I want to tell you a story. It’s about ugly.
Once upon a long, long time ago, I had an idea. I was lying in bed in my attic bedroom in the old farmhouse we lived in when I was a kid. I was probably about eleven. My feet were down by the window, and my head was under the slanted eaves, the roof only an inch or two above my nose. I stared up in delight. I’d woken up early with this idea and my brain had started whirring (I still do this, quite often).
I was an artist.
It was suddenly clear to me. I’d never been one before, but that morning, at eleven years old, I knew I was an artist. I could feel the urge in my fingertips, the tingle in the palms of my hands. My whole body wanted to draw, and the image of what I’d draw first was perfectly encased in my mind’s eye.
It was a dachshund. (Come to think of it, it was a low, fluffy, wide dachshund who looked a lot like Harriet.)
Best dog
In my mind, still lying in bed, I could see the outline of this dachshund so clearly. I was astonished. I’d never thought too much about being an artist outside coloring books and FashionPlates, but it was immensely exciting to know that I'd acquired overnight the talent required to be good.
I imagined it, over and over again, so that when I got up and found my colored pencils, I’d have it right. Yes, I could see it, there was the curve on the nose, there was the soft underbelly. There was the flag of a jaunty tail.
I couldn’t wait to draw it. Everyone would be impressed. I would draw dogs for my sisters upon request, and after a while, I would branch out. Cats, horses, crickets. Beach scenes! I could probably sell them to someone!
Unable to keep my excitement or my artistic bent under the sheets a minute longer, I got up, went to my desk, and pulled out the old ledger book I kept notes in (I’d found dozens of them in the attic when we’d moved in, huge red business ledgers. I longed to fill their cunning boxes with numbers, and sometimes I did unnecessary math, just to make the pages pretty).
I sharpened my pencil.
I drew the first line.
It was wrong.
The very first LINE was wrong.
I took a deep breath. I erased it and did it again.
Still wrong.
I drew that dog, and friends, it looked like a portobello mushroom. The dog’s face looked like a droopy question mark.
It was awful.
It was worse than awful, it was UGLY.
I was a terrible artist. I could see the truth, and anyone who looked at it would see the same thing.
I gave up drawing for the next thirty or so years. Then I suddenly said, I’d like to draw something! I painted Clementine tangled in the jasmine vines, as she is wont to do. (Funny, that I drew a dog, after all that.)
And you know what? I wasn’t attached to the outcome that day. I just wanted to draw for the feeling of it, for the colors. When I forgot to worry if it would be good or bad, it kind of came out awesome. And I know this: some might call that painting ugly.
Many might, in fact. But I love it.
The painting bug hasn't stuck, and I haven't done much since. But I feel the echo of that moment in my writing, when I slap ugly words on the page and smile at them. I'll make them pretty, or I'll throw them out, no worries. Their ugly doesn't scare me. In fact, the ugly does the opposite. It makes me happy, proving I really am an artist. (This doesn't take away the fear. The fear never goes away. That's fine, too.)
My friend Kim wrote a whole book about embracing the ugly. No, not not-minding-ugly. That’s different. One day, while overwhelmed with doubts, she embraced ugly in a big way. And it changed her life.
Her book about this? It’s nutballs awesome. People, I underlined. I did exercises. I folded corners down. The book is chock full of her no-nonsense voice and her super inspiring
approach to creativity.
Indiebound | Amazon* | iBooks* | B&N | Kobo
Dude.
If you are creative, you need this book.
If you want to be creative? You needed this yesterday. I seriously love it. I would read a page or two and then launch myself off my couch to Do Something Awesome.
Her publisher is giving one away to one lucky commenter (tell me about something you made, pretty, ugly, or in between) and I’m giving another copy away to someone randomly drawn from my mailing list. (Blog comment winner will be drawn on Sunday the 12th.)
