In an effort to be complimentary, well-meaning people often express their admiration for artwork with words like, “I can’t draw a stick man. It’s (painting) just a gift.” The idea is that an arbitrary creator tapped a random selection of humanity as gifted, the lucky ones, and for some obscure reason, deemed the remaining unfortunates doomed to a state of non-creativeness, floundering through their existence while struggling with the proverbial stick-man drawing.
I dare not claim to have a working knowledge of scientific data relating to “innate genuis.” Were the Michelangelos, Da Vincis and Picassos of this world products of nature or nurture? Were they born with ability or did they learn it? No one would dispute the prodigies of the world: Five-year-old Mozart composing his first musical score; French mathematician Pascal, at a ripe old age of 12, independently discovering all of geometric proofs of Euclid; Shirley Temple beginning a singing and acting career at three and winning an Academy Award at seven. The list is endless and tends to leave the rest of us average folks in a state of despondency.
I can only speak for myself, my own experience. Memories of watching my mother designing posters with magic markers for civic groups come to mind. Later, I would learn once upon a time, she drew with chalk and even drew designs for her senior yearbook. Her “knack” would later serve her as a public seamstress and owner/manager of a fabric shop. I definitely considered her creative, and if creativity can be inherited, I suppose my eventual pursuits could be attributed to her. However, my early attempts at drawing/painting were crude, downright terrible, certainly not the work of a prodigy! Whatever I inherited, if at all, was not ability, but attraction. I simply liked it and wanted to improve. This attraction, this pull, would not let me go. My pursuits in light of that attraction were up to me, however. How much time was I willing to devote? How hard was I willing to work? My unlearned opinion is that within each is “creativity in the raw.” Like the great creator, after whose image we are fashioned, we are all creatives; we simply are attracted to differing domains. Some enjoy vintage cars; others cook like wizards. Name your passion driven enthusiast—militant gardeners, tireless knitters, potters, masterful office managers, musicians, and etc. The list is unending! They all employ critical/creative thinking skills and an abundance of plain hard work.
In summary, any gift that I might have is not a divine endowment of ability, but rather an all-consuming interest and willingness to practice that interest. For that I am eternally grateful. The question each must answer is, “What is it that makes my heart sing?” My advice, which is certainly not original with me, follow that bliss.
I’m writing this here just to check posting.
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