When I was learning to draw, I was frequently very unhappy with the results. I was doubly frustrated when the doodles, which I did obsessively in the margins of notebooks during classes and meetings or on the backs of envelopes while chatting on the phone, turned out better than my formal attempts at drawing! If you ever feel this way, I’d like to suggest a radical move—make art destined for the dustbin!
“What?! Is she crazy?” I hear you asking, “ … invest my limited time and materials and then throw it all away?!”
Relax and consider three things:
1. We often fail under pressure
2. Masterpieces have been drawn on re-used paper with burnt matchsticks
3. You can always change your mind
Allow me to elaborate:
1. A blank canvas, a fresh sketch pad, an expensive piece of handmade watercolor paper, a block of Parian marble, a cherry wood burl … untouched, pure, intimidating. We feel immense pressure to “get it right” or “do something really creative” … sometimes it paralyzes us and sometimes we start, but then fuss too much and ruin it anyway. And occasionally we get it exactly right—usually when we are touched by a creative grace that pulls us along without too much thought. If we release ourselves from the pressure of “getting it right” we invite that creative grace into our lives.
2. Tools don’t make the artist, nor do materials. Don’t get me wrong, good materials are worth their weight in gold, and that’s often what we feel we’ve paid for them when we get to the checkout in the art supply store. Then we think, “Gee, I spent so much money, I’d better not waste any of this stuff.” More pressure! Newsflash—none of this stuff is ever wasted! If it forwards the creative process, even if you throw it away, it wasn’t wasted.
3. If you produce something amazing on your kid’s lunch sack, you don’t have to throw it away. (Oh, yeah!)
So, what’s the point? The point is to give yourself freedom and permission to fail, to be a kid with a huge stack of scrap paper from mom or dad’s office and a coffee can full of crayons. Try stuff, discard the “oops” and “yuck” ones, and use the others to inspire your more serious artwork.
