The Greenwood is quiet and still this morning, except for the call of the buzzards as they wheel and soar over the treetops. A time for reflection and a lesson for myself which you are welcome to share if you suffer from the same affliction:
I am learning that perfection and the desire for it is a hindrance to creativity. It is not only acceptable to make mistakes but essential. If everything that we made was perfect then there would be no inducement to develop and grow. We would have achieved what we set out to do and no lessons would have been learned on the way. So many times I have held myself back creatively for fear of imperfection and failure.
The result is a body of work released into the world which is 'safe' and 'good enough'; a studio awash with unfinished pieces which have gone so far but have not been completed and a head full of authentic and innovative ideas which are 'on hold' while I wait to feel competent enough to execute them.
Lesson for myself:
Let the mistakes happen. Give yourself the opportunity to fail, fail as much as you like and then turn your errors into possibilities. If you are 'stuck' with a piece of work you are only going to get unstuck if you look at it again and persevere. It is not going to progress if it sits in a pile of 'casualties'. If all else fails, chop it up, rearrange it, work into it, transform it into something new. Who knows what it might become.
Do one thing today that pushes your boundaries. It may not be perfect but its more of a step on the way than not doing anything at all.
So very true! My "mistakes" - both in Life and Art - almost always turn out to be Blessings in disguise. Glad to see I'm not the only one who believes in makeing mistakes, and moving forward to push the boundaries. Thanks for sharing :)
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