The other week the children’s mental health agency I work at had its annual Family Fair where families from the community were invited to our centre for activities and fun with their children. I was helping out at the community mural which we do every year and once again was privy to the wide range of approaches children have to their art. For this project children were given mini canvases with penciled in rainbows and invited to paint them to be later attached to the larger mural.

Many of the children were preschoolers who just delighted in the opportunity to try something new. There were no perceived mistakes only wonderment at what they were creating before them. Most of the preschoolers painted outside the lines and with untraditional colours for a rainbow. Heck I don’t even think they were concerned about trying to make a rainbow but rather just followed their wish to paint and the sheer pleasure of this expression.

The older the child the less this was so. I watched as some of the children looking at what others were doing and seemingly comparing themselves. Or they were careful to stay in the lines complying to the boundaries of the line, the concept. Still they persevered and painted offering their finished painting to the mural after. Some wanting to take theirs home, pleased with themselves and their painting.

What is it that gets in the way of our self-expression? Even at an early age you can see the desire of children to comply and please others. The habit of comparing and the self-consciousness when creating is apparent soon after kindergarten for some. Some would say we are socialized this way, to please others. Or perhaps it is at the point where we are just more conscious of the others around us. Why this translates into stifling our creative expression is a mystery.

But it’s not always this way. There is a point in our lives where we are connected to our creativity without censoring it. It’s those early years until we become self-conscious. And for some, when encouraged to be our own person we are able to find that creative and free spark within again.

I often have to remind myself to create in this way. No longer does it come naturally but rather now that I am grownup I have work at just allowing myself to play. But the more I do it the easier it gets. This is how having a creative practice can help. The more we create the easier it gets to let go of preconceived notions and expectations and create more with the freedom of a young child.

Intuitive painting allows me to find that freedom of expression that was so prevalent as a child.  Rather than basing my painting on an outer experiences and expectation it draws from an inner feeling and space as I experience the painting in the here and now and what response feels right to follow in the painting.  It’s hard to describe, but once you are in that flow you know.

If you need some support getting your creative practice going, join me online or in person for Art Journaling or Intuitive Painting.  Click below to find out more!