**ETA – I forgot! I'm mentioned in the book! Kim interviewed ME! I forgot when I was reading, too, and she started talking about a writer, and I sat up when I saw my name!
*Affiliate links
I made a book! (a bunch of them in fact, although a bunch of them are work-for-hire) I hear you about the ugly words. I try like hell to remember that I can edit the words I write, I can’t edit the words I erase. Some days, I even remember.
I live in a family of artists and we all sneak one of our artworks into the trash hoping no one will see it before it gets picked up. For me this is sometimes hard to do when I cook. Cooking is one of my arts.
While camping one time it was raining. My bf couldn’t get a fire started, and once I managed to I tossed a dutch oven into it with peach cobbler. Simple home cooking that reminds me of the artwork of Norman Rockwell. Well I didn’t think of the size of the log I put on top of the crock (yep a log), and I ran back into the leaky cabin. BF went out to check on it and it turns out the fire was still going REALLY well and the cast iron was cherry red. He managed to move the fired to the other side of the pit. I thought I had ruined anything in that oven. After dinner I bravely got the oven out of the pit (it as back to black now) and we opened it. It was bad. Really really bad. I laughed and stuck the black rocky mass with a fork and found if you went about an inch down through pure black you found perfect cobbler. I’m a master at souffles, truffles, roasting, but somehow that cobbler was not meant to be.
I was just writing a blog about my failed pseudo-Fassett knitting. Not up yet because what is a knitting blog without pictures and I just can’t be bothered to get a picture of my misshapen sleeve sweater, or my not quite long enough sweater… I’m not sure they are ugly, but they are not right, that’s for sure.
When I was a new knitter, I was on fire with creativity, I wanted to knit everything! I finally got the nerve to knit a mitten. I was so excited, and also had no idea about gauge. I knit like crazy, not even realizing till I was done, that what I had knitted was really more of a giant pink oven mitt. I can laugh about it now, but I felt bad about it, until I went to my knitting club with my oven mitt, and me another woman who had knit a house slipper that would fit the jolly green giant. Oh well, I learned a lot. 🙂
What a great story, and a great idea for a book. As a Montessori teacher, and we are never retired or former as Montessori is lifetime, I really appreciate the development of creativity. Thanks for sharing…
My ugly… I am new to the drop spindle. I can not get even yarn to save my life. It is thick and thin, and really thin. I can’t even count this at “art” yarn. But every now and then I pick up my spindle again and give it another try. That just reminds me how much I love knitting. 🙂
I always wanted to be able to draw and be an artist (art and PE, the only classes I ever habitually got minuses in as a kid). I adore color and texture and line and so many visual things at which I seem to be extra clumsy.
I grew up and thought, screw it, I don’t care if I failed all those art classes, I still like color. I made this quilt because I liked the orange star fabric and it kind of just grew from there. I didn’t plan it out. (You can see maybe I have a teency bit of a star fixation). But I had so much fun making it and rearranging things and picking colors. Maybe you’d call it collage? Whatever.
http://ofb.net/~carrie/quiltpics/orangebeauty_borders.jpg
I knit a sweater for myself — it had attached stubby-fingered gloves and a hood with wolf ears, à la WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. The sleeves came to my knees. The yarn is now in a 5-gallon pail waiting to be reused.
In high school ceramics class I made an epically ugly flower pot. Like whoa ugly. My mother took pity on me and planted flowers in it. She put it on the table on the front porch of our house in DC. I knew it was ugly but it still made me happy she liked it, or me enough to pretend. One day we came home to discover the plant, unpotted sitting in the middle of the table, a pile of dirt and roots and leaves. And there was an exceedingly ugly piece of lawn art in the corner of the porch that was not ours. Someone stole our ugly pot and left us some ugly lawn art. It was kind of amazing.
