Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Creativity Tips: Rosebud

Years ago, at a family reunion in Heber Springs, Arkansas, one of my husband's cousins whittled while he chatted with us. Without paying hardly any attention to what he was doing, he carved a perfect rosebud.

Being a city girl, unaccustomed to whittlers and wooden rosebuds, I oooooohed and ahhhhhhed. He looked at me like I was crazed, and quickly walked away. Result? He missed out on the joy of being an appreciated artist, and I felt city-stupid. I certainly never complimented his whittling again.

Today's tip? Appreciate your own talents. If you don't, no one else will.

P.S. No, the photo isn't from the reunion. I'm not quite that old. It is a photo by Heber Springs native Mike Disfarmer. According to the Hood Museum of Art, "The reclusive Arkansas photographer Mike Meyer (1884-1959) legally changed his name to Disfarmer to disassociate himself from both his family and the farming community of Heber Springs, where he worked for forty years."

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