Success Without a Picture.
When we hand someone a craft project to create, we are handing them a picture of the successful outcome before they've even started. Which means the entire creative act really becomes a reproduction, not a creation. You already know what it should look like before you even begin, so the only options are to match it, come close to it, or bomb it.
Process and Intuitive Art is the complete opposite. There is no picture of what it should look like, no sample pinned to the wall, so success in the old sense can't really exist, and that's the whole point. When there's no predetermined result, the pressure of getting it right completely disappears, and what's left is a child or adult actually making decisions, expressing something new, taking a risk, and overcoming the fear of what do I do. It's in that exact moment critical thinking happens. It triggers the mind to shift gears, like a 5 speed engine, and get creative, asking how can I create with the elements in front of me. What it does is power kick over the scoreboard that never should have been there, from questioning did I make it right, to shifting to look what I intuitively created, and being proud of that! That of course can be very challenging, and I learned many years ago, working with the Starbucks legal team, that every challenge is an opportunity.
So what does success without a picture actually mean? It means when you define success before someone starts creating, by handing them a picture or a template, you've already limited what they can do. That's not creation. That's reproduction.
We build our Create sessions around Process, Abstract, and Intuitive Art. Because we want our families to grow in creativity. Creativity is the ability to imagine and generate original ideas, thoughts, or artistic expressions. It is the initial "what if" thinking. Innovation is the implementation of those creative ideas to produce real-world value, solve a problem, or improve a process. Creativity is the lighter, the Innovation is the campfire. You need both, but you can't skip the lighter and go straight to the campfire.
I love stats. One I find fascinating is hearing for years how we, our country, were innovative leaders in our world. That's something I've always been proud of, our country, the USA, leading in innovation. Did you know the USA was ranked #1 in innovation back in 2007? Well, did you know we went from #1 in 2007 to ranking #3 in 2026? Do you know what year Apple released the first iPhone? 2007. I don't think it's a coincidence that the year the iPhone was first released, we were ranked #1, and eighteen years later, with smartphones in our hands, we are no longer leaders in innovation. To some, it might be a coincidence. I believe it's a result of us scrolling, instead of creating. We didn't lose our imagination. We just handed it to a smartphone and its apps.
Genesis doesn't open with God following a template. What it opens with is God creating the heavens and the earth out of nothing. Creativity isn't an extra thing to do. It's an echo of God's creation.
The Gift of Creation. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1
You can read the beautiful master piece our God created right here. The Bible Project Genesis 1:1