I made an oblong purse for my mother once. My idea as a new knitter was that the felting would take care of my errors. I didn’t count on the fact that I would knit the straps on wonky and instead of placing them at the 12:00 and 6:00 positions, they were at 4:00 and 10:00. It was also over-felted. I gave it to my mom anyway, b/c I’d promised it and b/c I couldn’t bear the thought of doing it over. She added a button and wore it proudly, b/c she’s nice like that! And you know, it really didn’t look that bad after all.
I once made a polka-dot calypso dress for my mother – I mean, it was hideous, but she had asked for it. And, she wore it. Once… Great giveaway. Thanks!
I made a quilt for my daughter as my first attempt at quilting….yeah, it’s a little shall we say askew. I had so much more fun making it though once I decided I didn’t care if the corners matched up! I still love it.
Funny thing…the first picture I remember drawing was a dog, too.
I made some soap last week; spearmint with parsely flakes and colored green, to enhance the feeling of cool mintiness. I don’t use a mold, I pour the soap into old milk cartons, which, while yielding a less-than beautiful product, does give something I’d normally throw away a little bit of a second life.
I made a cake once that not only looked awful, but was so heavy that my mom wouldn’t even let me put it out for the birds. She said that if they ate any they’d never be able to fly. I was about twelve with no idea that there is a reason recipes are written the way they are.
I have these great ideas in my head but translating them to real life (boy, did I understand your first drawing attempt!) not only doesn’t work but I tend not to practice to get there. Ceramics: I had a dozen stunning ideas, none of which worked on my first attempt at each;-)
My most recent batch of yarn dyeing produced an Ugly so very, very far from the colors that were in my head. A lot of the time when dyeing, an Ugly can turn beautiful when knit up. Not the case here, nope, not at all. And I dyed a batch of 8 skeins the same, so it’s a boatload of Ugly. I figure someone will see it and think it’s pretty, or have a fondness for ugly, and I will love that person. A lot.
Lots of clunky pots, occasionally a pretty one. But I still love my first, clunkiest pots the most.
I am almost never completely satisfied with my knitting, even when other people are oohing and aahing over it! I see every mis-crossed cable, every tiny lump in the seam. I notice the subtle ruffling of too many cast on edging stitches. Sometimes it makes me want to frog the whole thing and cry. I’m so lucky to have people who tell me it’s all gorgeous, even when I’m pretty sure they’re lying. 😛
I am helping with a clay class at the elementary school! My pots look like they are made by the kids, but that’s okay, right? I am a maker!
Last week I started swatching for some new designs, and the first few stitch patterns I tried were absolutely terrible, annoying to knit and I didn’t like how they looked. So terrible that I ripped them out right away and started over. Yesterday I actually finished a couple that I liked and blocked them, and today it’s been making me happy just to look at them.
(Oh, and Fashion Plates! I had that! I made all the combinations, repeatedly, and colored them in with different color schemes, and gave every girl a name! I totally forgot all this until you mentioned it, but then there it was, my childhood came right back!)
I’ve started a sketching practice because I want to learn to draw. The first people I tried to draw we’re sooooo uglyyyyy! Whew! But I did it and now I can do it again and again. Even better, now I’ll remember the feeling of being om that subway train every time I think of that sketch. Ugly is okay!
I made a sweater from some very beautiful and very expensive yarn. It looked horrible on me, but was interesting to knit. I ripped the whole thing out, overdyed the yarn, and made something that looks great. Sometimes it takes lots of tries before it works.
The first pair of socks I knit were awful. One had a long pointy toe. Just bad. I made he mistake of giving them to a friend who doesn’t get rid of anything so I get to see them every now and then.
Achievement Unlocked: Impress Grandma with sewing skills!
I got a sewing machine a few months ago and have so far only made one tiny notion bag. Grandma was still impressed (and so was I, to be honest) First time using one since I was 12.
I knit a lot. I have successfully (in the Not Ugly) department, knit a shawl for my grandmother, a lot of scarves, and I crochet a stuffed Minion (from Despicable Me) for my husband.
