To Art or Not To Art

I've always been pretty convinced that I don't have an artistic bone in my body.  There was a brief period during my senior year in high school when I thought I had a smidge of talent.  Doing pencil recreations of the bones of the hand turned out beautifully, and a clay model of a book with a bookworm sticking out of it was widely praised by my art teacher.  But nothing ever went past that.  I didn't have the passion for it, so I guess I just assumed that no passion meant no talent.  Wow, that seems to be a major theme in my life, huh?

My girlfriends were having an "art party" the other evening, creating original art to hang in their homes.  I went over to join them, expecting to do have a few drinks and gush over their masterpieces.  That is exactly what happened--for about an hour or so.  But they weren't quite satisfied with that.  Oh no.  They were convinced that I had something creative to express.  Ugh, alright, sure girls.  Just make sure you give me a very small canvas so as to no waste TOO much money when I make a giant mess...

So there it was.  A blank white 12x12 canvas and paper plates with brown, black, white, burnt sienna, something snotty and greenish.  Oh what the hell says I, just go for it!

Oh My God!  I love that!
That is awesome!
Here, I want to you to do something similar on the bigger canvas to hang in my guest bathroom in the new house!

Excuse me girls?  It's me, Stacey, the anti-artsy one of the group.  You remember me, right?  I'm really not that good...

Oh, stop beating yourself up and see that what you made is really pretty.  Accept that you did really well.  Accept a complement, for heaven's sake!

That is a very difficult thing for me to do--accept a complement.  It always feels selfish to "toot my own horn" so to speak.  I imagine that is why there is a lack of strong passion for much of anything--always the desire to just blend in.  Don't bring the spotlight on yourself.  I imagine that harkens back to some difficult times in my youth, but we'll save that discussion for another post.

Anyway, I decided to just say "thank you" to my girlies and accept that what I made was actually kinda pretty.

What do you think?