To Create or Not to Create, that is the Question

When do you know when to stop?

Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Auguste Renoir, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Mary Cassatt to name a few artists with visual impairments.

Last year proved to challenge me with this decision. I could not envision my life without exercising my creative muscle, so how does an artist create when their vision is at risk, and potentially losing this very important sense. My wonder goes to these artists with visual impairments and how did they continue to create. How do you possibly create without seeing the vivid colours of nature?

Instinct……….that is my guess. Artists train themselves through the years. They discover their likes, loves, and anxieties. They cannot hide who they are or who they become, if they create.

What are the next steps to take?

Keep going, create, trust yourself and if you can try and help yourself recover. I spend last year learning all possible medical therapies for my eyes. I continue to educate myself this year. Who knows, I might have to become a medical doctor……..not my thing for sure. You certainly have to become your own advocate but this is about creating, not about medical practices. In itself, creativity is a form of therapy.

I will continue to create, like those artists before me. It can be scary at times, as well as empowering. The mind is a powerful tool. If this helps another creator in anyway then I have taken a step forward, not back.

Let’s see what 2024 brings!