I love this idea. I’ve been researching art journaling a lot lately. Ran out and bought all kinds of supplies to make my own art journal – and have yet to do a single page. I’m so overwhelmed by the whole thing I can not put pen to paper. It’s very sad. If this book is all you say it is I think I really need it my life. I see a trip to B&N in my very near future!
My first sweater knit, yikes.
A great idea for a book. I’m sure their are a lot of us that get in a rut or we don’t think we can do something creative. This will get us going. I’m sure it will be a great success. I’m a knitter/Spinner and gourd artist. Love working with my hands but sometimes it doesn’t seem enough or I want something new and just don’t have a clue what it is.
I went to a social art night where an artist walked us through painting a picture…mine looks like a 6 year old did it 🙂 My husband insists he loves it though so I keep it.
I am a knitter and a dormant writer. I have made plenty of ugly knits in my 20+ years – from socks that would fit the Elephant Man to a sweater with a neckline so low even Katy Perry wouldn’t wear it. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on this book (free copy or not!)
So, my mother-in-law was telling us the tragic story of the triplets who went to bed fine, and the next morning, “one of them woke up dead”. Is anyone allowed to say that?
Okay then. I was sitting here trying to decide how I was going to spend my day and as the minutes tick away, I am still sitting here in front of my computer in my bathrobe. Now I’m inspired. First I’m going to throw on some house clothes (yep, the ugly but comfortable ones). Then I’m heading to the kitchen, because that is my creative place. I’m not sure just what I’m going to make but I know I am going to make something. It’s okay if it’s not pretty (it may even be ugly) but maybe I will be lucky and it will taste good, or maybe even great! If not, at least I tried. The key is to find the courage or the inspiration to just start something. Anything. Wish me luck!
My first attempt at writing a book was pretty ugly! And so it sits… With it’s characters all hanging in limbo, waiting for the day that they can continue on with their lives. I’m sure my heroine is getting pretty tired of standing behind that register in the coffee shop! Jeesh! 😛
I think I might finish my hideous first children’s novel this week. It’s so bad I don’t even want to revise it, just finish it. But I’m excited to start on the next one. It’s GOT to be better!
OY…do I have a lot of ugly hanging around my office. Ugly art, ugly writing, ugly cards, ugly, ugly, ugly and yet in the ugliness of ugly there is the beauty of creativity…ok. So my pig has a demonic look and the mermaid I was so hellbent on making looks more like a tuna with a necklace. They are my ugly children and I love them.
Oh, I know that feeling you speak of so well! I do draw as part of my living (costuming) and I’m not bad, not bad at all… but I have yet to find the way to make my hand put down on paper what I see so clearly in my head. I SEE the lines, the shading, I understand the why and wherefore, it is sooo obvious! But try telling that to my hands. Oof! Stubborn brats!
But… sometimes… there’s a spark and a connection is made and there it is. The line I always meant to make. And that one really good line is worth going through all the multitude of not so right. SO… take a break, accept the flaws, but keep going… that line is just waiting for you.
I have one drawing I feel that way about… it was in a life drawing class. And it’s good. Flat out good. And I am finally going to get it framed and up on the wall. I don’t know if that was quite what you meant to inspire me to do, but I feel good about doing it. I drew a good drawing from my eyeballs to the paper.
Yep. That’s me… an artist.
I think I have made my share of uglies! Would love to win the book;O))
Oh my… yes, and yes. First, I am insanely jealous of your attic room, I always wanted an attic room to read in. Second, I’ve made many, many ugly things. Books (or mostly half finished books), paintings, a cotton sweater for my father that ended up being about 4 feet wide, an acrylic blanket for a friend’s baby that ended up being a fat scarf for my sister about a dozen years later. Lots and lots of ugly stuff. I’d love to learn how to live with, and move on from, my ugly stuff!
