and it seemed fun.
During playgroup, the kids mix all of the paint together; just because of wonderment.
I want to mix every colour together to see what happens.
I want to draw with a marker on wet paint and see what happens.
This kind of stuff is scary for adults. I’m unlearning it.
I think when we reach a place of unlearning, we learn the most. Explosively. We are in the best positions possible.
The final pieces are gorgeous, or they're not ... but the experience was.
So while it is hard to find the time and energy to create with a toddler and a baby and a full time job, imagine what it can do for YOU.
And if you don't have a toddler?
Do it anyway.
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