Starting Something New

In the movie “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” there is a scene where Harry is teaching other witches and wizards about defense against the dark arts.  He tells them that every great witch and wizard started where they were, that they had been students.  Every great witch and wizard had to learn.  It is only through practice and mistakes that the students will become great too.

Think about this concept for a minute.  Do you remember when you were learning to walk?  Toddlers are called toddlers for a reason.  They don’t have the best balance and often toddle over.  They are learning how to keep their balance and put one foot in front of the other.

Think about how you learn new things.  Where do you start?  Some things are easier to learn with a group or in a class.  Sometimes it is easier to learn things on our own through trial and error.  Some skills are best learned from one-on-one instruction by an individual who has mastered a particular art.  Sometimes you can read a book and figure out how to do something.  Another way to learn may be by watching a video.  What I am trying to say is that there are lots of ways to learn things and we all have unique learning styles.

I have been teaching art and creativity classes for almost 20 years now.  Every couple years, I encounter an individual who after their very first experience painting, drawing, etc. give up because whatever they were working on did not turn out like what they had pictured in their mind.

As an artist who has worked on her art for over 20 years, I can tell you that the finished artwork rarely looks like the image you first had in your head.  Usually, the finished piece is way BETTER!  Better than you could have possibly imagined.

That kind of better doesn’t happen with your first canvas, watercolour or drawing.  It takes time and practice.  I have entire sketch books of awful, marginal and just okay.  I didn’t think of them as awful, marginal or just okay at the time I made them.  I thought they were pretty good or at the very least a start of something that could be good.  But when I compare them to what I can do now after years and years of practice, the improvement is quite noticeable.

“Have no fear of perfection – You’ll never reach it.” -Salvador Dali

Go ahead and imagine.  But be prepared that things may not turn out the way you imagined.  There is a distinct possibility that things will be different.  An even better possibility that you will do even better than you imagined.  Have faith and let the creative process work its magic.

Featured image courtesy of pixiby.com.

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