Your videos are like a reassuring hug. I have not seen the *whole* of the internet, but I am still pretty sure that you are the most calming and encouraging voice out there, and I really value what you share here. Thank you.
I can so identify with your history. What you said made so much since. It seems I started drawing for the same logical reasons you did. Drawing kept me sane. I moved around a lot and my father was a part time artist when he wasn't working to feed the family . But I spent my Childhood alone in my room most of the time. My mother was an alcoholic so I spent to much time taking care of her and my two younger sisters. Home was a secret. I'm 65 now and I just lost my wife in a car accident two months ago so I'm having a rough time just motivating but my need to create is calling me so I bought a small sketch book and I'm committing to a drawing a day. Thank you for your honesty. I will be watching more of your videos.
It is always good to hear and learn from another "outsider"! I always wanted to be "an artist" and I had talent, but life took me in other directions. Now, in my 70's, I do art of one sort or another all the time. Thank you.
After almost a 20 year regretful pause on my creative process I'm finally getting back into it. My close family and friends are telling me I need to create art to sell and that I'm wasting my time in a sketchbook. But I'm not being creative for them or the world. I"m being creative for myself. My sketchbooks are a creative journal of sorts. Somewhere I can express my emotions without words and when I'm ready to show the world my creativity, it will be on my terms :)
I came from a violent background and i would shut myself away in a dark room and enter into my own mind and imagination. I remember sitting with a scrap of paper and drawing a bearded man with a top hat with the top stitching open and inside was some holly and a robin, I would draw it over and over again. This so resonates with me and it has inspired me so much as an understanding of who I am, it's taking the bad si DD e of your life and seeing the positive for the creativity it may have set the seed for inside of me Thankyou for sharing this.
I came to this channel because I wanted to be an artist. Today I have identified, and can begin to heal, two life long wounds and I know I am already an artist. Danny, you have a profound gift and I am glad I stumbled across and have been able to access it.
Danny, I found your channel a couple of days ago and I'm already mesmerized by how inspirational, comforting and calming your "voice" is. Your messages go way beyond art as a means to explore the senses, they make life itself a limitless canvas to be free and creative. Thank you so much for sharing your voice with us.
I am about your age but my upbringing in California was the opposite of yours, very stable family and schools with 7 brothers and sisters. Everything was routine and I remember when I was 8, I wanted pastels so bad but couldn't find them any where and my family was too busy to help so I never got them. I always loved crafts but didn't really understand creativity till I was about 50 years old. Now I do mixed media art everyday. Your upbringing and pictures are so interesting thanks for sharing. I really think its important to teach children the satisfaction of being creative. I like putting my art on greeting cards and giving it away.
Hi Danny. Thank you for sharing this. I too had a tumultuous childhood/adolescence and have spent much of my life (I'm now 48) in and out of hospitals. Art has literally been a life saver for me too. It is as essential in my life as the air I breathe! Even when I think I'm no good, I still create because it is my passion and reason for BEING. It's all I ever wanted to do but when I left school my sister told me it was not a "real job". Stupidly I let her opinion control me and I stopped painting for a long time. That made me very depressed and I only recently realized my sister was jealous because she was knocked back from art school while I was accepted. Thank you for sharing your journey and inspiring people. You give so much encouragement to others. Kind regards, Mary from Australia.
Yes, I believed I was born creative because I always like to draw and I was fairly good at it for whatever age I was. My life was fairly stable until I was 9 and my parents divorced. After that we move around a lot. I went to number of high schools before I graduated and also always felt like an outsider, which I'm sure was a result of all the moving around. Art was my escape. Through the years I've continued to be creative in various ways, but have not been consistent due to school, work, college, life. Now I am looking at retiring in a few years and relish the idea of being able to focus on my creativity and art full time.
I started drawing every day after viewing one of your videos about how you were helped by keeping a sketchbook. That was about 8 months ago and I've continued this practice almost every day since. It calms me and I've found that I miss it if I skip a day. My drawing skills have also improved. Thanks for your messages of creativity and positivity.
Thank you. I discovered your channel 3 days ago and watched some. You are very likeble. I am an artist, professionally, self employed. So I do commissions, teach, but I’m all over the place. Drawing, painting, sculpting, writing, herbalism, name it… 😂 I grew up at a dairy farm in The Netherlands, in a traditional home, never moved until I was 18. But I was lonely, at home. And neglected. Also spoiled, in some ways. What I did to survive, was drawing, making my own toys and creating… small worlds. To this day, when I see dioramas, my heart jumps from joy. My father hated it, that I went to artschool, he wanted me to do lawschool because I had the brains and he never had the opportunity. In the end, sadly, I had to brake with him, 2 years before he passed, 7 years ago. It numbed me for a long time, developed an anxiety disorder, BUT I’m getting better now. I started a Creative Café 3 years ago, I’m opening a shop in arts, antiques and herbs. I think I should grab a sketchbook again… Thank you. 💞
I appreciate your video so much. I can certainly relate to this topic. I never thought about creativity being an option to overcome what I had come to call my “I am who you say I am, if you say anything at all” life. Its so true. I strove to be approved for anything as a kid (for reasons...typical of many, including our own) childhood. I used to pretend that I was someone else in front of other kids. I would come from a different country, have a different name and did my best attempt at an accent lol. I didn’t expect to fit in anywhere as “me”. Ahh, CREATIVITY! Adapting as a kid was easier because we usually have wonderful imaginations. Uninhibited and unchained. I grew up doing as you did. Ugh, a Jack of all trades, master of none. Always searching for someone else’s meaningless opinion of me. I drew, I sang, I acted, I exacted the practice of replacing adults with my own idea of what people should be like. There is , after all no feeling of accomplishment if the cost is too high. It costs you you heart. Being creative is and was my life vest in a painful, daily desire to swim in the water with everyone else and not drown in the lake of no identity. I finally had an epiphany as a 50 some year old woman that all those moments of trial and failure, though painful and lonely, prepared me for something wonderful. They were..stepping stones, if you will. I wrote poetry and and journals and became aware that I was blessed with a wonderful gift. To be able to let life go on doing its thing while I could just stand and watch...and learn. Most people don’t pay too much attention to being at peace and becoming a dreamer. Creating allows us to build dreams, not wait for them to magically come out of a genie bottle. All full of excitement and hopeful expectations and most importantly seeing the tangible results of a spirit of perseverance. Like you said, creativity, though a difficult proposition at times, is a promising task in any situation. When I think of all the moments I was the saddest and most lonely I was rewarded in life because I created change. I realized as you were speaking that they all started with.....an idea. Something from deep inside. A movement of the heart. Thanks for a beautiful message!
