Hello

Recently I started running workshops where we make pictures and talk.

As we talk about drawing and art, the same story comes up again and again: a teacher telling them as a young person that they were no good at art, they couldn’t draw, they were doing it wrong, or some thing along these lines.

The effects on a child can be powerful, being told we can’t do something. As an adult I don’t think we accept criticism so readily because we’ve built up our self esteem. It makes me feel ignorant adults make a big mistake in devaluing children’s efforts.

The other story that comes up a lot is that they weren’t the arty one in the family, that was their brother/sister/whoever. So they don’t allow themselves to see themselves as artistic in any way.

As if only one person can be any one thing. As children we look for our own identity, something that’s ours. And if art or music or whatever is taken by another sibling, we feel we have to identify differently. Some of us even do that with intelligence: so-and-so’s the clever one.

These stories we tell ourselves are not helpful.

Hearing these stories so often during my workshops is what makes me want to do more of them. They are like deprogramming sessions.

If you’d like to do a workshop, sign up to my newsletter and I’ll tell you when the next one is happening.