well said!

i have this friend that loves to be creative, the only problem is that she searches high and low for what others have been creating and then she makes the same things and sells them (she has taken several of my well thought out ideas and designs and sold them as her own work). i suppose it is OK to find what others love and then create it for yourself, like if you see a pretty dress but can’t afford to buy it, make your own that is similar – but when you take it and then sell it, that is different.

i have been painting rocks (just like your rocks) since i was a little kid. My grandmother has been painting beach rocks because her mother painted beach rocks her whole life. Its just been passed along the family line… all of the way from the beaches of Ireland! They painted beautiful beach scenes but when i realized mine looked like crap, i started painting words of love. A friend found your website and pointed out that you were selling rocks just like what i make for fun on etsy (so are other people), at first i was like – that kind of sucks because i’ve been doing this for years and i no longer felt original or unique. but i stuck around and read some of your blog, you are unique and you are fun and a lot like me in the creative sense – so i felt a connection that made me stop thinking about feeling less than unique and more like i had found a cool person! i even bought your mermaid videos to do the class with my 10 year old daughter.

i keep having people tell me,
“you should sell your photos and your rocks and all of the creative things that you make!” but there is something in me saying – “you aren’t original enough to put your stuff out there!” because lets face it, anyone can paint a rock and put a word on it… but at the same time i keep thinking “mine are different because they are my own… and NO ONE can make what i make because i made it!”

i guess what i am trying to say is that your post inspired me to think about creativity a different way! maybe one day i will put myself out there and see what happens. until then, i only create for myself these days.

Love you,

Silly.

Because you’re right. Even if someone else did something like it, it would bear their own unique stamp. And plus, it would just make the whole thing that much more marvelous. It would broaden the scope of what I’m moving toward, and I would learn so much from them, anyway!

I want to hold onto this idea you’re sharing here. It’s hard to be patient, though.

with kristen ~ finding it hard with the art, too, but almost from the other side, meaning, when i see something so deeply lovely and want to share it, yet there is a piece of the artist in it that is unique and unrepeatable. it deserves honor.

funny, i totally believe there’s enough for everyone when it comes to acupuncture and my practice yet, i find it hard to embrace it with art.

thank you. xx

For me, more frightening than someone stealing my spark and blowing it into their own flame, is never finding mine.

Or scarier still, egads, what if I find it? My spark, my identity, my true deep unique gift?

What if it’s ugly? What if I don’t want it? Sometimes I’m really scard to see that true face.