One of the greatest things about this project is that it’s gotten me back into the habit of creating…of prioritizing time to make art or craft…and realizing that something that seems so silly is actually incredibly important to my mental health.
But on the other hand, sometimes I get so wrapped up in my futile quest for perfection that I start to feel frustrated that I can’t create the amazing things I see in my head but won’t come out of my clumsy fingers and then I start to see it as “work”…which is exactly the opposite of what creativity should be about.
It should fun and playful and ridiculous…and yes, sometimes hard…but ultimately it’s playing, just like we did when we were little.
This week I sketched a picture of a cat in a dress and it was very cute but also a little boring and when I showed it to Hailey they said, “Okay, but what about this?” and then they took my pencil and gave the cat a nose ring.
And I promptly erased it because it looked ridiculous and then they took the pencil again and said, “BUT WHAT IF IT HAD A MOHAWK?” and I laughed, but then I thought…fuck..what if it did have a mohawk?
So I added a mohawk. And then we experimented with nose rings and anarchy symbols and it was often Hailey pushing for face tattoos and me laughing hysterically as I erased it because you can’t tattoo fur, Hailey and THIS IS WHAT I FORGET ABOUT WITH ART.
I forget that it’s supposed to be fun. I forget that silly can be cathartic and that rules are meant to be broken and that inviting someone in to your art can be…well…anarchy, but in a good way.
Siouxsie Mew agrees:
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