No One is Perfect

“Have no fear of perfection, you'll never reach it.” -Salvador Dali

 

(gasp) 😲

 

Ouch! 🤕 This one hits home for a lot of us. And sometimes, the truth hurts even when we already know what the truth is.

 

But this truth is one that I see artists from all generations, styles, mediums, skill levels, and cultures struggle with over and over and over again. Don't worry, I am one of them too sometimes. I'll raise my hand and admit to that. ✋🙋‍♀️

 

When you care about your work and you love what you do, it is easy to cut your nose off to spite your face. You want everything to be just right, everything to be PERFECT. But perfect is an illusion.

 

No one ever truly reaches perfection. Instead, whenever we obsess with striving to reach it, we become destructive toward our inner artist, setting a constant reminder that nothing we do is "good enough."

 

Well, my friend, "good enough" and "perfect" are two very different things. As creatives, we already know we won't settle for "good enough." We ALL have bad paintings, and some of them need to be scrapped to start on a fresh canvas. But just because you can see some mistakes in your painting doesn't mean it is worth scrapping. Instead of finding everything wrong to berate yourself about, change how you mentally talk to yourself.

 

❌ Don't say, "There's a mistake, and that's wrong. Oh, there's a mistake, and that's wrong"

✅ Do say, "Hey, there are fewer mistakes in this painting than the last! PROGRESS!"

 

❌ Don't say, "There are too many mistakes. This painting is garbage."

✅ Do say, "There are mistakes, but with fresh eyes and a clear mind, I can come back to it and figure out which ones need to be fixed."

 

❌ Don't say, "Obviously, I'm a horrible painter. I can't even do (insert something you generally do well at) right anymore."

✅ Do say, "I've had some distractions in the studio today. Off days happen, and tomorrow brings with it a clean slate and opportunities I didn't have today."

 

Make it a point this year to quit beating yourself up working toward something that isn't reachable. Goals need to be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. If you feel overwhelmed, you don't need to reevaluate your worth as an artist. You need to reevaluate and redefine what you are working toward.

 

Hand-painted LIVE in Adobe Photoshop CC using the Wacom Intuos Pro and the Wacom Art Pen.