11 May 2022

Creation for consumption

 A few years ago, I was speaking with a friend about my wishes of creating more through different mediums. I mentioned that I would get caught up watching or reading or viewing other creations in search of inspiration, technique, etc... and get carried away. 

He mentioned that it was a lot easier to be a consumer of creations rather than being a creator... and his words hit me like a ton of bricks. At many art galleries I have been to, I often hear a passing comment of "I could have made this". I cannot lie that I have also had those thoughts regarding some creations I have seen, but regardless of having the actual talent and skill required to make the piece in question - at the end of the day, we did not. We could have, perhaps with ease or a lot of painstaking time and effort invested, but we did not. Instead, we chose to do something else and simply remained a consumer of others' creations. 

There is nothing wrong with being a consumer. But the self satisfaction I feel when I create something, whether it be a meal for myself, a watercolour card for a birthday, a poem for a special person... the feeling of making into physical form an expression of one's thoughts is a sense of fulfillment that is hard to match.

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