Thank you for you're beautiful story 😊 . childhood creativity is the best .the best artists I've met are children , I love how you speak of protecting you're creativity .
This message is so timely for me! I have always been creative. Your story sounds so similar to mine and as of late, I've been on this search to get back to who I was as a boy! So much more lately, he's been screaming out. Thank you for these words of encouragement!
Thank you for sharing your childhood with us. I really like how you used family photographs placed and taken by hand in your video. You have given me pause to think about my own childhood and how intensely it informs and shapes my art. Just beautiful and hauntingly sad all at once. Thank you, again.
It's a wonderful thing to still have photos and film from those days, even with all of the moving around. I've been working on connecting with the confident 5 year old I used to be. Thank you.
What a lovely surprise to listen to you with my coffee just now. While I always lived with the same parents and had younger siblings, I went to 7 different schools in 6 different towns by the time I graduated high school. During those years I experienced the loss of many people as well. Your ways of staying sane were quite similar to mine, although I wish I’d thought to create some friends to take along with me. Do you ever revisit your old friends? In an interesting way, that certainly needs more examination, your words gave me comfort. Thank you for sharing your history and ideas.
Thank you for sharing and Inspiring all us💜 I too was constantly moving around and adjusting to whatever situation I was put in. Even in rooms full of people I always struggled with feeling like an ALIEN! If I could just "blend in".. no one would notice how weird I was. Needless to say I totally SEE you🥰
Thank you for this! In January of this year, I decided that I needed to a “job”- well that was a one week soul crushing experience. I AM an artist. Your talk gave me the reassurance to stay the course!
Wow! Thank you, Danny. I thought I had a crazy, dislocated childhood, but it now looks tame compared to yours. I love how you explain being on the outside looking in, as that's how I have felt all my life. I too, have always been creative in some way or other, as my father encouraged this by example. Now, in my seventies, I have settled on painting, or rather, learning to paint, and have found it settles and satisfies me. I have been enjoying your videos since I started painting this year. I like your quiet and sharing nature. You are a very sweet man. Thanks again.
Thanks Danny for all your videos I love them. I know what you mean about having a strange childhood me too. I think being creative is a way to satisfy your soul when people can’t. Love what you do and love the person you are - you are one of life’s treasures
What would I do without YOU DANNY.....just a HUGE PLUS in my life's journey....what ANOTHER awesome glimpse into your story........you are doing a good thing, a really good thing.....enriching my life!!!!
This was one the most heartwarming videos I’ve watched. Thanks for you making it and thanks for your vulnerability in the video. I really appreciate it!
I so relate to all you are talking about, no wonder you are such a good guy. You understand people and the situations you find yourself in as a child that are so tough to understand. I’m an oldie and I still don’t understand much of life and relationships…lol I never thought about being creative because it fills a very real need beginning in childhood. I think you are definitely on to something. I knew I liked you when you were in the beginning waiting for your peanut to be born. Thank you for sharing…it helps a LOT!
A wish for you is to know how much you are appreciated in so many ways. Being creative can be a joy, a torment, a satisfaction, lonely, uplifting. Sometimes singly, sometimes all mixed together. Your calm encouragement is always, always, an absolute treat to listen to. Thank you.
Thank you for this. I can relate to loneliness and drawing as a young child with a dying mother, and a father who had to work all hours to make ends meet.
God how weird it was listening to you. It was as if you were in my head and knew me. What you said reflected my life so much. I wasnt an only child or form a broken as such but i always felt alone and isolared. I depended a lot on my imaginary friends and story making. Now at the age of sevevty i have found so much comfort and joy from my art and other crafts. Your early life has made you into a lovely caring and happy person. You have given me hope to carry on as i am. Thank you so very much. X
Thank you for this. It resonated with me on so many levels. My own childhood experience was similar and the feeling of never fitting in remains but now at 55 it doesn't matter and I embrace my uniqueness. I never lived the creative life I wanted because of the opinion of others, primarily family, and it haunts me. Your videos have been such a wonderful source of encouragement and positivity for me. The more frequently I watch, the more confident I feel to pursue that creative life I had envisioned for myself.
I learned about creativity when I read the book Conceptual Blockbusting a year after I graduated from college in 1974 There are plenty of good books out there I feel like they have all helped me to be a more creative thinker.
Wow…you never know what someone has gone through until they tell you. I’m in my mid-60s and also had a challenging childhood but I’m just now discovering the power of art to help heal the soul. Thank you for sharing your story!
