Barbara talks about aiming for success, not perfection in her blog today and I believe I needed to hear what she had to say. She talked about learning to play the piano, but quit because she had not achieved perfection. Well, I swore off painting this a.m. when a picture I have been working on for months just refused to be the color I wanted it to be. I stuffed my brushes in the drawer, put the picture in the trash and packed my paints away in the closet.
After reading Barbara's blog I decided that I better take my paints out again and continue painting. I might have to begin the canvas all over with the realization that not all pictures will turn out perfect. Our instructor tells us that all artists have a few disasters in their closet! The one in the trash will go in my closet and I might pursue the same subject again on a new canvas. Maybe the next one will be a success--if not the perfection that I always strive for.
Perhaps you writers might want to spend some time writing about projects that you have begun and then abandoned because they were less than perfect. Or perhaps you have a project that you began and eventually finished because you were striving for completion and not perfection.
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Pat, this is a fun post to read so just as I got home from picking up Natalie Goldberg's book, Living Color: A Writer Pains Her World. I've read it before I checked it out again primarily to scan a few of her pictures in for sharing at a creative writing workshop.
ReplyDeleteOne of the scenes I'll show has a deep pink sky. Another shows an orange sky with green clouds. Everything about her work is odd, offbeat, like Natalie. The first time through it bothered me. Now I see a thrilling power in it.
What color did you intend your painting to be? Is it trying to tell you something by its refusal to honor your expectations?
I'm so glad you are going back to try again, and hope that whatever you do, you have fun!
I feel so honored that you would mention my little blog entry. Your art is truly wonderful...keep it up! Barbara
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