Daily creative acts: A dulling of the edge?
Being creative, most will agree, is an activity that, simplistically-put, satisfies the creative urge. It satisfies that urge both during the process and after the work is complete: satisfaction through the act and through admiration of the act. This urge drives artists to create. What I wonder is whether that urge is dulled by little “creative” accomplishments in daily life.
For instance, I couldn’t care a jot less for the appearance of my lawn. I cut it because I am obligated to, for the sake of the neighbors, and because I would rather my house not look like a Halloween attraction. I cut it. Period. There is no fertilizing or seeding going on. There is no stomping about with those spikey shoes strapped to my feet, nor any gentle raking to get rid of the dead grass. I don’t have a problem with a few dandelions; in fact, I think they are kind of pretty, much to the horror of many.
As I say, I cut the stuff when it needs it. Still, regardless of my lack of real concern for the lawn, I will admit that, when finished, I sometimes sit on the front step and look it over for awhile, with some pride.
When I straighten up my garage, I become enamoured of the rows things and the neatly stacked boxes, and of the suddenly-visible floor. For some reason, straightening up the garage gives me a feeling of deep accomplishment. (Last time I did it, I kept visiting the garage — flipping on the light and soaking it its neat grandeur — late into the night.)
And, you know, it feels a little like the satisfaction I get from composition or writing. Less profound, mind you, but fulfilling on some level, nevertheless.
Planning lessons for my classes comes with even more of a pay-off, creatively speaking. Even looking at a PowerPoint or a neatly printed and formatted exam makes me feel some creative satisfaction.
The question remains: is all of this good for artistic creativity, or does it make us less apt to pick up the brush or to sit at the piano or to put pen to page? Surely, these everyday things take up time, but do they spend creative energy at the expense of artistic creation?
(As the most profound creative act, I suppose the concept of sex leaves us with the same conundrum. Does suppressing the urge for a time make hoo-ha (the clinical term) more profound, or do we lose our sexual drive without a frequent revving of the engines, as it were . . .)
Like anything else, it comes down to a balance, I suppose. But, a few days ago, on a long Sunday, I had a day filled with little creative/artistic acts: I cut the lawn; practiced my guitar; read a book; read a book to my son; prepped lessons for the week. By day’s end, when I sat down to write my blog, I felt finished before I had even started. I felt as if I had come to a nutritious dinner with a bellyfull of cake and cookies. I wrote, but I wrote about how I didn’t feel like writing.
Maybe I had wasted my energies that day, or maybe not. Maybe it is deeper than that, as I hinted in that blog entry:
Maybe sometimes the creative soul spends a day at the spa — bathing in warm waters of relaxation — and then feels it doesn’t need to do anything grand, at least for awhile. Maybe, sometimes, training hard for the marathon we someday plan to run can give way to an unhurried walk in the woods — a walk during which we feel no guilt for stopping, sitting on a rock and watching a stream’s silver forever caress the smooth stones.
Either way, I suppose as long as we keep on keepin’ on with art, we’re good. And some things just have to be done, so they might as well bring us some satisfaction.
Chris Matarazzo’s ARTISTIC UNKNOWNS appears every Tuesday
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I agree: every so often I become aware I haven’t been “creating” — writing, painting, knitting, blogging — and am then reminded (often by myself, oftener by my partner) that sometimes I just need to stop, rest. Give it some time. And go back to it refreshed. Whatever it is.
Thanks for weighing in , Fred. It’ s good to relax, guilt-free, occasionally. And it is interesting that it is the ones we love who often need to remind us of the things we need in order to say healthy, like rest . . .