A few months ago, I hit a complete and utter creative block. I couldn’t paint, design or write. The more I tried, the harder it got and the harder it got, the more frustrated I became. A friend I paint with recommended a book she loved called "Art and Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking" by David Bayles and Ted Orland.
Willing to try anything, I duly ordered the book on Amazon. When it came I was surprised to find it to be a pretty small book – I had been expecting something matching the mammoth size of my creative brick wall! I read it from cover to cover in just two sittings and have not look back since.
The single most important lesson I took away from the book, is that it is the quest for perfection that makes us hesitant to create, that puts barriers in our way. As creative people, and every single one of us is a creative being, we have to do something at every opportunity, aiming for PROGRESS, not PERFECTION and that is the single most important key to being creative.
Let’s leave perfection up to nature, the journey is what its all about for us and things will unfold for us as they should, in their own time.
Progress, not perfection: I think I need to paint that on the wall above my desk so I remember it. I haven’t created any layouts in a few weeks and I was looking for inspiration. Thanks!
I do believe that photo is one of the most beautiful flower pictures I have ever seen!
I can’t imagine you going through an artistic block–you are SO creative!!! But it happens to us all, I guess. I know I’ve always been like that with drawing & painting. I never pursued it because the creative juices flowed SO seldom. I do much better with creating graphics and ‘putting stuff together’.
Thank you for sharing.
Beautiful, Gill! I completely agree. Erica has a wonderful quote on this same topic in her siggy on the boards: “To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” I think that fear of being perceived as WRONG! is one of the biggest things that keeps me from even trying sometimes. I’m so glad you pushed through your creative block. Thanks for the words of encouragement to the rest of us, too.