I started it because I think it’s what I need, but also because I have heard on too many occasions the sentence “I cant draw/paint”

I’ll address each point individually… “What I needed”

I think for most people they like to feel a part of something, feel connected and welcomed by others. I think in life we feel there may be set criteria in terms of being welcomed or accepted into these groups or somethings. Many of these groups aren’t actually physical groups of people, they may just be conversations or genres of interest.

Most of my interaction with other creatives happens on social media, and even within this you can feel unseen and like an outsider. It might feel awkward striking up a conversation with an Artist you admire, or you worry about being judged based on a question you ask or even your work.

Sometimes it just feels impenetrable, like the “cool kids” at school, no one actually saying that you aren’t welcome, you just feel a clique that you don’t fit- and I feel this vibe on social media as well.

That’s why for me, for my need as well as others, I decided to start a community where I felt welcome, and I could make others feel just as welcome by making the space as free and diverse as possible- it’s nice to feel a part of something.

“I can’t draw/paint”..

This makes me so sad. When I tell people that I’m an Artist (I have just typed this and deleted it and changed the word to Painter and back to Artist…still find this tricky), one of the responses I often hear is them saying either “I can’t paint/draw” or “I wish I could paint/draw”. I’ll say it again, this makes me so sad.

I am not being romantic when I say this, but EVERYONE can paint/draw/create. So long as you can grasp something somehow that makes a mark and you can transfer this mark onto something else then you can do it. If you get enjoyment from it then you can do it. I understand that people would like to replicate an idea in their head and onto a surface and this takes practice, but it doesn’t mean you can’t paint/draw.

I think in society and UK education we are pushed too much to only pursue things we are “good” at or that someone says we are “good” at, so if we feel we aren’t, then we stop. What happened to enjoyment? I am pretty certain I’m not going to be a sell out singer, but that doesn’t stop me blasting my lungs, much to my husbands despair!

“I wish I could paint/draw”… again everyone can. I know that people will have different opinions on this, I’m going to share mine. I don’t believe in talent. Yes, there maybe exceptions to this rule, where children seem to be able to accomplish things beyond what we would expect when we consider how much practice they would have had etc. However in general terms I don’t believe in talent. I believe in passion. I love love what I do, and because of this I find time to do it more often, because I have found more time to do it, I am able to experiment, practice and figure out what I enjoy most and refine my skill. My passion keeps me going my practice helps me develop my skill, but without my passion I wouldn’t practice. Back to the singing, I love it but I’m not passionate about it, so I’ll never develop that “talent”- OK maybe not the best example given that my voice is more of a pitch for dogs and dolphins but you hopefully get the idea.

So please don’t ever give up because you thing talent is something you are born with or without for a particular thing, it isn’t, it’s just that you’ve given it the wrong name.

Just to add to this though- if someone says you are talented I do believe they mean nothing but kindness and admiration, I never take offense to this, I just don’t want people to be fooled into thinking it’s not something they could do, when they could if they truly wanted to, also don’t be fooled into thinking that it comes easily. Just because you think someone is talented doesn’t mean its without struggle and a shed load of hard work.

Why the name Small Voice?

There are a couple of reasons that I chose this as the community name.

You may or may not have heard me speak? For those of you that haven’t, my voice hasn’t aged or deepened probably since I was about 7. There isn’t anything medically wrong with my voice, despite someone once asking if had been in an accident that caused it to have a high pitch, and to be honest it wasn’t until adulthood that I even realised it might have been a little unusual. You eventually get used to it, but I still get mistaken for a child on the phone, and I witness rapid head turns from strangers when they realise this voice belongs to an adult.

I have since found out that this high pitched voice in adulthood is sometimes described as a “Small Voice”. There is more to it than that for me though, it has definitely become something that I have felt has stopped me, inhibited me from doing certain things as I became self conscious about it. In my previous life working predominately by talking on the phone, it was definitely a block for other people as well as myself, as they would judge me, assuming I was much younger and inexperienced in what I was doing, and therefore it took me longer to gain their trust.

The second part to the name decision, is just that sometimes we can feel our voice is small, unheard, unworthy, as an individual but also I think in the field of creativity. Even throughout UK education there is a huge push for academia and not creativity, the creative worlds voice at times can feel very muted.

Finally I chose the same because as individuals I think we can feel not deserving of being heard, that we aren’t that good at doing something so why share it, why even do it if we aren’t any good at it- muting ourselves effectively. This is totally in contradiction to what I want this community to be about. No voice is too small, no creation unworthy.

So that concludes the intro about Small Voice, I have no idea really where this community will go, what it will lead us all to- I started it based on an idea of creating something welcoming and creative, but I’ll be lead by what the community needs.

We have already worked on a project together last summer an a couple of small challenges in between. Please take the time to look through on the “Small Voice” page at all of the incredible creations from last summer. Take time to click through to peoples social media, or websites, the links are accessible by tapping/clicking each image. Tap HERE to view the “Small Voice” page.

And an additional thank you to Mika Denny who created the logo that we will use for Small Voice.

with love and thanks

Flo x