thank you art

Give a man a fish, and feed him for a week.

Teach a man to fish, and feed him for a lifetime.

(Chinese proverb)

Friends taught me to fish yesterday.

I was invited to share the day with two friends who are enormously creative and generous.  They make handmade cards and stationary.  These cards always add the perfect touch to a well-timed gift, a kind thought, or a needed encouragement.  Learning this art was not as smelly as fishing, but almost as messy.  

When I first heard they were card-makers, I made some comment about not being "crafty."  I think the cards are beautiful, and the cardmakers are artists.  I don't mock it, but I don't do it.  That's my reaction around most artists - I love it, but I don't consider myself capable.

They could have shrugged it off.  They could have felt hurt to not share interests.  They could have basked in superiority.  They could have, but they didn't. 

Instead, I was invited to learn.  In a wonderfully tidy and welcoming home, my friends openly shared their supplies and ideas.  Bins of colored paper, rubber stamps, bits of ribbons, and catalogs were spread on the dining room table.  While the boys played with a friend in the next room, we created pieces of art. 

We laughed over coffee, and lunched on pizza.  We folded and sliced cardstock and used clever gadgets with strips of glue.   We squinted our eyes at each other's work, offering suggestions or compliments.  In the end, I was reconnected to my inner creativity, and I had something to show for it.  Here are some of the handmade cards I made, each unique and ready to share love with another person. 

I have no grand plans of starting a new hobby, or gearing up with the bins of supplies.  I'm just no longer intimidated by the fishermen.  Maybe, just maybe, I am one of them.