26 Apr Better than Perfect

Perfectionism kept me from creating visual art for 12 years. I would struggle with ideas for paintings. Which naturally made it hard to start. Now, after a decade of painting almost every day, I finally understand why.

I am an intuitive painter. 

I work best when I don’t know what will happen next. 

I thrive in solving the problem of the painting. 

It’s through this struggle that I make the connection. 

Connection is at the heart of creating. And that’s all that really matters. 

Fusing together the wires of 

idea, 

color

and shape 

to charge someone’s soul

(even if it’s just your own.) 

So when I let perfectionism creep in and start to allow a painting to become “too hard” because it isn’t “just so”, I remember that done is better than perfect. And I walk away. I return to the studio the next day and I see with new eyes. And sometimes, even without adding a mark, things connect.