Thank you for your honest insight into your childhood. I empathise strongly with how difficult it is to acknowledge that emotional abuse is still abuse whether international or not. I have often struggled with the concept of looking after the inner child but your examples of crayons and praise have given me a starting place. Tfs
Thank you so much for this heart to heart video. There is so much value and truth in what you say. Uplifting, and just what I needed to hear, a blessed moment. ❤
This was my much needed thank you very much I'm definitely going to treat my creative self with colored pencils and just go all out and re innovate myself 🙇🏾♂️🙇🏾♂️🙇🏾♂️🙇🏾♂️🥰🥰🥰🥰
I resonate so much with what you said. I'm in my early 30s and my childhood was a lot like yours. I used to sit in my room alone and tinker or read or draw or listen to CDs or just get lost in my own imaginations. I was a lonely kid but this stuff kept me sane too. Around middle school was when I was molding into the person I would be the rest of my adult life. I still took art classes and did some good drawing that is still have. I was so proud of those drawings, but no one else seemed to care. They wanted me to be something else. My creative side wasn't nurtured, and I was forced into playing roles that suppressed my soul. I kept playing these roles until relatively recently when it all came bubbling up and I had a breakdown. I couldn't keep living the life that I was molded into. Felt like I was living a lie. I pulled out my old sketchbook, and I've started getting back into drawing again. It's what I've been craving, and I feel myself slowly coming back with that lonely little kid that needs a buddy. Thanks for making these videos. I'm looking forward to this healing journey.
WOW !!! Talk about nailing it… This was such a powerful talk that I rewatched it immediately after watching the first time. Thank you Danny, so shocked on how many points you nailed that was my life. Very encouraging!! 🙋🏻♀️
thank you for your videos, i just stumbled on a few today and the way you approach art and creativity is exactly the kind of bond im trying to get with art again. As a kid i drew a lot but as i got better at it i, the drawings were taking up more and more time and i expected more of them aswell, to the point that i just didnt make the time for them anymore because "if i was gonna sit down and draw something i better make it worth the time" with a result that the empty paper just kinda scared me. Im trying to heal all the preconceptions i conjured in my mind about what art should be in an effort to open up my creativity and the way you so calmingly and lovingly talk about drawing and being creative really is a breath of fresh air, thank you!
Thank you for sharing your history with us. I found it interesting the parallels of your uncle derided by family for his needing help to make rent and Vincent Van Gough who's brother mostly supported him financially as well as emotionally.
Thank you for good words - very much similar life history for me - born in the boonies in YukonTerritories, parents divorced a few months after my birth, grew up in 7 different families, many schools in Canada Germany Florida… always a loner, observer, thinker, loving to make things, somewhat minorly arty/photography/learn all kinds of things and skills and practices… being good at teaching… and now, am in my fourth day of no-job due to the youknowwhat-mandates here in Canada… and I am in the process of getting my mind to figure out a way to commit to either go for making and selling and maybe even teaching intro workshops in art … in spite of the oh-so-standard difficulty in ‘selling myself’ or end up on the streets at my now age 63 - I will take your words as encouragement - thank you -
I'm glad you made the decision you did. I'm pretty much a beginner at art. Although I've done scrapbooking and some jewelry making and some cake decorating, and a bit of card making and origami and have watercolor on the brain now but the drawing sketching part always seems to take the longest. I'm more of a nature person so nature journaling or landscapes appeal more to me than urban sketching and cities and too many scary people.
@@paolamura3497 thank you, Paola, for your kind words - well.. indeed, I am not quite yet on the street,... although time and the last savings are running out soon.. no job, yet, here in the little-dictatorship of Canada run by a childish-lunatic-wannabe-globalist-puppet-king-ruler - it sure is a strange world these days - so, I have been focusing mainly on posting my art and photography, offering some photo services, print-on-demand, ... but it just all takes so long to actually begin generating revenue... still, no giving up now - I trust your prediction shall be reality !! :-) :-) Thank you !!!
You are such a good storyteller ...and yes so much resonated with me ...even though I haven't really gone through so much change in life and I haven't had to adapt ....most part of my life was very stable (I'm grateful to it all 🙏) but yes moments of change do spark creativity and those moments where we delve into our inner child is where we arouse creativity. I loved how you said ...creativity is something that needs to be nurtured and protected ...and we need to allow ourselves to BE creative !
Danny - What a fabulous pep talk! How relateable this was! Thanks for sharing your personal story and for all the ways you have helped us allow ourselves to be creative.
Thank you so much for your inspirational message. We are currently in lockdown number six in Melbourne, Australia and your Sketchbook Skool has really helped myself and many others I’m sure get through these difficult times. Take care xxx
Same Gillian, this lockdown hurts more than the previous ones doesn’t it. I started crying halfway through this video I didn’t realise just how much I miss eye contact and conversations with other people. Hope you’re doing ok, take care :) Thank you Danny Gregory :)
Thank you so much for sharing your story. And, most of all, for reminding us to always battle those demons - both internal and external - and continue of our creative journey! :)
I came from a very abusive home that attacked and beat every bit of identity out of me. My feelings and opinions were beat out of me and TOLD I was not allowed to feel that way!! The thing that drew me to “art” was when my mother found my journal and read it and beat me and I never wrote anything again. I basically went mute and pliant as much as possible but to work through the trauma I started verbalizing and working through logic or the lack there of by collaging. It was my secret language that nobody was the wiser for. In my 50’s60’s I worked through all this trauma that had destroyed my life in so many ways by collaging once again. It finally lead to art journaling and then to reclaiming my faith by junk journaling and faith journals
For me, creativity is a place of discovery and delight in the beautiful, extraordinary or perfectly commonplace. I think creative people are appreciators and often delight in exploring possibilities.
I always feel like i an not really creative because i have no originality. It seems like everything i do in my art has been already done before, and done better. So my motivation goes out the window. But your video explaining the value of of drawing for its own sake with no concern for the outcome seems helpful. It reminds me of the monks who do beautiful mandalas with colored sand for hours and days on end only to smoosh them away upon completion. They don't even photograph them. It seems like the concern about the result debts the real value of the creative expression and experiences that are in doing it. Not worrying about how "good" it is or will be is really a good idea. I'm gonna try it.
Thank you for making this video and sharing your insights. I know that it is all very personal. i know that it is important. I also know what it feels like when others don't value what you think or create. I think creative people turn inward and we tend to forget that there are others who understand or do the same.