Oh I’d love to win this – I was just reading about it on her site and thought, wow, that sounds like a Good Read. I pinned it, but I’m trying not to spend money I haven’t earned. And I’m not earning. So.
As for something I’ve made, well, of course I make a lot of knitting. But I’ve just in the past couple of months started to break through my own assorted blocks and make knitting patterns. I’m really proud of them, mostly because I’m just DOING it and even though I wasn’t sure, in the case of at least one of them, that it was actually worth putting out as a proper pattern (it’s pretty, but is it enough?), I did anyway because you know… you just have to get through that self-doubt and Do It. And people are actually buying the patterns, which says to me that yes, they have worth to people other than me. So I’m proud.
I’ve accepted the flaws of my first novel. Now I’m having trouble finishing the 2nd. Everyday the 1st languishes with that publisher who won’t look at it just convinces that much more that it’s no good. Something has to change!
I’m a knitter, and my first washcloth is holey, misshapen, and really, truly ugly. My mother, upon seeing how I had “progressed” since our previous lesson, kindly suggested we just bind off and begin another. I kept that washcloth, and whenever a new knitter looks at something I’m making and tells me how hard it looks, I show her the washcloth and tell her that it just takes practice to get lots, lots better.
My problem with ugly – that I desperately want to overcome – is that I grew up in a family that was really stuck on appearances. The worst thing that could happen if we were misbehaving was, as Mom would hiss,”people are LOOKING at you!” I’ve gotten over the fear of being noticed, but not the fear of being noticed in a negative light, so I have a hard time putting the ugly out there. If a project is a complete hideous failure (like that last hat, wonky blanket, misshapen cardigan) i just don’t even want anyone to see it! And the problem of the image in my head being far superior to what I can slap on paper? GAH!! I think I NEED this book.
I’ve seen the book all over social media lately and am very curious! I make things all the time (knitting, yarn, lotion bars).
That reminded me of a life-size doll I sewed when I was about 10. The proportions were all off: too-long skinny legs, giant globe-like head and square torso. I loved her, called her sally. She had pink yarn pigtails. My parents called her birth-defect Sally. They weren’t too bright when it came to encouragement, but that was a project that enguled my attention and love.
Thanks, Rachael. Great post.
Hey Rachel! I can use all the inspiration and motivation I can get!
My “entrance exam” for kindergarten in 1964 was to draw a picture. It started out as a bear and wound up as a caterpillar. That’s probably the last time I ever embraced a mistake. Now it’s more along the lines of, “OK, I’m sitting down to write and … NO YOU CAN’T WRITE WHO ARE YOU KIDDING YOU’RE AN IDIOT WITH NOTHING WORTH SAYING.”
I bought the book. Thank you for pointing the way.
This book is just what I need. Started a mini art journal and I don’t know where my head was or my creativity. Every page is ugly. I can’t stand to open it. Guess one day I will cover the pages with gesso and start over
Now I need to try again because the ugly has scared me off starting something new. Hope the book says just do it
My daughter gifted me “Wreck This Journal” hoping it would help me get get past my fears of putting pen to paper. So far it’s made me aware of my perfectionist ways that continue to hinder me. I’m crazy, makes me so depressed. Please help! xo
I have a blank journal sitting on my desk.. It was purchased to organize my yarns and upcoming projects that are in my near future… Journal still blank..
PS … Just finished Pack up the Moon.. Loved it!!! Looking forward to checking out your other books.. excited that you have a new one coming out too!!
I just finished my first attempt at a beaded lace scarf! Knit in alpaca so it’s fuzzy, soft and warm, and the recipient’s favorite color. I was so pleased that for once it came out the way I had envisioned it; most of my projects don’t.
That sounds like the kind of book I need to read to get ‘unstuck’! Have a bunch of things that are started and not finished!
I have several projects “half-way” completed. Also several projects that are still bundled up in yarn balls. I could really use some creative impetus to get me moving.
