Do you have a ton of unused art or craft supplies and a load of guilt? Then this post is for you.
When I was in early high school, for my birthday one year, my parents took me on a shopping trip to our closest big city (we lived in the countryside) and gave me $50 to spend. (That was a lot of money back then, especially for them. Thank you, Mum and Dad!) We shopped for hours and hours, and I said no to everything they suggested. I didn’t know what I was looking for, but I had a feeling I’d know it when I found it. And late in the afternoon, when we walked into a bookstore with an art section at the back and I saw a tin of 72 Derwent watercolour pencils and Fabriano cold-pressed 100% cotton watercolour paper sitting side by side on a display table, I knew. That was it. That’s what I wanted.
To me, that tin of watercolour pencils and that paper represented so many possibilities. It was everything I could create with them that I loved, not so much what I did create with them. Those two items remain, for me, my favourite present of all time.
I still have the tin of pencils. Some pencils are down to the stubs, but most have over half their original length remaining. And I still have some of those sheets from the glued pad of Fabriano watercolour paper. Knowing what I know now about art supplies, I am aware that both the tin of pencils and the paper are extremely high quality and expensive artist’s supplies. Would I ever use them up? I don’t think so because every single time I look at that tin and that glued pad, I’m back there in that moment, alive with possibilities. I am inspired. And I usually go off and use up some of my other supplies and create something. Or I start thinking through my next piece of art. Or, I simply feel really good for a while.
That was over thirty-five years ago. Is it a waste that I haven’t used them? No. Not at all. Because the purpose they serve for me is a value beyond the cost of the paper and the pencils. But what if instead of that euphoria of inspiration, I allowed myself to feel guilty for still having that tin and paper all these years later, unused? And what if I felt pressure to use them and the more I didn’t, the more guilt I felt? Would it be a waste then? Yes. It would make those items a waste. It’s a waste to turn such beautiful products into something that has the power to make me feel guilty. Better to have used them when they made me feel good than let them sour into something that damages my creativity.
Imagine with me for a moment that both cases really happened. I bought them under the same circumstances for each case. I kept them for the same number of years. In both cases, I didn’t use them, but in one case, it’s a complete waste; in the other, it has elevated those gifts to something far more precious. They’re just sticks of wood and pigment, or a glued block of cotton turned into paper, yet in both cases, they have a power over me beyond their materials’ worth. A power that isn’t there in the objects (they are not magical), but rather it is something I bring to it or allow. The difference is entirely in my thoughts. Yes, the difference is a choice!
I have cupboards full of art supplies, art books and colouring books that I’ve either hardly used or haven’t yet used. Do I regret buying them? Do I feel guilty about the waste? The only ones that I regret buying are the ones I bought for a specific function, but they didn’t fill that specific function due to being faulty or not living up to their potential. (I’m looking at you, white Sakura Gelly Roll pens!)
But I don’t regret anything that doesn’t fulfil its original purpose because it now fulfils a higher one.
I have rows of paintbrushes on my art desk. I don’t use all of them all the time, and I’ve narrowed in on the ones I use the most and the ones I’ll likely never use again. But I absolutely love looking at them all as a collective. Just looking at them reminds me of the joy of painting and it makes me want to paint. It’s a trigger for my creativity.
I have more colouring books than I know what to do with. And I will never use them all. But the amount of times I’ve gone through them to find another colouring piece and I suddenly get an idea for an entirely different artwork and I dash off to do it, makes those books infinitely more precious than just a colouring book. Or if I’m stuck in a rut, or feeling down, sometimes I get those books out and just look through them. Or I get out art instructional books, or books full of examples of someone else’s art, or I go through my vast collection of greeting cards. Or I’ll even read books from my collection of beautiful children’s picture books. And I walk away feeling happy, lighter, inspired.
And I have drawers of special papers, patterns, stickers … paper crafts. And every now and then I love to get them out and look at them. Beauty, colour and patterns inspire me. They make me happy. They make me feel lighter. I don’t even need to go and create anything and I walk away better for having looked at them.
If you have a room full of craft supplies, art supplies, colouring books, paintbrushes, stickers, cross-stitch threads, or whatever you have collected, then you have a room full of possibilities and joy that can uplift you whether you do anything with those things or not. And when you see your supplies like that, and change your mindset about them, and ditch the guilt or frustration, that’s when they become far greater than the sum of their parts. They become doorways to dreams and possibilities and joy and well-being. The difference lies entirely in how you choose to look at them or what you allow yourself to see. ▪
About the Author: Lisa Saul
