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Creativity starts a Home
Nov. 30th, 2012 08:35 amI remember as a kid coloring in coloring books with my Mom. She could color so carefully inside the lines, which was a skill that I so wanted. I remember that she praised me for my coloring work and told me that with practice I too could color inside the lines but coloring outside the lines was fine too.
I have been a color outside the lines kind of person my entire life. I have learned to color within the lines when needed but that the world outside the lines can be much more enriching and fulfilling.
My mother is a wonderful seamstress. When I was a kid I loved to watch her layout fabric and put the pattern on it. She would move pieces around to get the most out of the fabric. She would then cut the fabric with her special sewing scissors. I learned at a young age there were two pairs of scissors that were off limits to everyone but Mom in the house. These were her sewing scissors and her bandage scissors that she used when she was teaching nursing. After cutting the fabric, she would then sew it together on the sewing machine. I had a lot of really good clothing to play in that she made me.
I would watch my father sketch or doodle with a pencil or pen. It was something that he would do almost absentmindedly. I loved the results. He also did some painting. And I will always remember being perched on a stool in the basement workshop watching him make my mother a special cloisonné pin for her birthday.
I watched my father create his desk out of a door and some sawhorses. I watched him make the coat hooks that we still use to hang our coats on. He did all kinds of woodworking projects all over the house when I was young.
They bought my brothers, sister, and me crayons and other arts supplies to play with. They encourage us to create. When I was really little I remember my mother making me a flying monkey vest out of heavy paper. The flying monkeys were my favorite characters in the Wizard of Oz. I also had this great cardboard house they got me that I spend many a day playing with. Legos were big in our house. They encouraged the creativity and imagination in us.
Years later I am sitting on the floor next to my daughter as we color in a coloring book. She asks me if she ever be able to color within the lines like me. I tell her that in time she will but coloring outside the lines is not a bad thing.
I am grateful for all the things my parents did for me to encourage me to be creative.
I have been a color outside the lines kind of person my entire life. I have learned to color within the lines when needed but that the world outside the lines can be much more enriching and fulfilling.
My mother is a wonderful seamstress. When I was a kid I loved to watch her layout fabric and put the pattern on it. She would move pieces around to get the most out of the fabric. She would then cut the fabric with her special sewing scissors. I learned at a young age there were two pairs of scissors that were off limits to everyone but Mom in the house. These were her sewing scissors and her bandage scissors that she used when she was teaching nursing. After cutting the fabric, she would then sew it together on the sewing machine. I had a lot of really good clothing to play in that she made me.
I would watch my father sketch or doodle with a pencil or pen. It was something that he would do almost absentmindedly. I loved the results. He also did some painting. And I will always remember being perched on a stool in the basement workshop watching him make my mother a special cloisonné pin for her birthday.
I watched my father create his desk out of a door and some sawhorses. I watched him make the coat hooks that we still use to hang our coats on. He did all kinds of woodworking projects all over the house when I was young.
They bought my brothers, sister, and me crayons and other arts supplies to play with. They encourage us to create. When I was really little I remember my mother making me a flying monkey vest out of heavy paper. The flying monkeys were my favorite characters in the Wizard of Oz. I also had this great cardboard house they got me that I spend many a day playing with. Legos were big in our house. They encouraged the creativity and imagination in us.
Years later I am sitting on the floor next to my daughter as we color in a coloring book. She asks me if she ever be able to color within the lines like me. I tell her that in time she will but coloring outside the lines is not a bad thing.
I am grateful for all the things my parents did for me to encourage me to be creative.
