Last night, I wasn't totally happy with my creation/experiment using charcoal pencils. I started talking to myself: "It's okay, it's fine. I'm learning. Practice makes perfect. Maybe I'll go back to fun creations before trying serious ones again but I will try again. (Etcetera.)" and then I stopped and laughed at myself.
Monday:
Monday:
CED2010 is an exercise and an experiment for me, one that I am really enjoying. I surprise myself with the bizarre and silly images I have created in 2010, and while I would love to be a great "artist", that isn't really my goal. Some of the CED2010 particpants are already excellent professional artists! Others, based on what I have read so far, yearn to be. And some are really hard on themselves. (Maybe we all are at times?) I am so impressed with everyone's creativity and ideas! And I have also found that everyone is so encouraging and supportive of each others efforts, and that is fabulous!
So today when I came across a great post by Mark McGuinness of Lateral Action discussing Creative Blocks, I thought I'd share it. In part 2, Mark encourages an anonymous reader to go out and GET IT WRONG! Then he quotes e.e. cummings (I love quotes):
"and even if it’s sunday may i be wrong
for whenever men are right they are not young."
Isn't one of the great parts of CED2010 that we have the freedom to get it wrong and learn from our mistakes? To share if we'd like to? Or not?
Two of the comments on that post also resonated with me (and the first surprised me):
Picasso’s technique was never to refer to his paintings as ‘works of art’ but always as ‘experiments’ or as ‘research’. A little bit of self-deception that got him past the perfectionist road block, resulting in a lifetime of continuous productivity. Chris Vaughn
and:
"Wow, I just went through that entire thought process on my latest project..”what if I get it wrong? Then I need more materials. Oh, I have those, with enough to spare.” And then..”Wait! I’m making this up, it’s what ever I make it.” funny, how I needed to actually articulate that, actually ask those questions, but then also answer them." Martha Downs
What if you get it wrong tonight? I know that I will just be making it up. Are you going to make something new up tonight?
Hmm, now I have this urge to go listen to the Rites of Spring!
To mistakes! Cheers.
EVA
Isn't one of the great parts of CED2010 that we have the freedom to get it wrong and learn from our mistakes? To share if we'd like to? Or not?
Two of the comments on that post also resonated with me (and the first surprised me):
Picasso’s technique was never to refer to his paintings as ‘works of art’ but always as ‘experiments’ or as ‘research’. A little bit of self-deception that got him past the perfectionist road block, resulting in a lifetime of continuous productivity. Chris Vaughn
and:
"Wow, I just went through that entire thought process on my latest project..”what if I get it wrong? Then I need more materials. Oh, I have those, with enough to spare.” And then..”Wait! I’m making this up, it’s what ever I make it.” funny, how I needed to actually articulate that, actually ask those questions, but then also answer them." Martha Downs
What if you get it wrong tonight? I know that I will just be making it up. Are you going to make something new up tonight?
Hmm, now I have this urge to go listen to the Rites of Spring!
To mistakes! Cheers.
EVA
I love that Picasso referred to his work as experiments! What a great, freeing way to look at the process of creating! And I agree, making mistakes, being unafraid to fail, is so helpful for the process of regular creating.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post! A timely reminder to my approach to my drawing ... I started to feel I'm taking it way too serious and forget about the fun part. Thank you for sharing. :)
ReplyDelete