When Is It Time to Leave Well Enough Alone?
I read Aileen Roberts' blog with interest this morning. Nothing unusual there, I always enjoy seeing what she has to say. Yesterday, I was reading Robert Genn's twice-weekly observation on living a creative life and found that quite interesting as well. I wanted to comment on Aileen's blog but found my response was too detailed and thought I'd put it here instead.
Aileen was discussing a lovely piece she'd done yesterday; one that she'd decided to give away to a lucky winner. In trying to finish it off with a fixative, she felt she'd ruined it through a multiple step progress of 'failures'. This brings up the question of how do we know when it is time to leave well enough alone?
It's funny that she used the very words I always have to describe that. And I always say that I inherited it from my mother. My mom says that I just like to blame things on her. Maybe! But I'm not the one who would try to "fix" someone else's painting and in the facial area of someone she'd never even seen! Poor mom. She taught me to be cautious and to think about leaving well enough alone by "fixing" a painting I liked before she decided to "fix" something that wasn't broken! I felt that she was saying that my work wasn't good enough. And isn't that every artist's fear and the one that keeps us modest? That others wouldn't find our work worthy?
Robert Genn's letter on creativity touched on this topic yesterday. http://www.painterskeys.com/ He discussed artists who think they have nothing much in their studios which are actually bursting with works. In this specific case, he was discussing the idea that what was not worthy of consideration in the artist's eye could be wonderful to someone else's.
My sweetie says that I am my own worst critic. Robert says that we all tend to do this and that the most talented people do it more, while the less talented people don't seem to consider it at all.
I have the idea that it is a critical part of the process of creation. Aren't we constantly evaluating whether or not a piece is worthy of consideration, when is it finished, when to leave well enough alone; to know when to stop, when to go on working on a piece? Some pieces may end up being experiments that did not quite work out, or early works in a series that leads to work with which we are more satisfied later. Making art is not a situation where the glass is half full or half empty. It is a situation where we as the artist have to make a judgment about whether the half full or half empty glass makes the statement we want to make.
Along the way, we have to learn to use the tools we have in the way they are supposed to be used or in the way in which we want to use them to create the effect we had in mind. Sometimes serendipitous mistakes lead us to new effects and we either appreciate them or discard them.
I think that the answer to the question of "When is enough enough?" lies within all of us and is changing all the time. There is no set answer! And maybe that is the essence of the creative process. That knowing when to stop the creative process is as important as starting it in the first place. Stopping the creative process at the right time can be the determining factor in our minds as we decide if it is worthy in our eyes to present to the world as a representative of our artistic selves.
Aileen was discussing a lovely piece she'd done yesterday; one that she'd decided to give away to a lucky winner. In trying to finish it off with a fixative, she felt she'd ruined it through a multiple step progress of 'failures'. This brings up the question of how do we know when it is time to leave well enough alone?
It's funny that she used the very words I always have to describe that. And I always say that I inherited it from my mother. My mom says that I just like to blame things on her. Maybe! But I'm not the one who would try to "fix" someone else's painting and in the facial area of someone she'd never even seen! Poor mom. She taught me to be cautious and to think about leaving well enough alone by "fixing" a painting I liked before she decided to "fix" something that wasn't broken! I felt that she was saying that my work wasn't good enough. And isn't that every artist's fear and the one that keeps us modest? That others wouldn't find our work worthy?
Robert Genn's letter on creativity touched on this topic yesterday. http://www.painterskeys.com/ He discussed artists who think they have nothing much in their studios which are actually bursting with works. In this specific case, he was discussing the idea that what was not worthy of consideration in the artist's eye could be wonderful to someone else's.
My sweetie says that I am my own worst critic. Robert says that we all tend to do this and that the most talented people do it more, while the less talented people don't seem to consider it at all.
I have the idea that it is a critical part of the process of creation. Aren't we constantly evaluating whether or not a piece is worthy of consideration, when is it finished, when to leave well enough alone; to know when to stop, when to go on working on a piece? Some pieces may end up being experiments that did not quite work out, or early works in a series that leads to work with which we are more satisfied later. Making art is not a situation where the glass is half full or half empty. It is a situation where we as the artist have to make a judgment about whether the half full or half empty glass makes the statement we want to make.
Along the way, we have to learn to use the tools we have in the way they are supposed to be used or in the way in which we want to use them to create the effect we had in mind. Sometimes serendipitous mistakes lead us to new effects and we either appreciate them or discard them.
I think that the answer to the question of "When is enough enough?" lies within all of us and is changing all the time. There is no set answer! And maybe that is the essence of the creative process. That knowing when to stop the creative process is as important as starting it in the first place. Stopping the creative process at the right time can be the determining factor in our minds as we decide if it is worthy in our eyes to present to the world as a representative of our artistic selves.
posted by Wabbit at
9:58 AM
1 Comments:
how true it is! Just yesterday I was telling my friend Fran that I worked on a valentine painting for my husband - it wasn't right - i kept working it until i "wrecked" it - and so i abandoned it and did something else. Lo and behold a month later I find it stashed under the table- and...well I saw new inspiration. Sometimes we just need to walk away from our art and then come back to it with new eyes!
connie
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