Did you know that there is no [natural] blue pigment in plants and flowers? When I was in second grade, I was doing what most second graders do (prior to iPads and cell phones, maybe?): coloring! I used to love drawing, painting, and coloring, and on this particular occasion, I was coloring in a black and white line drawing of a bouquet of flowers, when all of a sudden, one of my classmates came up from behind me, looked over my shoulder and said: "Hey! There are no such things as blue flowers! Those flowers aren't real, they're fake!" To which I immediately took offense, considering the majority of the colored in flowers in my picture were blue (my favorite color at the time).
Me, being a shy, sensitive second grader, didn't know how to respond. I immediately put down my blue crayon, folded up my drawing, and stuffed it in my backpack - embarrassed that I, Jenna, had created something that didn't fit within the laws and rules of nature (I should mention, I've always been a big rule follower).
Somehow, that seemingly small event put a lock on my creativity. I began believing the lie that creativity has to follow a certain set of rules and guidelines, and even worse, that criticism of my work rendered it useless and unimportant - that critique equates to quitting. Somewhere between that event and today, I allowed those unrealistic rules to penetrate my own creativity, and have found myself creating from a place of fear and rigid rules instead of a place of joy and curiosity. So my goal for this year is simple: to start deconstructing the rules I've made up in my own mind and to create for the joy of creating, to become more curious - and to draw more blue flowers.🌻 What lies have you believed that have kept you from doing what you were called to do?
Gorgeous flowers by: @darlingtonflowerco