Art and Perfectionism…

I’ve been re-reading ‘The Artists Way‘ by Julia Cameron recently… and a passage on Perfectionism came up… which has got me thinking…

Where does our perfectionism all come from?  Well meaning people I’m sure, for example, I think back to primary school lessons, English particularly; Mrs… I forget her name, but I can see her face, she seemed practically Victorian, and was VERY stern… any spelling or grammatical errors at the ripe old age of nine, would come back with shameful red circles and insidious red marks all over… 7/10… must try harder.   (Feb-RRRR-uary would often be enunciated in a loud shrill voice around the room, woe to anybody who omitted the silent ‘R’…!!) 😆

This continues throughout school for most of us I suspect… in an effort to teach and improve us… undoubtedly a worthy reason… but often at a slow decline of self assuredness, and eventually at sacrifice of stopping yourself from putting anything out altogether, especially art, or music, or writing… something as subjective as a piece you’ve created… you’re surely setting yourself up for failure and a barrage of D-!

Anyhow, I’m putting a proverbial two fingers up to perfectionism for this post, and have decided to share my thoughts, incase a similar self sabotage is true for you too.

I’ve looked back through my journals, photos, artworks, and see sooooo many things I’d intended to share… but that niggling part of, it’s not quite ‘there yet’ often gets the better of me… it’s quiet, underhand, almost stealth in it’s ability to thwart those creative plans in their tracks…

Anyhow… back to the point of my story…  whilst reading The Artists Way; here are a few of the words that really held a stab of recognition…

 

“QUESTION: What would I do if I didn’t have to do it perfectly?”

“ANSWER: A great deal more than I am.”

🫣

 

“We don’t compare our student films to George Lucas’s student films.  Instead, we compare them to Star Wars”

😅

 

Even writing this post, my inner censor is shouting “You CAN’T share this…    The inner perfectionist is at it again!!! 🖕✨😅

 

“Once we are willing to accept that anything worth doing might even be worth doing badly, our options widen…”

 

I’ve written about perfectionism before, so despite my many quavering moments, it’s my good old dose of ‘stubborn’ that makes me dig my heels in and carry on through… when I see some of the mass produced tut that adorns many outlets we look at these days… it’s another call to ignore the mind chatter, and a reminder for us all to share our stories, in all their random uniqueness, in the hope that they help and inspire others.

I KNOW that art helps people, I KNOW it touches people on a deep soul level way, I KNOW that my art speaks to people, and I KNOW that I mustn’t allow perfectionism stop me from sharing what I do and know… it is what it is… unique, handcrafted, unusual… intuitively guided…  imperfectly perfect.

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If you feel a sting of the perfectionism recognition, I highly recommend a read of Julia Cameron’s The Artists Way, I’ll be honest, it’s been a slow burn for me, I’ve had to edge into it, put it back, edge into it again, but when you’re ready, the teacher appears, and the perfect passages are coming to life for me at exactly the right time.   You can get a copy of it here.

Trust your next steps… Find a perfect piece of art that speaks to you… a local art group to support you, (that’s how I started out and I’m forever grateful to them for their guidance!)  If you’d like to try out some encaustic wax painting… I have a ton of resources for you; from free, and paid self study courses, to our Wax Works Monthly Community Space, or 1-1 support and feedback.   Check them all out here:  https://artyheaven.com/online-courses

 

A couple of final thoughts from the words of Julia Cameron….

“So do it. If you win you win, and if you lose you win.”

“If you didn’t have to do it perfectly, what would you try…?”

 

Have you read The Artists Way…?  Are you a Perfectionist…?  I’d love to know!