My River Journey

My River Journey ………………………………………………………………

When I was a child I was really creative and could draw and paint for hour. I had a drawer full of materials and would use my imagination and creativity to create different artworks.

I continued with my interest in drawing and tried to draw at home as much as I could. I drew a picture of my family which my grandparents hung on their wall, which showed me that they liked it. This made me really proud. I also received a prize for a drawing that I did for my dad’s work. I was happy that I was good at drawing.

Creative

Perfection

Praise

Enjoyment

I try not to worry about imperfection anymore. The other day I was drawing characters from the book, Wombat Stew, in front of the Kindergarten children. One of the children said that my wombat looked like a dog. Some of their animals didn’t look perfect either. It’s good to know that everything doesn’t need to be perfect all of the time.

As I progressed through school, templates and structured drawing experiences killed my creativity quite a lot. I became obsessed with perfection and making sure I was colouring between the lines.

In my adult years, I now draw for enjoyment pretty occasionally. I work in a daycare centre and often sit down with the children to draw and talk with them. Watching them draw and make up their own ideas without worrying about all of the rules reminds me of how I was when I was younger. I try to show them that you don’t have to lose that creativity by also making up my own artworks without templates. I also model that perfection in artwork is okay, and that we can make beautiful things from imperfect marks or tears.

Imperfection

Carefree Since beginning this course, I now enjoy art and try not to worry about making mistakes. Some art techniques actually encourage making mistakes.