I love creating art, but I (usually) hate trying too hard.
Art in particular is something that I’ve had a hard time doing consistently throughout the years. My perfectionistic side of me gets in the way, and often I overthink my art and stress out over it before I even begin! In the end, I guess my brain decides that no art is better than bad art, and I don’t even give myself a chance to try. That’s why I love signing up for contests - similar to signing up for a race, once you’re locked in, you have no choice but to just… go.
For the past few years, I have participated in a local Chalk Art Contest. My love for chalk art began in high school due to an inspirational art teacher, and over the years I have found opportunities to create a big art piece for people to see.
The beginning of a chalk piece is terrifying. You have your plan, you have your chalk, and you think you know how to do it… but working on a big chalk piece is definitely a “trust the process” kind of activity. The beautiful thing about working with chalk is that you can add layer after layer, which eventually gives your piece depth and dimension.
As you trust the process, and you literally just KEEP GOING AND HOLD YOUR BREATH THAT IT WILL SOMEHOW IN SOME WAY WORK OUT?! And, eventually, it just kind of… does. As layer after layer of chalk goes on, as more shadows and highlights are added, an image emerges. Chalk is very forgiving; that’s part of the reason why I like it so much. I don’t feel that afraid to make mistakes because I know I can always add more on top.
Often the mistakes I make in art pave a path for the ways I can improve a piece. The mistake isn’t permanent. The mistake is my brain learning in front of me.
At this most recent chalk competition, my friend who joined me and I were talking about this very thing. We laughed at some of the things we did in our first competition, and how we didn’t really know what we were doing. I remember begging people around us for extra blue chalk to do the background, we didn’t grid our image properly before, and we totally did not anticipate how long chalk art takes. We’ve picked up tips and tricks along the way, and each time, we learn more. At this last competition, we still had to beg our neighbors for chalk - but hey, at least we had a grid!
The concept of just going for it is so scary. It’s easy to be a humble beginner when you’re seven years old and everyone around you is trying new things, but what about when you’re twenty-seven? When people around you have established jobs and roles and talents, it can feel lame to admit, “I actually don’t know what I’m doing.” You really have to cue the humility.
Before teaching high school, I used to teach Mandarin Chinese in a high-intensive, fast-paced, nine-week course. I would always tell my students in that first week: “Okay, it’s time to take off our pride hats! You’re going to feel really dumb for the next nine weeks. The sounds you will make will sound silly. You will feel like you’re not making progress. You need to be willing to learn, and need to get ready to try.”
And guess what? The students who took my advice and laughed at themselves and tried would always pick up on the language faster. They had the “just going for it” attitude.
Sometimes you just need to turn off your brain, carry along, and embrace being a beginner. Who knows what might happen?
Because this is my Something for Sundays post, I wanted to note that this is how I think God looks at us too. God doesn’t expect us to perfectly draw with chalk our first go, or our second, or our third, or our four-hundred-and-nintieth. It’s okay to just simply… try.
I don’t feel qualified to talk on any platform about what is happening in Israel and Palestine right now. I stand, like millions of others, with hurt in my heart to see people in multi-generational pain on both sides of the conflict.
In the midst of war and confusion and opinions and blood-boiling hate speech, God’s command to Love God and Love your Neighbor is what I am clinging to right now. I’m not perfect at it – in fact, nearly never – but I just pick up my little piece of chalk, squint hard at my reference photo (Jesus), and just try.
Sometimes, in all aspects of life, you just need to turn off your brain for a while, carry along, and embrace being a beginner.
Thanks for reading,
Kimber xx
P.S. Speaking of embracing beginnings: in November, I am challenging myself to something really new and exciting and terrifying, so the idea of just going for it is something I need right now… stay tuned.
Such great advice - to embrace being a beginner. When a baby is first learning to walk, they never give up. The thrill of just taking a step keeps spurring them on. No fear of judgment. That comes later.