Heartfelt Message...

I just received a beautiful letter from a fellow scrapper. Someone who I only know through forums. But her letter made me a little ...putting it mildly, angry..Not anything she said, but what was said to her that kind of hurt her feelings. I wont post what she wrote, but what she wanted to know was how I felt about other scrappers and photographers asking me if I wouldnt mind telling them how I created something or on my technique when doing something. Because she had approached a scrap artist on a forum and asked if that person would graciously divulge her secret on a specific technique that made that artists pages so unique. The answer she got was, if she divulged her secret that made her unique, then she wouldn't be unique anymore and flat out said No, I wouldn't tell my own mother how I do it...I was astounded. Well I got to thinking, and these are my thoughts...

My creative mind works in mysterious ways especially when I am teaching a class. I have to first formulate my ideas in my head, and then try to convey them to the students I am teaching. In the end my creative mind as a scrapbook artist gets recharged. And although many photographers and scrapbook artists, jealously covet their techniques and creative secrets, I am not one of them...

I often think to myself, "that brilliant creative new idea that I thought I had, has no doubt been already done by some other artist". I just have to stretch my imagination and make it better.

I have heard the buzz in chatrooms and forums to the tune of "ooh, look, she copied so and so and tried to make it her own", or "ooh, look, she did it because so and so did it".I myself am delightfully flattered when I am " scraplifted". Most of us get inspiration from somewhere...Some of us take that inspiration and fly with it.. Few of us ARE the inspiration.

Those are the artists with creative gifts. They don't have to "try", they just "do." I myself use to envy some of those artists and wonder why on earth some of them would not share their creative secrets.

I vowed that I would learn to hone my craft, and Pay it Forward. To Pay it Forward is not a new concept..One good deed deserves another...That is what my parents taught me at a young age.

So my philosophy is this:
Michaelangelo could come down from the heavens and divulge all of his artistic techniques and secrets on how he managed to paint the Sistine Chapel. He would show me every minute detail of his work from technique to lighting to brushstroke. In the end, I will never be Michelangelo. There is only one...But it may make me a better artist with all of the insight that he taught me. And I may see things in a different way.

I will only be just me...
Star Sailor Scrapper
Mother, sister, daughter, wife, friend, scrapbook artist...
And I will graciously share with all of you everything I learn...And I hope that one day, you will Pay it Forward too...

So Thank you to the Krissy's, the Robins, The Irenes, the Beggahunas, the Gabriellep's, the Toni's, the Bonnies, the Sandy's, the Tims, (he is sooo cute) and all the other artists out there who generously devote their time and effort to teach others the fine art of this craft called Scrapbooking...I applaud you...

Lisa