We are all born artists. Some of us just take a little longer to discover our talents.

Brainwashing

Yes, you were born to be an artist, and so was I. Some of us just take a little longer to find out, and some people never find out at all. Too bad!

Whether you believe that you are an artist or not depends to a great measure on what you have been told as you were growing up. I remember one art class, the first one of the year with a brand new group of students, where one girl went limp in her desk during the first 5 minutes, hanging with her head right down to the floor. I was frightened, because I had no idea what was happening. It turned out that the girl had been convinced by her older siblings that she was incapable of doing art, and she escaped any attempt at art by going into an epileptic seizure.

My Story

The same discouragement could have happened to me. I watched my older brother spend every spare minute drawing, painting, and making things. As a preschooler, I used to beg him to let me try, too. He was not so inclined and invariably told me, "You are too stupid." Of course I was too stupid, eight years too stupid. What he really meant was that I was too young, too young for an older brother to be bothered with.

I could have let his attitude discourage me, but my mother had instilled in me the conviction that I could do anything I wanted to do. All I needed to do was try. Fortunately, my mother's confidence in me outweighed my brother's discouragement.

Seeing that no one was going to show me how to do anything, I just kept watching everyone else and then tried out what I had seen when no one was looking. As a result, I taught myself to draw, paint, and crotchet while I was a preschooler and had plenty of time to experiment. When my mother finally decided that I was old enough to learn to crotchet, I showed her the dress which I had already completed for my big doll. After that, no one ever again told me that I was either too young or too stupid.

And You?

Does this sound like your story? Or have you been pushed into trying things which did not interest you?

There are so many ways in which your inborn artistic talents can show themselves. You just need to find out which is your favorite way, and once you become proficient in that, you might want to branch out to a new medium.

One large Winnipeg art supply store, Artists Emporium, offers free four-hour Saturday workshops where interested people receive free instruction in a different medium every week. All supplies are free. The participants range in age from preschool to senior. Some of the students have never held a paintbrush in their hand. Others are themselves art teachers who want to experience a new medium. What a great opportunity!

Let's all help each other to discover our inborn artistic talents.

© Traute Klein, biogardener