I also would love to start writing a book…have had the urge for several years now but haven’t gotten serious about it yet. My current laptop is almost impossible to type on – if I am going to get serious about writing should probably invest in a new one that actually works 🙁
Will consider your course though…hmmm, maybe it is just what I need!
I’ve had same urge to paint. I wanted to paint our old jail about 30 years ago. It’s still half finished. Every once in a while I find it in the basement. Why can’t I throw it out? I’ve tossed lots of other projects I’ve fell out of favour with. Maybe your book will help.
Just Sunday, I was wisting over art supplies at Blick. Don’t need to add to the ones already at the house that aren’t used.
You know what’s weird? My Kid, who says he can’t draw, thinks I can. Amazing what I will attempt for that Kid (he likes collaborative drawings, especially if he can get me to do most of it).
Years ago, I found myself in a small group doing one of those creativity book thingies (I won’t admit to remembering which book) and I decided emphatically those books aren’t for me. Those one looks interesting… Ack!
I’m so close to falling over the edge of producing something. Perhaps this could be the push…
i used to be creative — long ago and far away — i’d LOVE to be again. this might just help.
In 4th grade art class, the assignment was to sculpt an animal and I made a clay elephant. It had a tasseled blanket draped over its back and a headband with a tall, gently curved feather. The elephant was white with large, very pink polka dots and I think the headband and blanket were purple and green. Most of the other kids in the class made very realistic animals and a few of my classmates mocked my elephant, but I was very proud of the fact that my elephant was one of the few projects selected for the display case in the school entryway. It got lost when we moved that summer but I can still picture it 40yrs later!
Heh, sounds good! For some reason, I think that nothing I do is creative. No idea why. Silly for someone who creates so much, but there you have it.
I put together the most unlikely combination o f flowers in my pots this spring. After a month of growing….gorgeous like a mardi gras prade!
I’d love the book. I knit kid’s mitts. I donate them to the local Salvation Army. They are crazy, ugly with pink beside orange beside all the colours I can mash up. I’ve used up a lot of extra wool, the mitts are fluorescent, gaudy and oh soooo much fun to knit. I don’t hang out at the local primary schools to look for them but someday, I hope, I will see crazy on some little hand…
Thank you for the opportunity to win this book….
The ugliest thing I ever made was a Christmas tree skirt. I didn’t know how to quilt and certainly had no idea to handle triangular “biscuits.” The skirt was wonky and and did not resemble a circle at all.
I’ve been experiencing an unusual amount of disappointing art lately. Collages, knitting, writing, even my handwriting seems stunted. I want so much to love what I create but right now I just feel judgemental and crabby about it — like by itself, the very thing I am trying to “make” has a vendetta against me. Of course I know this is not true and at some point (perhaps when Mercury emerges from Retrograde or whatever the hell it is) I will stand back with a painter’s distance and have perspective. Today, though, it just feels too messy to embrace.
I made an ugly Pacman Pillow in my home economics class in 8th grade. It was rather terrible, and I gave it to my brother in law because he had one of those old school game systems from way back when, so I figured he would like a Pacman pillow. He accepted my gift graciously because that is just how my brother in law is. And he didn’t even laugh at its ugliness.
So needed this the day before yesterday. Great post, interesting book!
I actually have so little confidence in my drawing that I am scared to even try any more, my pictures my entire life have been horrible even though I’d love nothing more than to be able to express myself that way. Luckily I can knit and sew which gives me an outlet to be creative. Doesn’t mean it always comes out well, I’ve used fabric and yarn that’s terribly wrong for projects and have given some amazingly ugly things to charity shops over the years. I made an ugly Christmas stocking a few years back for my son who loved it, I’m hoping he’ll forget it ever existed when he sees the nice quilted one I made him for this year!
For my PhD writing I’m still scared of the ugly words, need to get over that and write more to practice finding the pretty ones that make me sound smart!
Hmmm. Right now my writing is butt-ugly. So hell yeah, sign me up.
