Can you learn to be creative?

[Kittenmumma]

I feel I have the potential to be somehow creative but lack of time+boring job+lack of manual skills make me feel like there isn’t ever going to be a way for me to express this.
I didn’t grow up in a creative household and I am always in awe of those people who are just naturally crafty and inventive and like a challenge when it comes to make their own stuff (Like sewing, painting, DIY and more for example) as I am totally useless.
Is this something that can be developed later in life and how would I go about it?

I write (a travel blog) and I'm into photography (have shot some weddings, even) but I really want to do something creative, with my hands, so I have a physical 'thing' I made. I bought clay and acrylic paints and I'm trying to learn to use both a bit better

You can certainly learn skills to help you express your creativity more successfully, and ways of pulling out creativity that you may not be aware of, or have suppressed; just don't expect everyone to think you're the new Picasso, Mozart or whatever.
A friend of mine expresses her creativity in multiple ways, but nobody is brave enough to tell her that they're all just a bit pants 🤔😀 They're not terrible, just 'flawed' 😀

I think creativity is a mind set and practice gives you the manual dexterity / mental tools to achieve what you want to create.

A novelist can write a book that conforms to a series of beats - these are well documented on the internet and in creative writing classes. The creativity comes from the way the words are put next to each other or the plot is subverted... Jane Austin is a good example of her creativity tearing up the rules.

With painting you can be technically fantastic but the end result is still dead. There are several artists who break all the classical rules but their work still moves their audience.

Creativity is the problem solving to put your ideas down in a way that makes sense to you while not caring one jot about what others think.

If you want to do it be brave and start. Remember that everyone started somewhere and social media only shows the ones people want to show.

I wouldn’t call DIY creative, I’d say it’s practical. When I think of creative I think of art and writing. I think you can learn to be practical, you can learn DIY skills. I don’t think you can learn creativity, I think it’s something you either have or don’t. But if DIY or crafts is what you’re wanting to do then definitely yes you can learn how to do it.

I think you only find out if you are really creative once you learn some skills and have a bash at it!

I learned to crochet - as I wanted to make a specific thing. I actually find following crochet patterns hard as I find I lose count and lose where I am and don't seem to read the stitches to count back as easily as I do with knitting...

So I was very surprised that having crocheted only a few things, I was able to crochet a little worry doll entirely without a pattern, just made it up as I went along (I even made her a stripey jumper too!). Once I understood how to increase to make tubes, balls, rectangles... it was easy.

I don't reallllllly do much crochet because it doesn't float my boat all that much (I really wanted a Sesame St Yip Yip alien bag or three, and they do look much better in crochet than knit!) but the creative 'oh now I see what I can do with this' kicked in once I had those basic skills.

So get out and play - and as long as you're not intending to give everyone you know handmade gifts with the expectation that they will be thrilled to bits - don't worry if its wonky or odd, everything you do will teach you something!!

You start out small, and let it grow. I'm in a sewing group...technically a class I joined to learn to quilt, and I bounce around between quilting, dressmaking, bag making so it's more of a group where we all sew or knit for a couple of hours.

My next challenge is to learn how to pattern draft...after that, who knows!

Are you an ideas person? Why not sign up for an evening class in something you like the look of and go from there? You won't know until you try!

I'm learning to paint, I have bought books, watch videos, have been to a few workshops. I am rubbish but I enjoy it.

@AllProperTeaIsTheft Thank you for setting me right. It was a bit sneery.

Yes I have tried to 'paint' and have enough sensé to know I have no talent for it. I am not bitter though. It was just a waste of time.

In terms of natural gifts, I have a very keen musical ear and used to have a passable singing voice - until I went deaf.

I guess I do set very high standards for myself and I should probably just splash around with the finger paints or something but that is just not me.

Oh no - that's tough about the deafness .I'm not really a creative person by nature. That's why I initially enjoyed knitting and crochet (the first artsy/craftsy thing I'd done since I was a child), because I could create things but without needing to be a creative person. But actually, as I got more skilled and confident, I began to have my own creative ideas. I think sometimes the creativity comes as a result of having learned to do something, rather than being an innate trait. Thanks for taking my (somewhat snappy) post in good part!