One of your best Danny. I can very much relate to your story. I had 8 different schools from moving and a very unstable childhood. I have always greatly admired creativity when I see it. Art classes in my schooling crushed any hope and interest that I had in art. The classes focused on kids that were "good" and left the rest of us behind. You have been a huge inspiration to me and made me confident enough to fight my monkey and begin making art. Thank you for that.
*I think sincere artistic expression is actually an evolutionary advantage (and language) to those facing serious adversity.* I had a nomadic childhood too in the sense that I moved from 4 different schools before I was 13, I was bullied by a member of the teaching faculty as well as a senior prefect in my first year. Although I stayed out in Scotland, I also lived with a father who was a heavy drug user and hardcore addict. Family was incredibly dysfunctional, however Creativity and my amazing Grandfather similarly fuelled my desire for artistic escapism. I really loved this video Danny, it spoke a lot to me.
This was so interesting. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. 😊 I'm 48 and I still can't figure adults out! Maybe that's the artist in me. 😉
I just found your videos today and I have watched about 6 or 7 so far, and man, I just have to express how grateful I am to you for these essays. It’s like hearing my own thoughts. It’s nice to know that there are similar minds and hearts out there. You are doing a wonderful thing. Thank you.
Thank You for your inspirational “talks” ~ Love Sketchbook Skool! Wish I had this as a child! (Art classes in my High School were non existent 🙁) Always loved to do artwork and paint ~
Thanks so much for your inspiring videos. They really do reach my heart ❤️❤️❤️ . Creativity definitely makes my life meaningful and has also helped me cope with difficult and painful experiences in my life. I heard Meryl Streep say in a speech: "take your broken heart and make it into Art"
What an intimate sharing of your life story. I grew up in a chaotic home and used art to save me. It has been my constant companion through all the turmoil in my life. You got this spot on!
What a fascinating life you've lived! Thanks for sharing. I've never thought of my own instability as a child and feelings of not fitting in, vivid imagination and loneliness as fostering my creativity, but now that you've made me stop and think about it, maybe they have. I guess we're never too old to reexamine our childhood. Thanks for the nudge.
oh this was lovely! remembering what you liked doing as a kid, how it felt and what you thought about it, what was happening around you at the time, it’s such a thrill. Those are the few moments when I truly feel happy in my core and hopeful in a pure way. When I was drawing as a kid from my biology book, in my spare time, without the intent to show or let anyone know about it, I remember feeling so motivated, curious and passionate about doing the best drawing that I would forget about time and space for long whiles and in the end I would always giggle looking at it finished. So fun!❤️
What an interesting childhood you had.. difficult.. yes.. there are those that would have been mentally swamped and overwhelmed by the events that took place, the continual change, the lack of stability and continuity. As children, we have no control over what's happening, the major tonal background to our future lives; we just have to react to it. Your comments have such a reality to them; observe and adapt; accurate description indeed. As you become older, the balance begins to alter it seems to me. I think I am so much better at observing now, but with the best will in the world, I am poorer and slower at adapting..
Thanku Danny...u really help and encourage wth sharing bout ur life and teaching us not to listen to negative comments x 🙂🥰 don't stop sharing and encouraging x 😀
I really like your take on creativity, I think we all carry our pasts in our present selves, and the journey and work is to integrate the various parts of ourselves into our present being, and the very therapeutic work of allowing ourselves to express through whatever creativity speaks to us, brings healing and congruence.
You're the father we always wanted but never had.
Your mother, if she's the one who took your b&w pictures, seems to have had an artistic soul, because those childhood photos are really beautiful.
Your videos are like a reassuring hug. I have not seen the *whole* of the internet, but I am still pretty sure that you are the most calming and encouraging voice out there, and I really value what you share here. Thank you.
Nicely said!
Wow, thank you!
I agree. Love his voice and lovely words. So encouraging. And calming.
Right?
Agreed 🙏
I can so identify with your history. What you said made so much since. It seems I started drawing for the same logical reasons you did. Drawing kept me sane. I moved around a lot and my father was a part time artist when he wasn't working to feed the family . But I spent my Childhood alone in my room most of the time. My mother was an alcoholic so I spent to much time taking care of her and my two younger sisters. Home was a secret. I'm 65 now and I just lost my wife in a car accident two months ago so I'm having a rough time just motivating but my need to create is calling me so I bought a small sketch book and I'm committing to a drawing a day. Thank you for your honesty. I will be watching more of your videos.
Be well, Jeffrey. I hope art can help you through this hard time
Another difficult life. I sincerely hope your sketchbook drawing a day will help to reveal yourself to you! All the best!
So sorry for your loss under such tragic circumstances 🙏 I hope you’re still drawing!
It is always good to hear and learn from another "outsider"! I always wanted to be "an artist" and I had talent, but life took me in other directions. Now, in my 70's, I do art of one sort or another all the time. Thank you.
After almost a 20 year regretful pause on my creative process I'm finally getting back into it. My close family and friends are telling me I need to create art to sell and that I'm wasting my time in a sketchbook. But I'm not being creative for them or the world. I"m being creative for myself. My sketchbooks are a creative journal of sorts. Somewhere I can express my emotions without words and when I'm ready to show the world my creativity, it will be on my terms :)
💛
Some people just think they have the right to tell others what they "need" to do with their own lives :)
Good for you , you have inspired me , thank you, God Bless..
I came from a violent background and i would shut myself away in a dark room and enter into my own mind and imagination. I remember sitting with a scrap of paper and drawing a bearded man with a top hat with the top stitching open and inside was some holly and a robin, I would draw it over and over again.
This so resonates with me and it has inspired me so much as an understanding of who I am, it's taking the bad si DD e of your life and seeing the positive for the creativity it may have set the seed for inside of me
Thankyou for sharing this.
I like the way you laid down the b/w photos as you narrated - the little pictures told so much of what you were relating. Amazing.
I’m glad that worked!
yes me too. It inspires me to open up myself a bit in a similar way.
I came to this channel because I wanted to be an artist. Today I have identified, and can begin to heal, two life long wounds and I know I am already an artist.
