Art: A Month Of Creativity!

Ceramics, quilting, painting…. oh my! For this past month, I chose to take on my creative side, participating in different artsy activities. I’ll be honest, art has never been my strong suit. Well….I should clarify. If you told me to finger paint some stuff, color in a coloring book, or spray paint some random stencils, I’m 100% down with that. If you told me to spend 6 months perfecting how to draw a human, not so much. It’s not that I don’t appreciate art, I have a lot of artsy friends and I’m always blown away by what they create. Mostly, I think it just comes down to my patience – I don’t have much of it. Also, it’s good to remember that you don’t have to like everything. We are all unique for a reason and art just might not be my thing.

With that being said, I have never really made art a main focus for me, so this was my chance! Who knows… maybe I’ll be an art prodigy (spoiler alert: I’m not). Even though I didn’t end up finding some hidden skill that I never knew existed, it was a lot of fun creating things that represented my unique character. Plus, I love to laugh at myself. So, when I would wipe clay all over my face or accidentally spray paint my hand instead of the board, I would breakdown in giggles.

Over the course of June, I was able to participate in 3 activities:

Ceramics

I took this class through the Santa Barbara City College extended learning curriculum. It was a 5 week class and damn did it go by quick. In 5 weeks the teacher took us through how to throw, mold, make handles, and glaze. Even though we were going at mach speed, this class was a ton of fun! I found myself always giggling at my monstrous failures. I learned that I don’t exactly have a gentle touch – I was ripping off the top of my clay frequently. It really gave me an appreciation for the level of grace and steadiness that people must have to make those beautiful pots.

Painting

This wasn’t really a painting class, more of an arts and crafts night. I found this amazing “paint your pet” class and since I absolutely love my animals, I jumped at the chance. Before you make the mistake, no I was not physically painting my pets. You’d be amazed how many people thought this when I told them what I was doing…

The class was structured in a way that you could have complete creativity – spray paint, stencils, tissue paper, crayons, sponges – basically Willy Wonka land for art class. As I mentioned above, this is my jam! I felt like I could be my super weird self and the painting would come out good no matter what. My pup was pretty happy with her self portrait if I do say so myself….

Quilting

Quilting made me feel like I was a pro immediately. It produced an immense amount of satisfaction in such a short period of time – like WHOA, I made this! Plus, it’s such a straight forward activity. If you follow the steps, there isn’t too much you can mess up on. I must admit though, I was blessed to have a friend guide me through the whole project. This probably was a huge factor as to why it went so easy for me. She was super patience, gave me all the tips, and knew exactly what she was doing. Let’s be honest… this is 100% the reason why it was so easy for me! Quilting also gets bonus points because I love to snuggle and now I have an epic blanket to snuggle in.

What did I learn about myself?

Well, sorry to disappoint, but I don’t have any ground-breaking insights this time! This month really just reinforced what I already knew about myself. I like art! I think it’s fun to let your child side out. Did I find my calling? No, and that’s not a bad thing! Each of us are unique and we all have our own passions. You know what personal passion was reinforced for me? The fact that I love people. I love engaging, laughing, supporting, and learning about them. The memories that stand out to me most from this month are giggling at how adorable all our pet paintings were, bonding with a new friend over quilting, and being utterly impressed with the work my friends produced at ceramics.

So, it’s safe to say that you’ll damn well never see one of my paintings hanging in the Louvre, but if you are putting together a craft night to create a replica of the Mona Lisa out of tissue paper, I’d sure love an invite!