Creating My da Vinci Notebook

As I start this new adventure into blogging, I find myself overwhelmed with the possibilities and, of course, living up to expectations. Whose expectations? That’s a good question. I guess my own, other people’s, some shadow in the dark of night called Expectations. I’m not sure, but it’s there and it’s been a hindrance to getting started.

I would say that I have a couple of key obstacles.

First is fear of not being good enough. I don’t have the benefit of starting my creative endeavors at a young age. But as an adult, I am lucky enough to have a very supportive spouse who encourages me to design and create. Plus, I just really want to do this. So, although I may struggle, I push past my fear of “good enough” and go for it.

“Design without Fear,” I say because fear doesn’t do us any good and because I don’t want anyone else to feel like they can’t do it. I encourage everyone to create. Design ability is not innate. People who are good at things practise. So let us practise, shall we?

My second obstacle is having so many projects wandering around my brain waiting for the chance to materialize, that I don’t know where to begin. So how do I break down this barrier to getting started?

This is where my da Vinci Notebook idea comes into play. This is a person (Leonardo da Vinci) who clearly had a lot of ideas, and he kept them in a notebook. He flushed out his ideas and studied life and wrote down his observations and designs.

Did you know da Vinci studied birds and designed the first helicopter? I don’t think it worked, but who cares, that didn’t stop him from designing it, did it?

This blog will be my online version of da Vinci’s notebook where I will flush out my ideas, capture my observations and experiences, processes, designs, and thoughts. I also plan to share other people’s words of wisdom and designs that I find inspiring.

Some of my ideas and designs may even end up as tutorials on the Woolsey Workshop website.

This is a blog where I will “Design without Fear”. After all, did da Vinci worry that something he put in his notebook may not be worthy of hanging on a museum wall? Of course not.

Hopefully somehow, by sharing my stories of design and defying my own fears, I help others through their own creative obstacles.

This is going to be a heck of a ride and I invite you to join me, make comments, and share your creative ideas and processes. I’d love to hear about them.