Creativity and Courage

So I would've come across it tomorrow, Saturday is the day I usually end up catching up on reading blogs and newspapers and books... but a (wonderfully smart &snarky)friend of mine posted the link to Wil Wheaton's site and most recent post:
http://wilwheaton.net/2013/05/they-make-comments/
Which particularly caught me because of the statement:
"Just remember, when someone is being a terrible monstrous awful cruel human being: you made a thing, and they made a comment."

The courageous part for me was never creating art. I started drawing purely for my own interest and enjoyment when I was 3. Yes, I probably got a lot of praise the first few years, but I did it for myself. I actually remember being 5 years old and sitting down with a pencil and paper and watching Imagination Station on PBS (Thank You Commander Mark!) and taking the lesson as serious fun instead of playing with my toys, running around outside or pestering my baby brother. 

The courageous part for me was sharing my art with anyone I did not live with. Even though I got praise from age 5 - 10 with no negativity it still made me very nervous EVEN BACK THEN to share drawings with people I knew (like neighbors and my parents friends) even though they would support me. 

Wil, you missed the mark... the artists create because it's a part of who we are, the courageous part, the part that truly makes our works live and breathe, is in the sharing. Once we let even one other person see our work we've opened the door to criticism, negativity, ever-expanding doubt and the painful gut-wrenching that goes with it all. 

I have a studio in a building of well over 100 artists in various mediums. Most of them are friendly, kind, sweet, creative people. After 2 years I only have one other artist, and it's not even my husband, with whom I feel positive at all showing my work to. One in over a hundred. My husband (by my own reckoning) MUST be nice and like my work... so how the heck am I ever going to know what he likes over what he thinks sucks? My son (who is that perfect age of 5) gets to see my works in progress unabashed. He's 5. Part of learning is seeing that there are many steps to creating anything and I need him to see that. He's 5, so he is also nonjudgmental & honest about the awesomeness or messiness of my work. He's 5, so for at least one more year I can be someone who he thinks is talented in at least one area of life, so I'm enjoying that while I can. 
He's 5, and I still hold my breath and expect him to say "I don't like it." every time I show him a new piece or the update on a current work.

The courage, like everywhere else in life, is in knowing you are fearful but moving forward anyway.