Dianne,

Mirjam gave out the best advice any design teacher will say.......DO
IT.....you have to start someplace, so just start........and yes, you
have to get rid of whatever inner negative voice you might
hear.......you have to block that out and go do it.......

True, I may able to draw well but the bottom line is, I still have to
sit down and try out new methods......afterall, I'm pretty much a self
taught stitcher......I started with kits and then realized how many
changes I kept making to the designs, so decided to create my own
needlework designs!
There was quite a bit of trial and error.......you can't be afraid to
make mistakes, it's the only way to learn in this field.
You also can't be afraid to waste materials or toss aside blah ideas
half done.....there is no such thing as having to finish everything you
start....you have to keep trying and trying till you are
satisfied.....and you will know that feeling at some point.......

It wasn't easy at all and in art school we were constantly pushed to SEE
and OBSERVE not copy what's there already......from there, we had to use
what we saw and interpret it in our own way.........creatively!!!

As an example: In an art class of 30, we were given an assignment to
illustrate the subject of metamorphisis.......the professor critiqued 29
results of this assignment as totally boring.........despite being
beautifully painted and drawn, he said none of these students used their
minds to think creatively.

I had produced the only art work he liked because I didn't do a literal
painted study of rotting tree stumps and vegatation.......my painting
was based on Greek Mythology of the Three Fates.....youth, middle age
and old age and each fairy like creature was in it's forested area with
blooming plants for youth, green healthy growth for middle and fading
autumn....all areas were linked with the water of life brook......

Basically, one has to push their minds to think of producing ideas
outside of what is expected, think crazy perhaps but the point is to
think beyond what you expect........I do this everyday of my
life.....I'm always pushing and pushing my mind to be as creative as I
can possibly be........

The other important thing to be creative is to see what's around you,
everything......street art, clothing, designs and products you might not
even like, etc. A creative person can't have a closes mind......you
never know where inspiration can come from......inspiration and
creativity don't come in packages, certain times of the day, but from
minds that learn and process all it sees, hear, feels.....all the senses
are involved......the mind absorbs and eventually if one becomes attuned
to these feelings, all the stimuli the mind has absorbed will begin to
show up little by little in the way you think.......the more you look
and practice, the more it'll come out in your creations.....and even
when this begins to work, you can't sit back on your laurels because
designs, ideas become old as soon as they're produced.......it's a
constant and continuous growth to be a good designer....
---
Lula
http://www.woolydream.com
Needlework Adventures

Dianne Lewandowski wrote:

I think more than a few of us need a "directed" push. We can't look at
a plain canvas and do it. And even if we *can* put *something* on that
plain canvas, it ends up being trite. That may not be the right word.
More akin to: been there, done that, nothing original.

How I wish there was some way I could get into a fiber class that
demanded of us in such a way that - sweat pouring down brow - it could
eek out my inner self.

Watching this conversation: Yesterday I looked at a piece I'm doing,
and I noticed the petals in the flower. I definitely have my "own way"
of drawing, but I don't know how to break out and make it really say
something. Everytime I look at it, I think: Oh, but artists do it so
much better. I *know* that's not exactly true in the deepest sense, but
that's a tape recorder that's hard to overcome.

Dianne