Danny, you have a profound gift and I am glad I stumbled across and have been able to access it.
I'm so glad my words are helpful, andreaskye
Danny, I found your channel a couple of days ago and I'm already mesmerized by how inspirational, comforting and calming your "voice" is. Your messages go way beyond art as a means to explore the senses, they make life itself a limitless canvas to be free and creative. Thank you so much for sharing your voice with us.
Never connected my childhood with my creativity. This helped me realise that the things I need to do is my sanctuary
💯
I am an "old" / "failed" artist and have gotten SO MUCH encouragement and comfort from your videos!!! Thank you!!!
I could listen to you all day and night❤️
I wish someone would make a movie about your life. Thank you for sharing your feelings and adventures. I’m inspired to be creative.
I am about your age but my upbringing in California was the opposite of yours, very stable family and schools with 7 brothers and sisters. Everything was routine and I remember when I was 8, I wanted pastels so bad but couldn't find them any where and my family was too busy to help so I never got them. I always loved crafts but didn't really understand creativity till I was about 50 years old. Now I do mixed media art everyday. Your upbringing and pictures are so interesting thanks for sharing. I really think its important to teach children the satisfaction of being creative. I like putting my art on greeting cards and giving it away.
That's wonderful!
@ Danny, thank you for sharing your story. So powerful and inspiring.
Good to see someone out there thinks I can do it.
Hi Danny. Thank you for sharing this. I too had a tumultuous childhood/adolescence and have spent much of my life (I'm now 48) in and out of hospitals. Art has literally been a life saver for me too. It is as essential in my life as the air I breathe! Even when I think I'm no good, I still create because it is my passion and reason for BEING. It's all I ever wanted to do but when I left school my sister told me it was not a "real job". Stupidly I let her opinion control me and I stopped painting for a long time. That made me very depressed and I only recently realized my sister was jealous because she was knocked back from art school while I was accepted. Thank you for sharing your journey and inspiring people. You give so much encouragement to others. Kind regards, Mary from Australia.
Glad art has made such a difference!
I was drawing while listening to you speak, and was so surprised to hear you mention Canberra! I have lived in Canberra my whole life 😌
I lived there as a little boy. I went to St John’s and Canberra Grammar School and lived on Dianella Street.
This was so honest and raw and heartwarming. Thank you for sharing.
Stunning. Advice for this world that can save many little souls, I think.
Yes, I believed I was born creative because I always like to draw and I was fairly good at it for whatever age I was. My life was fairly stable until I was 9 and my parents divorced. After that we move around a lot. I went to number of high schools before I graduated and also always felt like an outsider, which I'm sure was a result of all the moving around. Art was my escape. Through the years I've continued to be creative in various ways, but have not been consistent due to school, work, college, life. Now I am looking at retiring in a few years and relish the idea of being able to focus on my creativity and art full time.
Thanks for sharing your story. Now’s your time!
I started drawing every day after viewing one of your videos about how you were helped by keeping a sketchbook. That was about 8 months ago and I've continued this practice almost every day since. It calms me and I've found that I miss it if I skip a day. My drawing skills have also improved. Thanks for your messages of creativity and positivity.
Thank you. I discovered your channel 3 days ago and watched some. You are very likeble.
I am an artist, professionally, self employed. So I do commissions, teach, but I’m all over the place. Drawing, painting, sculpting, writing, herbalism, name it… 😂
I grew up at a dairy farm in The Netherlands, in a traditional home, never moved until I was 18. But I was lonely, at home. And neglected. Also spoiled, in some ways.
What I did to survive, was drawing, making my own toys and creating… small worlds. To this day, when I see dioramas, my heart jumps from joy.
My father hated it, that I went to artschool, he wanted me to do lawschool because I had the brains and he never had the opportunity. In the end, sadly, I had to brake with him, 2 years before he passed, 7 years ago. It numbed me for a long time, developed an anxiety disorder, BUT I’m getting better now. I started a Creative Café 3 years ago, I’m opening a shop in arts, antiques and herbs.
I think I should grab a sketchbook again…
Thank you. 💞
Oh, good! I'm so glad you liked it, Johanna Veerenhuis-Lens.
Thank you for your story; your history; your honesty - as always. Creative people are observant.
I appreciate your video so much. I can certainly relate to this topic. I never thought about creativity being an option to overcome what I had come to call my “I am who you say I am, if you say anything at all” life. Its so true. I strove to be approved for anything as a kid (for reasons...typical of many, including our own) childhood. I used to pretend that I was someone else in front of other kids. I would come from a different country, have a different name and did my best attempt at an accent lol. I didn’t expect to fit in anywhere as “me”. Ahh, CREATIVITY! Adapting as a kid was easier because we usually have wonderful imaginations. Uninhibited and unchained. I grew up doing as you did. Ugh, a Jack of all trades, master of none. Always searching for someone else’s meaningless opinion of me. I drew, I sang, I acted, I exacted the practice of replacing adults with my own idea of what people should be like. There is , after all no feeling of accomplishment if the cost is too high. It costs you you heart. Being creative is and was my life vest in a painful, daily desire to swim in the water with everyone else and not drown in the lake of no identity. I finally had an epiphany as a 50 some year old woman that all those moments of trial and failure, though painful and lonely, prepared me for something wonderful. They were..stepping stones, if you will. I wrote poetry and and journals and became aware that I was blessed with a wonderful gift. To be able to let life go on doing its thing while I could just stand and watch...and learn. Most people don’t pay too much attention to being at peace and becoming a dreamer. Creating allows us to build dreams, not wait for them to magically come out of a genie bottle. All full of excitement and hopeful expectations and most importantly seeing the tangible results of a spirit of perseverance. Like you said, creativity, though a difficult proposition at times, is a promising task in any situation. When I think of all the moments I was the saddest and most lonely I was rewarded in life because I created change. I realized as you were speaking that they all started with.....an idea. Something from deep inside. A movement of the heart. Thanks for a beautiful message!
