Creative is Relative

Not too long ago the artist Danny Gregory wrote an interesting post on his blog, entitled "Like father, like son". He had recently received some old illustrations drawn by his father, and he was intrigued to discover that his father (unbenknownst to him), drew at lot like he did. Or, he drew a lot like his father. The similarity is amazing.

It got me thinking about my own family, and the question of creativity and heredity. What is creativity? Is is just this ethereal gift that attaches itself to some fortunate people like myself, or do I have the creative DNA inside me, just like the same DNA that gave me green eyes and my (grumble) rubenesque figure?

Well, I certainly do have a lot of creative people in my family. My sister can draw, my brother is very musical, my mother used to paint, and she can play the guitar, the piano, the organ and the accordian. I know that my Dad used to draw, many many years ago.

As an adult, I discovered that I had even more creative souls in my family. The drawings you see above are illustrations by one of my father's sisters, who passed away many years ago. I never knew her. Apparently she used to do commercial illustrations for magazines and ads in the 50's. You could never tell by looking at these drawings that she had a very hard, sad life. I had a cousin, also on my Dad's side of the family, who was actually a professional cartoonist! He even mailed me one of his cartoons, as a friendly gesture. I can't find the darn thing, but I know it's in the house somewhere. When I find it, I'll post it. He was so talented. He was involved in many creative endeavours, including painting, music and film. It is one of my great regrets that I never met him. Sadly, he died far too young. You can find out a bit more about him here.

On my mother's side of the family, we actually have a published author, who is of all things, one of the Royal Family pundits you sometimes see on TV. She's my mother's cousin. I've met her once. What a character. Here's a list of some the books that she has written, and a bit about her life (from her perspective, keep in mind). She even once had a write-up about her in People Magazine.

And these are just the family members that I know of. I have many, many relatives that I know nothing about. So yeah, I'd say that creativity is hereditary. Would you?

Comments

[eliane]

That Lady aunt of yours is hilarious! A deformed clitoris, my!

[patricia]

Careful what you say! I have heard that she is very, very litigious!

[Aamir]

Hi Patricia . . . Was wondering if you could help me with something . . . it's only recently that I've heard about Andrea Levy and I was wondering whether I should read "Small Island" first or "Fruit of the Lemon" . . . you've read both . . . which one would you recommend as an introduction to her work?

Thanks!

[patricia]

Actually, I've only finished 'Fruit of the Lemon' at this point, which I enjoyed very much. I'm presently reading 'Small Island', and it's wonderful.

I would say..... read them both!