Don't Limit Yourself

Being crafty lately got me thinking.

I remember when I watched the movie “Miss Potter”, Beatrix not only wrote but she painted also. I wonder at what point we started focusing on one thing and one thing only, especially us creative types. It just seems very natural to dabble in more than one venture. We hear all the time that most writers (usually the midlist) don’t make a living exclusively on their books alone and need something to supplement an income. Maybe it’s just the ones I’m seeing but that tends to be another creative pursuit. Photography is one, painting is another. I enjoy making jewellry personally. I wonder if by limiting ourselves to just one pursuit we’re kind of stunting our own creativity in a way. If you’re capable of creating one form of art who knows what else you’re capable of, and you’ll never know unless you explore and try. It’s not just about alternate sources of income, but satisfying the creative spark inside.

I have a few favourite examples, like GACKT’s guitarist, YOU. Everyone knows him as a guitarist and he’s a very good one. He’s been playing professionally for like, eleven years, he’d have to be pretty good to pull that off :) What a lot of people haven’t realized until recently is that he’s also an incredible photographer! He recently took part in a photography gallery and by the looks of things he did really well there. You can see here and here. GACKT is another (obvious to those that know me :D) example. Aside from music (which he’s quite accomplished in on its own – writing, composing and playing) he’s also written a novel Moon Child Requiem (still trying to find a copy, it’s long since sold out), wrote and acted in Moon Child, acted in the taiga drama Fuurin Kazan and is one of the lead actors in the upcoming Bunraku. Maya Angelou is another – novelist, poet, actress and singer amongst many other things. She has a great quote I keep amongst my faves: “We've done ourselves a disfavor to say, "You can be a jack of all things and a master of none." You can be a master of everything you do. Everything you do may not be a masterpiece, understand that then do the best you can with what you've got.” I think it really illustrates the point of my entry rather well, so thank you Ms. Angelou!