I'm so glad my words are helpful, Phyllis Weaver
Thank you for you're beautiful story 😊 . childhood creativity is the best .the best artists I've met are children , I love how you speak of protecting you're creativity .
I'm so glad it was helpful, Sam Cook!
Thank you. I appreciate your sharing your journey to creativity. I like creativity as my super power.
This message is so timely for me! I have always been creative. Your story sounds so similar to mine and as of late, I've been on this search to get back to who I was as a boy! So much more lately, he's been screaming out. Thank you for these words of encouragement!
Thank you for sharing your childhood with us. I really like how you used family photographs placed and taken by hand in your video. You have given me pause to think about my own childhood and how intensely it informs and shapes my art. Just beautiful and hauntingly sad all at once. Thank you, again.
Thank you!
you touched the center of my heart.I saw my life describing itself
💛💛
It's a wonderful thing to still have photos and film from those days, even with all of the moving around. I've been working on connecting with the confident 5 year old I used to be. Thank you.
What a lovely surprise to listen to you with my coffee just now. While I always lived with the same parents and had younger siblings, I went to 7 different schools in 6 different towns by the time I graduated high school. During those years I experienced the loss of many people as well. Your ways of staying sane were quite similar to mine, although I wish I’d thought to create some friends to take along with me. Do you ever revisit your old friends?
In an interesting way, that certainly needs more examination, your words gave me comfort. Thank you for sharing your history and ideas.
Its like a thrapeutik thing to see your videos. Youre realy insperationel
Happy to hear that!
Thank you for sharing and Inspiring all us💜 I too was constantly moving around and adjusting to whatever situation I was put in. Even in rooms full of people I always struggled with feeling like an ALIEN! If I could just "blend in".. no one would notice how weird I was. Needless to say I totally SEE you🥰
Thanx for your honesty and open and sincere conversation.
Thank you for stopping by!
Thank you for this! In January of this year, I decided that I needed to a “job”- well that was a one week soul crushing experience. I AM an artist. Your talk gave me the reassurance to stay the course!
Wonderful!
Wow! Thank you, Danny. I thought I had a crazy, dislocated childhood, but it now looks tame compared to yours. I love how you explain being on the outside looking in, as that's how I have felt all my life. I too, have always been creative in some way or other, as my father encouraged this by example. Now, in my seventies, I have settled on painting, or rather, learning to paint, and have found it settles and satisfies me. I have been enjoying your videos since I started painting this year. I like your quiet and sharing nature. You are a very sweet man. Thanks again.
Isn’t it amazing the impact our childhood can have on us throughout the course of the years?
Brilliant. The universe brings me videos like this when I need them most. Thank you Danny.
Stop by anytime!
Thanks Danny for all your videos I love them. I know what you mean about having a strange childhood me too. I think being creative is a way to satisfy your soul when people can’t. Love what you do and love the person you are - you are one of life’s treasures
What would I do without YOU DANNY.....just a HUGE PLUS in my life's journey....what ANOTHER awesome glimpse into your story........you are doing a good thing, a really good thing.....enriching my life!!!!
I'm so glad it was helpful, Connie Reynolds!
Thanks for your hard-earned and common sense wisdom. Enjoyed learning about your journey.
This was one the most heartwarming videos I’ve watched. Thanks for you making it and thanks for your vulnerability in the video. I really appreciate it!
I so relate to all you are talking about, no wonder you are such a good guy.
You understand people and the situations you find yourself in as a child that are so tough to understand.
I’m an oldie and I still don’t understand much of life and relationships…lol
I never thought about being creative because it fills a very real need beginning in childhood.
I think you are definitely on to something.
I knew I liked you when you were in the beginning waiting for your peanut to be born.
Thank you for sharing…it helps a LOT!
A wish for you is to know how much you are appreciated in so many ways. Being creative can be a joy, a torment, a satisfaction, lonely, uplifting. Sometimes singly, sometimes all mixed together. Your calm encouragement is always, always, an absolute treat to listen to. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Joe.
Thank you for this. I can relate to loneliness and drawing as a young child with a dying mother, and a father who had to work all hours to make ends meet.
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God how weird it was listening to you. It was as if you were in my head and knew me. What you said reflected my life so much. I wasnt an only child or form a broken as such but i always felt alone and isolared. I depended a lot on my imaginary friends and story making. Now at the age of sevevty i have found so much comfort and joy from my art and other crafts. Your early life has made you into a lovely caring and happy person. You have given me hope to carry on as i am. Thank you so very much. X
Thank you for this. It resonated with me on so many levels. My own childhood experience was similar and the feeling of never fitting in remains but now at 55 it doesn't matter and I embrace my uniqueness. I never lived the creative life I wanted because of the opinion of others, primarily family, and it haunts me.
Your videos have been such a wonderful source of encouragement and positivity for me. The more frequently I watch, the more confident I feel to pursue that creative life I had envisioned for myself.
I learned about creativity when I read the book Conceptual Blockbusting a year after I graduated from college in 1974
There are plenty of good books out there
I feel like they have all helped me to be a more creative thinker.
Wow…you never know what someone has gone through until they tell you. I’m in my mid-60s and also had a challenging childhood but I’m just now discovering the power of art to help heal the soul. Thank you for sharing your story!
Thanks for sharing your story!
Thank you for your honest insight into your childhood. I empathise strongly with how difficult it is to acknowledge that emotional abuse is still abuse whether international or not. I have often struggled with the concept of looking after the inner child but your examples of crayons and praise have given me a starting place. Tfs
Thanks for watching!
I am so happy I discovered you. Thank you for your beautiful stories and videos. They are so kind so true and so motivating.
Thank you!
