I’ve never participated in a book club so I don’t know if I am doing this right. I don’t know how the conversation would go in a group setting and I normally lean to sharing my experiences as a way to connect. I’ve recently learned it isn’t something people are keen on. But since this is my personal blog I guess I get a pass.

Zachary Kai proposed the book The Creative Act by Rick Rubin and I was immediately drawn to it.

I managed to borrow the book from my local library and a few pages in I immediately regretted it! I wanted to highlight with pens, add bookmarks and notes to so many things! Right now, it isn’t on my budget to buy (even) more books so I had to resort to taking photos of passages that I loved on my phone.

The Creative Act felt like a conversation with your most supportive friend. It is also what you would say back to someone who wanted some encouragement on following through practising their art. My inner critic wouldn’t stand a chance against the lovely encouragement from the book and I love how I stumbled upon this challenge just when I quit attending my art classes.

I’ve been struggling with not having the skills to put into a canvas the things I see in my head and I’ve been feeling silly and discouraged.

Many tips and encouraging words also apply to things outside art - even feelings I have about this blog and my recent adventures on doing live tech talks. The constant revisit of materials, the feeling of imperfection and incompletion and fear.

The goal of art isn’t to attain perfection. The goal is to share who we are. And how we see the world.

Thank you for the initiative Zachary!

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