Creative super power — a quick note to anchor this piece for readers.
Creative super power: Quick notes
A question I received when I shared one of my paintings on Instagram earlier this week stuck with me. I posted a picture of a cat painting as an example when someone asked if I only paint dogs. It was this painting…
Here was her question…
Two of the questions are about method and technique, which I won’t go into in this post. But the second question is the one that hung with me. “Do you actually SEE them that way?”
My first thought was, of course, I see them that way. I wouldn’t paint them that way if I didn’t see them that way. But I realized the answer is deeper and more nuanced than that. Yes, I do see them that way, but I have learned to see them that way. I have practiced to see them that way. I have tested, tried, studied, agonized, and spent many hours over many years just staring at a picture, a painting, at how light falls, or at color comparisons to see them that way. While I’ve been intentionally developing my creative and artistic eye over several years, I have been inadvertently developing that same eye – what I see and how I interpret it as a human – from the day I was born.
And you have been doing that as well. The way you see the world is your creative superpower.
The way Van Gogh saw the world in stripes and swirls of color was his superpower. Jane Austen’s keen observations of behavior, society, culture, and the human heart were her superpower. The way Dorothea Lange saw moving beauty in the suffering and devastation of the Dust Bowl through her camera lens was her superpower.
The way you decorate, dress, bake, cook, draw, paint, plant, prune, arrange, write, scribble, solve problems, knit, shop, teach your kids, play your instrument, play games, learn a language, read, listen, talk, tell jokes, make friends, travel, engage online, all of it, both informs how you see the world and is an outward manifestation of how you see the world.
If you feel like the way you see the world is pretty boring and could never be considered a superpower, here are two encouraging truths for you.
Number one: The way you see the world is 100% unique to you. There is a line in the film The Incredibles that declares, “When everyone is super, no one is.” The villain says it, by the way. While I understand the only-one-person-can-win-first-place mentality underpinning that line, it’s not true when it comes to your creative superpower. The way I see and interpret the world doesn’t take anything away from the way you see and interpret the world. The way Van Gogh or Jane Austen or Dorothea Lange saw the world doesn’t take anything away from me or you. The way you see the world is unavoidably unique and priceless beyond measure.
Number two: The way you see the world as your creative superpower can be developed. Not only can it be developed simply by acknowledging that it is a worthwhile part of your creativity, but it can also be improved through training your eye and studying people who see and interpret the world in a way you admire. The way you see the world is not based on natural talent. It’s dynamic, pliable, teachable, and capable of growth and maturity. It’s the reason we take classes, visit museums, go to concerts and play, read books, and the list goes on.
So, I have two questions for you…
Do you recognize that the way you see and interpret the world is your creative superpower?
How are you currently honing that ability?
A short mention of Creative super power helps readers follow the flow.
Creative super power comes up here to connect ideas for clarity.
In my garden. I noticed—Miss Mustard Seed scatters golden leaves like confetti. whispering. “Leave me alone; I’ve got this autumn cleanup!” The compost pile hasn’t been easier.