Thank you so much for this heart to heart video. There is so much value and truth in what you say. Uplifting, and just what I needed to hear, a blessed moment. ❤
This was my much needed thank you very much I'm definitely going to treat my creative self with colored pencils and just go all out and re innovate myself 🙇🏾♂️🙇🏾♂️🙇🏾♂️🙇🏾♂️🥰🥰🥰🥰
Have fun!
youre such an incredible person. youre an artist in words as much as you are on canvas
I resonate so much with what you said. I'm in my early 30s and my childhood was a lot like yours. I used to sit in my room alone and tinker or read or draw or listen to CDs or just get lost in my own imaginations. I was a lonely kid but this stuff kept me sane too. Around middle school was when I was molding into the person I would be the rest of my adult life. I still took art classes and did some good drawing that is still have. I was so proud of those drawings, but no one else seemed to care. They wanted me to be something else. My creative side wasn't nurtured, and I was forced into playing roles that suppressed my soul. I kept playing these roles until relatively recently when it all came bubbling up and I had a breakdown. I couldn't keep living the life that I was molded into. Felt like I was living a lie. I pulled out my old sketchbook, and I've started getting back into drawing again. It's what I've been craving, and I feel myself slowly coming back with that lonely little kid that needs a buddy. Thanks for making these videos. I'm looking forward to this healing journey.
Danny has such a comforting voice!
You’re a good storyteller. You have more than a drawing skill
I always look forward to these talks. Its so encouraging. It helps me to keep slow and steady... i'll win the race.
And you gotta be in it to win it.
Such a sweet, inspiring loving guy! Thank you
WOW !!! Talk about nailing it… This was such a powerful talk that I rewatched it immediately after watching the first time. Thank you Danny, so shocked on how many points you nailed that was my life. Very encouraging!! 🙋🏻♀️
Your story helped me.
thank you for your videos, i just stumbled on a few today and the way you approach art and creativity is exactly the kind of bond im trying to get with art again. As a kid i drew a lot but as i got better at it i, the drawings were taking up more and more time and i expected more of them aswell, to the point that i just didnt make the time for them anymore because "if i was gonna sit down and draw something i better make it worth the time" with a result that the empty paper just kinda scared me. Im trying to heal all the preconceptions i conjured in my mind about what art should be in an effort to open up my creativity and the way you so calmingly and lovingly talk about drawing and being creative really is a breath of fresh air, thank you!
Thank you for sharing your history with us. I found it interesting the parallels of your uncle derided by family for his needing help to make rent and Vincent Van Gough who's brother mostly supported him financially as well as emotionally.
Yes. We Gregorys are certainly not van Goghs.
Thank you for good words - very much similar life history for me - born in the boonies in YukonTerritories, parents divorced a few months after my birth, grew up in 7 different families, many schools in Canada Germany Florida… always a loner, observer, thinker, loving to make things, somewhat minorly arty/photography/learn all kinds of things and skills and practices… being good at teaching… and now, am in my fourth day of no-job due to the youknowwhat-mandates here in Canada… and I am in the process of getting my mind to figure out a way to commit to either go for making and selling and maybe even teaching intro workshops in art … in spite of the oh-so-standard difficulty in ‘selling myself’ or end up on the streets at my now age 63 - I will take your words as encouragement - thank you -
Oh, good! I'm so glad you liked it, peter quenter.
I'm glad you made the decision you did. I'm pretty much a beginner at art. Although I've done scrapbooking and some jewelry making and some cake decorating, and a bit of card making and origami and have watercolor on the brain now but the drawing sketching part always seems to take the longest. I'm more of a nature person so nature journaling or landscapes appeal more to me than urban sketching and cities and too many scary people.
You will not end up on the street!!!!
@@paolamura3497 thank you, Paola, for your kind words - well.. indeed, I am not quite yet on the street,... although time and the last savings are running out soon.. no job, yet, here in the little-dictatorship of Canada run by a childish-lunatic-wannabe-globalist-puppet-king-ruler - it sure is a strange world these days - so, I have been focusing mainly on posting my art and photography, offering some photo services, print-on-demand, ... but it just all takes so long to actually begin generating revenue... still, no giving up now - I trust your prediction shall be reality !! :-) :-) Thank you !!!
You are such a good storyteller ...and yes so much resonated with me ...even though I haven't really gone through so much change in life and I haven't had to adapt ....most part of my life was very stable (I'm grateful to it all 🙏) but yes moments of change do spark creativity and those moments where we delve into our inner child is where we arouse creativity. I loved how you said ...creativity is something that needs to be nurtured and protected ...and we need to allow ourselves to BE creative !
You got it!
Danny - What a fabulous pep talk! How relateable this was! Thanks for sharing your personal story and for all the ways you have helped us allow ourselves to be creative.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you so much for your inspirational message. We are currently in lockdown number six in Melbourne, Australia and your Sketchbook Skool has really helped myself and many others I’m sure get through these difficult times. Take care xxx
Wow!! Lockdown #6 ?!?!?? I am so sorry, I will be so happy when all this goes away! Please take care ❤️❤️❤️
I'm so glad it was helpful, Gillian Gregory (any relation?)!
Same Gillian, this lockdown hurts more than the previous ones doesn’t it. I started crying halfway through this video I didn’t realise just how much I miss eye contact and conversations with other people. Hope you’re doing ok, take care :) Thank you Danny Gregory :)
Australia is turning into nazi Germany
Thank you so much for sharing your story. And, most of all, for reminding us to always battle those demons - both internal and external - and continue of our creative journey! :)
Absolutely!
I'm a painter...and I have never fit in...so I decided to enhace my uniqueness!!! Thank you for such a wonderful & honest video!!!
Wonderful!
I came from a very abusive home that attacked and beat every bit of identity out of me. My feelings and opinions were beat out of me and TOLD I was not allowed to feel that way!! The thing that drew me to “art” was when my mother found my journal and read it and beat me and I never wrote anything again. I basically went mute and pliant as much as possible but to work through the trauma I started verbalizing and working through logic or the lack there of by collaging. It was my secret language that nobody was the wiser for. In my 50’s60’s I worked through all this trauma that had destroyed my life in so many ways by collaging once again. It finally lead to art journaling and then to reclaiming my faith by junk journaling and faith journals
For me, creativity is a place of discovery and delight in the beautiful, extraordinary or perfectly commonplace. I think creative people are appreciators and often delight in exploring possibilities.
