I believe creativity can reflect one’s own ability and skills.
It is easy to adapt other’s ideas. Nevertheless, it is hard for people to insist their own opinions and create works independently. When I was young, my mother told me an old story from Confucius. When a blind man was leaving friends’ house, the friend gave him a lantern and said the lantern can prevent someone accidently run into him. However, when the light gone out, the blind man still run into others. Using others’ idea, the light may go out along the way. I did not understand the meaning behind the story before I met some troubles.
I started to learn painting when I was four years old. I was used to looking other people’s painting works. To be honest, it is very common for a young kid to copy paintings from the children’s illustration book. Imitating paintings from old masters can develop skills easily. I learned most of the patterns, texture and tone from others’ art pieces.
When I first saw Claude Monet’s waterlily pieces in exhibition, I was impressed by his techniques on oil painting. I studied it and learned how to copy the exactly same strokes of brush to create the texture. I copied one of his painting and put it into my high school graduation show. There is no doubt that my waterlily obtained a huge success and most of my friends said it is so fascinating and impressive. It was a wise choice to imitate an Impressionism masterpiece.
When I took first oil painting class with Mr. Paul in Penn State, my idea of how to create a good work is completely changed. He never allowed his students to look paintings through digital approach. Instead, he encouraged us to look around the real environment and observe the detailed beauty from daily life. Once I brought a printed image to the class, Mr. Paul was unhappy to see me painting from a printed image. He noticed the image is about a fruit basket. He asked me, “Why don’t you bring some real fruit on tomorrow’s class? Even a perished orange got the real texture, which is better than a digital photo.” I felt so shamed about coping ideas from existing photo from Internet. After that moment, I tried to create all my paintings from own observations.
I have to admit sometimes my own creativity is not as good as others’. A lot of works failed at the end. I also struggled for some pieces and wasted time on thinking useless ideas. However, the process of creating own style is worthful and meaningful. It shaped my understanding about art. It also shaped my feeling about life.
People can see the word “creativity” around every corner of the world. In advertising, we emphasize the importance of creativity. It provides a fresh, original, and new feeling for customers to read. In technology and science field, it also promoting people to invent and create an unprecedented product. It plays an indispensable role in our life.