By my own admission I am a perfectionist and every time I embark on a drawing challenge e.g. “x” drawings in “y” days, or someone with the best intentions encourages me to draw every day for “n” days in order to
- develop the habit;
- stop procrastinating;
- break the perfectionist mindset;
- get over the fear of failure and self-disappointment;
- improve my drawing skills, etc
— I founder after the first one or two attempts.
I have an Italian friend that often says “Life is too short for bad coffee”. (or bad wine, or mediocre food, or a crappy drawing!). And everything inside me screams “NOOOOOOOO” when I’m reminded of a saying by a respected friend: “If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing badly.”
Intellectually I think I understand the benefits and the eventual breakthrough moment, but I struggle to accept the fact that every bad drawing will form a paving stone along the pathway to a successful masterpiece. I would far rather sit next to the road and wait for the perfect inspiration & meaningful subject matter & all-plantets-and-all-stars-in-the-universe-aligning moment to fall out of the sky, knock me over the head, thrust a paintbrush or pencil in my hand and watch as the perfect work of art miraculously appears before me.
Sorry — have to rush — so much more procrastinating and waiting to do!
[….Inspired to respond after reading….Stacey Seronick’s 100 drawings in 7 days…..]