I always feel like i an not really creative because i have no originality. It seems like everything i do in my art has been already done before, and done better. So my motivation goes out the window.
But your video explaining the value of of drawing for its own sake with no concern for the outcome seems helpful. It reminds me of the monks who do beautiful mandalas with colored sand for hours and days on end only to smoosh them away upon completion. They don't even photograph them.
It seems like the concern about the result debts the real value of the creative expression and experiences that are in doing it.
Not worrying about how "good" it is or will be is really a good idea. I'm gonna try it.
Thank you for making this video and sharing your insights. I know that it is all very personal. i know that it is important. I also know what it feels like when others don't value what you think or create. I think creative people turn inward and we tend to forget that there are others who understand or do the same.
Well said!
yes exactly. Trying to make us think we have no value and there is such a rich inner world going on
THANK YOU for all share -- you're such a phenomenal life coach!
Hah! Thank you.
One of your best Danny. I can very much relate to your story. I had 8 different schools from moving and a very unstable childhood. I have always greatly admired creativity when I see it. Art classes in my schooling crushed any hope and interest that I had in art. The classes focused on kids that were "good" and left the rest of us behind. You have been a huge inspiration to me and made me confident enough to fight my monkey and begin making art. Thank you for that.
*I think sincere artistic expression is actually an evolutionary advantage (and language) to those facing serious adversity.*
I had a nomadic childhood too in the sense that I moved from 4 different schools before I was 13, I was bullied by a member of the teaching faculty as well as a senior prefect in my first year. Although I stayed out in Scotland, I also lived with a father who was a heavy drug user and hardcore addict. Family was incredibly dysfunctional, however Creativity and my amazing Grandfather similarly fuelled my desire for artistic escapism. I really loved this video Danny, it spoke a lot to me.
I'm so glad it was helpful, Michael!
Awesome insight- agreed!
Teared up watching your beautiful ode to creativity!
This was so interesting. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. 😊
I'm 48 and I still can't figure adults out! Maybe that's the artist in me. 😉
We are a weird breed.
@@SketchBookSkool The world needs our brand of weirdness. 😉
Thank you very much...words for my soul...
Thank you! Your life story is so fascinating to me. Have you ever written it all down?
I have published a couple of memoirs but haven’t written much about my childhood.
Brilliant, honest, generous, thank you.
👍🏼”just let yourself be..”
I love your stories of your childhood and your creativity and stories. I'm glad you survived it. I've enjoyed your videos.
I just found your videos today and I have watched about 6 or 7 so far, and man, I just have to express how grateful I am to you for these essays. It’s like hearing my own thoughts. It’s nice to know that there are similar minds and hearts out there. You are doing a wonderful thing. Thank you.
Wow, thank you!
Thank You for your inspirational “talks” ~ Love Sketchbook Skool! Wish I had this as a child! (Art classes in my High School were non existent 🙁) Always loved to do artwork and paint ~
You’re so welcome
Thank you for this warm and reassuring video!!
I love your intimate heartfelt videos thank you
Thanks so much for your inspiring videos. They really do reach my heart ❤️❤️❤️ . Creativity definitely makes my life meaningful and has also helped me cope with difficult and painful experiences in my life. I heard Meryl Streep say in a speech: "take your broken heart and make it into Art"
Love that. My friend Vanessa says “Turn your pain into paint “
@@SketchBookSkool WoW that's great too. 💕
Just stumbled on your videos and they are super wonderful. Thank u.
What an intimate sharing of your life story. I grew up in a chaotic home and used art to save me. It has been my constant companion through all the turmoil in my life. You got this spot on!
What a fascinating life you've lived! Thanks for sharing. I've never thought of my own instability as a child and feelings of not fitting in, vivid imagination and loneliness as fostering my creativity, but now that you've made me stop and think about it, maybe they have. I guess we're never too old to reexamine our childhood. Thanks for the nudge.
You are a brave and strong person: I admire this. Greetings from México.
Thank you, you've provided an insight that's so warm and safe. Your voice sounds like what a hug feels like.
I agree with others i could listen to your gentle calm kind peaceful wise voice endlessly.thank you
Thank you very much for the video. I struggle with creativity. I have a strong desire to make things but then I sabotage myself with self doubt a lot.
oh this was lovely! remembering what you liked doing as a kid, how it felt and what you thought about it, what was happening around you at the time, it’s such a thrill.
Those are the few moments when I truly feel happy in my core and hopeful in a pure way.
When I was drawing as a kid from my biology book, in my spare time, without the intent to show or let anyone know about it, I remember feeling so motivated, curious and passionate about doing the best drawing that I would forget about time and space for long whiles and in the end I would always giggle looking at it finished. So fun!❤️
💯!
What an interesting childhood you had.. difficult.. yes.. there are those that would have been mentally swamped and overwhelmed by the events that took place, the continual change, the lack of stability and continuity. As children, we have no control over what's happening, the major tonal background to our future lives; we just have to react to it. Your comments have such a reality to them; observe and adapt; accurate description indeed. As you become older, the balance begins to alter it seems to me. I think I am so much better at observing now, but with the best will in the world, I am poorer and slower at adapting..
Thanks Joanne!
Thank you for this message
Thanku Danny...u really help and encourage wth sharing bout ur life and teaching us not to listen to negative comments x 🙂🥰 don't stop sharing and encouraging x 😀
I really like your take on creativity, I think we all carry our pasts in our present selves, and the journey and work is to integrate the various parts of ourselves into our present being, and the very therapeutic work of allowing ourselves to express through whatever creativity speaks to us, brings healing and congruence.