Creating With Child-Like Delight

"All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."

-Pablo Picasso.

Throughout this year, my children and I have been embarking on some artist studies. It has been pretty simple; a few library books, a short video about the artist, and then taking some time to create using a work of art from the artist we are studying as inspiration. As we learned about Picasso, we came across the quote above and it stopped me in my tracks a bit. It caused me to pause and take in the words before me. To ponder the ways that children, the young ones right in front of me every day, create. How do they create, whether its inventing a lego tower, drawing a picture, choosing colors to make the most beautiful play-doh ice cream cone.

Children naturally are so moved to create in so many different ways. They delight in the process, in the completion of their creations and in sharing them with others. I love seeing children create in ways so uninhibited and I think we can learn so much from it!

I can feel the desire in myself to create with uninhibited freedom… but somewhere along the journey between childhood and adulthood we can lose that gift and it becomes more natural to question, measure, and critique our own work. Creating with freedom and joy does not come naturally as an adult. I have to fight for it, pretty hard at times. Although mot always easy, I don’t believe it is out of reach. Perhaps it is more like an intentional discipline to show up to create just because we were made to create.

I wonder what it would be like if we never let go of that child like willingness to create freely just because we delight in it, because we were made to create and not because we need to be defined as good enough by it? Isn't there so much beauty in the simple uninhibited joy of engaging the creative process and letting that be enough; to simply enjoy it? I think this would be so beautiful. I think this would allow us deep delight, a new way of experiencing the world, and would open our eyes to the beauty in what we create and celebration of others. Yes, I really do think this is possible, and worth the fight to delight in the process.