Creativity has been a part of my life since my earliest memories. I can’t go back far enough where there was a time when I was not thinking outside of the box. I would draw on anything that I could get my grubby kid hands on and would always march to the beat of my own drum. I was recently going through some old childhood pictures. There was this one that just blew me away. I was just sitting there dumbfounded and unsure of what I was seeing. I simply could not comprehend it but there I was, sprawled out of the floor of my parents living room drawing like crazy. I probably had 20 or so markers or crayons or whatever and I must have only been two, but not more then three years. Here is the kicker: I have been right handed for what I thought was my entire life which is the contrary to what this one picture was telling me. At some point in my life I had ditched being a lefty and became a righty.

This desire to create something that was not there before has been passed down from my family members, however my creativity has manifested itself artistically on a two dimensional surface. I have this constant need to create something that was not there before. It could be something small like a doodle in my journal to a full blown art piece or shirt design. I strive to be true to myself to create exactly what I had envisioned while at the same time putting my own artist stamp and creativity all over it. I own the work that I create, not just as property but the style itself. The kind of work that I create is becoming an extension of my signature which is something that is unique and different and something that no one else could replicate or copy.

The greatest purpose and accomplishment of any artist, whether it’s photography, jewelry design, print making, apparel design, fine arts or what have you is this unique ability to create something that is original. Every creative voice, regardless of the medium creates something unique to themselves. Something that you can’t find anywhere else. Its a signature and one signature is so different from the others the are signed right beside it. Or so I thought.

There are far to many signatures out there that all look the same. They are signed by different people however they are no different from the one signed before and that one that has come after. The originality has gone. The creativity dried up. The different drum beat has stopped. Why? Have you ever heard that thing about beating a dead horse? The Keep Calm and Carry On poster design from World War II has been parodied and copied so often it has leeched creativity and originality out of what it means to be an artist. I found one that says this: “Carry On and Cary Grant.” I have no idea what that even means because that isn’t even a real sentence. There is nothing that is least creative then to copy a copy of what has been done one million times before. It is not longer clever and the tongue-in-cheek silliness has evaporated a long time ago. There is no better time then to stop carrying on and begin to move on.

Open yourself up. Create something new. Something different. Something that people haven’t seen before. Create your signature. Be unique! Stop marching to the drum beat that you have heard a million times before. Create a new beat. One that is your own and start marching to it.