Embrace the ugly! What a great topic! I’ve definitely had some uglies in drawing, painting and knitting. But I’d forgotten about this one until I read Doris’ comment. My very first cake baking experience was from a Jiffy mix and I just knew it would be The Tastiest Cake Ever. I turned on the oven, mixed the cake up and popped it in. Sadly, I had not put the oven on Bake, but on BROIL. The cake looked like a volcano when the timer went off. Tall, pointy and hugely cracked. I forged ahead with the frosting anyway…which came out way too runny and looked suspiciously like lava. Major baking fail on all levels.
Anytime I have to draw it turns out like a 5-year-old with palsy grabbed a crayon. However – my use of color is astounding!
I went to design school and realized how much I sucked at drawing compared to my peers. I spent 5 years there, and emerged with a degree, and drew a lot, and got a lot better. But 20 years later I still suck at it compared to the real artists. Words still come easier. It doesn’t matter. I learned about line quality, and not picking up your pencil, and not erasing, and shades of black, and really really looking. It was utterly priceless.
Lately I’m just making yarn. Slowly. And that’s OK.
I have always, always told myself that I can’t draw. This summer I had a moment and gave myself permission to draw. It doesn’t have to be anything, it just has to involve some kind of thing to draw with and some kind of thing to draw on. It has been so freeing and I love my doodles or learn from them. Either way I gave myself permission and that gave me power to step away from something that sounded like a truth but really wasn’t even though I believed it with all my heart.
I’d been knitting for a couple years when I finally decided to make my first sweater. I spent hours picking a pattern and yarn and knitting the thing. Apparently my gauge was off just enough (I swear I measured) that it was effectively a size too big. I frogged it and reknit it a size down a few months later. In the midst of that, I moved to Hawaii and promptly lost 20 pounds. The new version is better-knit than the old one, but it’s once again too big, and now far too warm for the climate! I still take it out occasionally to pet it, and ponder knitting it a third time, but I haven’t worked up the energy yet.
Overcome and overwrought after the death of a friend’s mum, I wanted to create something beautiful for her. I painted tropical reef fish with watercolours – something I had never done before! I identify with your feelings of doing ALL THE LINES wrong. I still really loved the process though. Thank you.
I’d like to be more creative than I am. I’m a knitter, I do a little sewing, but I’ve never been able to elevate past “craft” to “art”. Maybe I’m meant to appreciate the work of others – or maybe I need to change my perspective.
I made a hoodie for my 5 yr. old granddaughter. It had me in tears and it turned out awesome! I had to learn so many new things with that sweater. I learned how to work with 2 sets of circular needles simultaneously, how to do raglan sleeves, how to knit a seamless garment, pick up stitches, make a pouch without seams, make the hood without picking up stitches. I got stuck so many times and had to go to my LYS for help, so it took a while to complete. The ladies at the store convinced me that the pattern was sized small and therefore I needed to make it 2 sizes larger than what my granddaughter would normally wear. It ended up fitting her little slip of a mother (except the sleeves were too short for her mom) and being waaaay too big for my granddaughter. But I am so proud of that hoodie! And all that I learned while making it even though it really did break my spirit for a spell there, lol.
I make one animal every day (I’m doing a 365 challenge). Some are awesome, some are ugly. I just made a commitment to show up every day and do it even if I don’t feel like doing it. And I post it even if I don’t like it. Cause sometimes I just don’t have the time to perfect it. It’s a kind of project where the process is more important than the actual product. It helped me to get in the creative groove and deal with the fear of criticism.
It’s not that you woke up an artist….you woke up REMEMBERING you’re a artist. The ‘ugly’ is getting alllllll those ‘should sound like, should look like…’ fancy filters outta the way…and work from the heart and your place of “knowingness” (yes, it’s a word…my 😉 word). That’s when you get these lovely bits like Clemmie and the jasmine. Divine.