Innate Need to be Creative?

Do you ever feel that you have an innate need to be creative? Well, I do. I didn't discover this about myself until a year ago. Before then, I consistently had an outlet to create, design, paint, etc. 

So many pretty colors!

I went to undergrad with the purpose of being an art major. I may be one of the few people who actually stuck with their major from freshman year through graduation. During those four years, I was not only encouraged to create art but it was demanded of me. I had studio space, peers to accompany me into the wee hours of the morning working on projects, and professors offering encouragement and critiques. 

Then grad school came. I received my degree in museum studies. It was art related, but it did not require me to take studio classes. To be honest, I was too busy between classes, work, and church activities to miss being in the studio. I did bring my painting gear with me and I managed to create one painting during those two years. However, because I like to work with oil paints I am limited to working outside due to the potentially harmful fumes the paints and solvents emit without proper ventilation. 

Next came my nine month graduate internship in Connecticut. I decided not to bring my painting gear with me because then I would have to haul it, and any paintings I created, back to Oklahoma after my internship was completed. I spent most of my spare time exploring New England and visiting museums so instead of creating art I was absorbing as much of it from the masters as I could. 

My internship ended and I moved back to Oklahoma. Two months later I was blessed with a job in my home state and I was busy exploring a new town and decorating my apartment. However, after I explored most of the town and my apartment felt homey I began to feel restless. 

My apartment has a balcony so when the weather was nice I created a few paintings. However, because of the unpredictable Oklahoma weather, I knew that I couldn't rely on being able to paint outside very often. Inevitably the weather changed and I needed to find something to keep me occupied in doors....and that is when creativity and opportunity crossed my path :)

My co-workers and I went out to lunch one day and we decided to stop in a cute little shop on our back to work. While we were browsing I came across an embroidered pillow that I fell in love with! The only problem was that it cost $200. I work in the non-profit art world and lets just say that I didn't choose this field for the money. 

There is no way that could spend that kind of money on a pillow, but I kept thinking about it. The more I thought about it the more I knew I wanted that pillow. Then an idea occurred to me. Why don't I try to make one?! My Mom taught me how to cross stitch when I was younger, so it wouldn't be too difficult to translate that skill into learning to embroider. My Mom let me "borrow" (I say borrow because it has been several months and I still have them, but my Mom is good like that) all of her threads and embroidery hoops and I taught myself how to hand embroider. 

I developed a similar design to the pillow I saw in the store, with a few changes to make it personal to me, and I now understand why they charge so much for those pillows lol. They take a long time to complete! It took me two months to finish the embroidery on mine. However, the process of learning a new craft and creating the pillow got my creativity flowing. I was a little disappointed when I was finished with the embroidery. What was I going to do now?

Then came along the idea for an Etsy shop....