Creativity is Contagious.. Pass it on!

I believe when people I have shared my art work with don’t appreciate the efforts of ink to paper individuality-it’s their lack of inner self awareness of the differences of artful expression.

When I first began tangling I would gaze at the tiles of the great Zentangle ‘masters’ (founders and CZTs) and doubt I could ever achieve anything close. Now sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t – because not every tile comes out quite how you hope, but every tile comes out as its own truth. I’m still inspired by others, but those just starting out have just as much to offer me. Sometimes seeing the fresh naivete of someone’s first tiles reinvigorates my own practice enormously. I truly believe we all feed each other and so we’ll never go hungry for inspiration.

P.S. – I think, in paragraph two, you mean “it is hard NOT to compare yourself to others.”

Thank you for elaborating your thoughts Julie, and for your courage. :) I’m sure it’s something we all feel at some point, about some area of endeavor.
When I studied art in university, I generally felt that my art was not really acceptable. I preferred to work small rather than large. I preferred to draw rather than paint. My work was finely detailed, not ‘painterly’. I didn’t do landscapes. My work was pretty or decorative, both no-no’s at the time (and still!). Everything about the art I produced was not in line with current dictates. I stuck with it because, really, I couldn’t do anything else. Many years later, in 2009, I encountered Zentangle and arrived home.

Thank you Julie, for sharing your heart! In sharing your struggles of being “good enough”, you express it on behalf of most of us. Sometimes I look back at my earliest work and that helps me to see that there has been growth. Often, when I see the creativity of others I say to myself, “Now why couldn’t I think of doing something like that?” But more often, I now look to be inspired by the uniqueness that I see, rather than use it as judgement of my own work. Thanks for sharing your journey. We needed to hear it!

Could not love this more! We all gain so much when we share our work. It definitely feeds the flow and power of creativity among us.

Sometimes I still am my own worst critic but I don’t let it stop me

Thanks for the wisdom, Jules. I am glad you have discovered the value of your work. Those of us who are less experienced artists look up to you as you look up to Maria and she looks up to someone with more experience. If we didn’t ’t strive to grow and learn there would be no improvement!

Thank you, thank you, thank you Julie for this blog about comparing our art to others.
I belong to a Zentangle ladies group and I often think what I create just isn’t as beautiful as everyone else.
Instead of trying to “copy” others artwork I am going to look for inspiration to create an original of my own.

This is a perfect, ever-timely message. Thank you, Julie!

My reason for telling you all this, is that it changed the way I looked at other people’s art. Instead of being intimidated, I looked for ONE thing I could learn from the painting. ONE. Then I would do that until I was content with it. When wandering a museum, I’d admire a painting, and with my ever-present journal in hand, draw one little piece of it.
One strike at a time. While I oohed and ahhhhed at all the fabulous work, I could handle learning my one favorite tiny detail.
The trip was worth 10 times the cost of my class in Venice: for the lesson I learned, about one little thing at a time.
Maria Thomas

Julie u r terrific! Thank you for the reminder of the dangers of Comparison. Long ago a man named Paul warned how destructive these attitudes are… and can be so destructive to our well being and even turn into envy. “Which can cause one to give up. Why do it? I will never b good enough.” These are things I have said to myself! No more. I took a cleansing breath and refocusing!