Thursday, August 12, 2010

Porch Tent Club House

Porch Tent/Club House
plant hanger, bed sheet, hooks and nails, twine ties, rug, pillows, books, popcorn, kids
53/100 in 100 days creative challenge.

This is not something I can sell on etsy or carry around with me to show I'm creative. But this is a big part of what living a creative life means to me, now that I have kids.

They wanted a club house, I thought, gee, what can I rig together? I came up with this, from mostly nothing, and I am kind of proud. It only lasted a couple of hours before being pulled down, but nobody said creativity had to last forever like the Parthenon.

Yesterday, I counted out the days in my 100 days of creativity challenge and discovered that while 53 works of creativity is pretty good, I am actually supposed to be on 73.

Whoops. I am 20 days behind. Almost three weeks down in the hole.

But the odd thing is, I'm not that far behind at all. I have a bunch of pieces that I am half way done with. I'm kind of sitting on them, rather than posting them unfinished. And there are also a bunch of pieces that I don't really like. I don't post them because I look at them and I get grumpy and I abandon them midway.

I think I've forgotten about my self imposed rule of counting everything I do, whether or not it is great, whether or not the cranky insecure gremlin in me says it is not Art with a capital "A".

I've also forgotten the value I got from posting whatever I had that day, whether or not it was good. Or finishing the work whether or not it was going in the right direction... or at least the direction I wanted it to go.

Real creativity is not about coming up with the best painting. Real creativity is not about always being perfect or about always getting things right.

Real creativity sees what is and makes the best of it. Real creativity takes the journey, even though the road gets bumpy sometimes. Real creativity says "screw the rules of creativity, I am who I am."

So all in all, once again, just like abundance, creativity is about valuing what is there, instead of getting stuck in what should be. Even if sometimes you end up futzing with what is there until it gets to be where you want it to be.

Hmm. That's interesting. I never really noticed that there was a connection between creativity and abundance, but really, they go hand in hand.

Creating is about making things real. Growing things. Painting things. Cooking things. Cobbling things together. Making things beautiful and/or meaningful and/or useful. Taking what you have and turning it into something.

Abundance is almost the result of that creating. Yes? No? I'm not sure. It's a thought I had. Does that mean that we can create abundance? That would be nice.

4 comments:

Santos said...

Thank you Rowie. First things first. The children are exquisite. Your tent made them look like they were in a fairy tale land going after dragons or butterflies.

Your post on creativity hit me right between the eyes. I've not put brush to paper or canvas in years for fear of failure. You gave me lots to think about and less to fear. Thanks again. I have put some creativity in building homes for the poor in Jersey City, trying to find materials for free, workers for free, donations from the the unwilling. But it's not the same as putting heart and mind into brush or pen. You've given me courage to open up again.

Lots of love,
Uncle Santos

Anonymous said...

I think it took me nearly six months to finish my 100 Days project - no worries, you'll get there. LOVE the tent-fort, what an amazing memory you've created for your kiddos with that one!

Marisa @ Getting Back To Basics said...

Sure makes me want to play...great idea! Also...love "she knows without knowing" from your previous post.

Stella said...

I want you for a mom.

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