CREATIVITY IS CONTAGIOUS What I taught my husband to do and didn’t even know it... or maybe I did

There are those moments now that I listen to my husband talk about art or ideas and I think, “ Holy @#$@ I think I did it. Did I just influence him to be able to talk about this without even consciously doing so?”. Sometimes I am even shocked at what he comes up with or the ability to fully grasp my intentions without even asking. Can I get a round of applause? Yes, yes, clap - because let me tell you…for artists and creatives, it can be a curse and a blessing to have someone who gets it, but mostly a blessing.

Like every artist that dates another individual in a different field, there is always this sense of … I don't know, superiority, like I can think in a way that you cannot. I can see in a way that you can’t. Create things in my mind and make it literally come to life for the world to see or try to understand and interpret that you can’t. It almost feels blasphemous describing it like that, but it truly is a powerful feeling and one that a lot of people want to possess. A feeling that, as I have had time to understand and mature through, is a feeling that we all feel when we are skilled, passionate and in love with something that we are interested or knowledgeable in.

I mean it is not unachievable or impossible for everyone to feel that way, is it? We should all be able to feel that way, like Gods I suppose, able to create things in the image of what we desire.

The creative looks at their project, art piece or work and design to share it with their partner…

...But…

There is always that nagging feeling of crap.. Now how do I explain my work to my significant other without the response being, ‘oh, that’s really good. You are so good’ ‘I wish I could do that’. The truth is the voice inside always seems to say in response to that, I know you probably can if you tried.

I found that I always seemed to date those outside of my world. It allowed me to learn something new, see the world differently too, but yeah, as you may have caught on from the above, I really wanted whoever I was with to get it. To get the creative process. To know the lingo and try to learn more, without even asking them to try and know more. I don’t ask for much do i?

Well if you are dating a creative or know a creative, here are some things I have picked out that helped the understanding of my significant other when it comes to my world of visual art.

Create something together

We started a business together and I started the posting and marketing whilst doing my 9-5 job. To say the least it was tiring and he caught on to that. I often changed his designs, always picking up mistakes or design taboos or strange fonts that really were not giving. I often made a comment about style, consistency, and less is more. Quality over quantity. He made an effort and got into it, talked about it and even did more research after observing some tricks and things he had seen. One thing to remember is you cannot force it. Let the interest form organically, you a more likely to avoid conflict when you consider that your significant other has their own ideas and views on the same thing you see.

Listen, Learn and Observe

He watched me paint, draw, photograph and capture countless images on paper and canvas, and he, like the cutie he is, documented the process, always adding a sincere agreement of the effort, the time and the realization that doing the ‘creative stuff’ takes time. Sometimes I would ask him about colors - what do you think about the red in a painting? Is the portrait looking whack or what type of line thickness works in these samples/ edits? He had initially started off with the ‘ yes babe, whatever you choose will be perfect’, then it turned to a ‘ hmm… I think the last edit seems more bold and striking , I like the choice of orange. It contrasts the black in the space’.

Introduce and Share New Experiences

One thing that I loved about the covid saga was the need to get busy, and what better thing to do than to demonstrate some simple painting techniques I taught the kids online. Yes, I may have complained about things, like how some kids did not know what primary colors are and what complementary colors were. Someone seemed to be listening to my rants and would often talk about it. He even went on to view some of the mood-board examples and the planned assessments. When ever the topic will come up he would make a comment like" I hope they got that mood board project right because you gave everything, I mean I get.”

New experiences provided a change to see and engage in new perspectives and to have fun. We sometimes did art exhibitions, shows ,and events together. These experiences were not always art but also on his passion for sports, boxing and networking. The conversation and the process of observing the world together and individually truly opened my eyes to our preferences, interests but most of all our need to feel supported.

Share Skills and Resources

We know what it can be like having someone who can't take your picture.. sigh. It is the absolute worst. So we had to fix that. I made a lesson plan about photography for a unit about 1 year ago that I knew would help the kids I taught and it was pretty simple and could be done on your phone. A few months ago we talked about the business and the images, and he kept saying, “I want better pictures, like you take. I want them to be cool.” I sent him an email with the lesson plan and 24 hours later, I saw pictures that had great composition, great lighting, detail, unusual and exciting angles. It was clear that someone seemed to be taking this seriously. Honestly, sending the information was the best decision till date because he takes stunning pictures of me.

Connecting and being understood is an essential part of what we desire in our relationships. So...from one creative to another, remember that all master pieces and in this context relationships take patience, open mindedness and consistent effort.

Written by Karen Gager

KAYG.ED

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