Secret 1: Acknowledging Your Creative Self

"Rebirth" acrylic on canvas 16x20

"There cannot be too many glorious women."--Marianne Williamson


Such a wonderful quote to open the book with. I think I'll read that quote each time I open the book...as a reminder that the world is full of so many glorious women just waiting to share their gifts with the world.


Hey world, make room for one more glorious woman!


The first chapter of "The Twelve Secrets of Highly Creative Women" focuses on the first secret: Acknowledging Your Creative Self.

I think we all find our ways to our creative selves by taking different paths. And every now and then, we need to re-connect with our creative self.

I remember when I was just 8-9 years looking at a poster print of a Renoir painting and thinking "I want to do that. I want to paint beautiful things and share that with the world." I wanted to be an artist. I already enjoyed being creative and took pride in school art projects, but I was not the sort of bold girl that would announce that sort of BIG dream to the world. In fact, I announced it to no one.

But over the years, I took all the art classes that I could. I went off to college and initially was a journalism major (writing being another love), but soon I found myself in an art class, and then another, and another...until I was a studio arts major. Still I didn't plan on trying to support myself as an artist.

Over the years I always found ways to be creative. My children's earliest memories include "making art" alongside me, as well as exploring different art museums.

Now that my "children" (ages 24 and 22) are grown and I have a supportive husband, I am able to devote more time and energy to making art. For the first time in my life, I have a studio space dedicated to my artwork. Having that space allows me to do more artwork (I don't have to constantly put my work away), it has also given me "permission" to take my work more seriously. I'm not sure why and I know it's a mental game, but somehow working in the studio makes me feel more professional. (I don't think it should be that way, but it has helped me take myself more seriously. And I also feel I need to "justify" the space by using it).

So I have been painting, creating in my studio for about 2 years. I have opened up my studio during public "art crawls" 3 times now. It's been a process of creating more and also sharing my work more. I have found "marketing" to be nearly as time consuming as making art.

I'm at that point in my life when I feel closer to that little girl's dream than I've ever been. And that is part of why I am participating in this blogger book club. Reading the book will challenge me to think creatively about my art and what my goals/dreams are, and how to accomplish those dreams.


I am ready for the next secret.