If it happens again, just go with it.Let the paint run. Let the ink splatter as it will. Ignore the stray pen mark. Stop worrying about spelling. Let the words flow from your mind and heart as you write that next blog post. Whatever the creative endeavor, understand that it will not be perfect. There most likely will be a mistake. Do your best but if it happens again, let the imperfection be.
The problem with adults( and sometimes teens) is that we want to have perfect control of our creative endeavors. We have the end goal in mind. We fix the path to get to that goal in our head and we forge forward. We forget to plan for forks in the road or unexpected obstacles. The finished product isn’t what we imagined it would be, leaving room for disappointment to set in. We forget the purpose of the creative journey. The purpose is to just enjoy the process. The purpose is to allow yourself creative freedom. The purpose is to let go so that you will grow and improve. For this to occur, you just have to let the creativity happen.
This isn’t the first time I have written about this topic and it won’t likely be the last. Why? Because we forget. We forget to simply enjoy creating. We start adding rules or deadlines. We have to plan for time to create within our busy days. This leads to trying to effectively make the most of that time. It creates expectations. As with anything, it is about finding the right balance between expectation and reality.
Part of finding my balance has been to accept that my work has imperfections. Be it a scrapbook layout or an art journal page, there is likely to be a mistake. You might see it or you might think it is part of the overall design.
Coexistence by Christy Strickler | Supplies Digital Art Kit: Coexistence by Courtney Designs and Viva Artistry;Stencil” Stencil Girl Designs; Other: White Gesso, Black Ink, Thread. This art journal page originally appeared in an article for the OScraps Blog.
When I see this art journal page, the mistakes glare out at me. First, I had issues with the stitching. I have a new embroidery style sewing machine and I wanted to try a new stitch. I messed it up. Twice. The digital kit I was using had a few perfect ink splotches.I wanted real ink, not printed for this part. I remember that I splattered ink onto the page. It looked nothing like the perfect splotches in the kit. This led me to try to fix it by adding more ink splatters with a paint brush. The splatters were tiny at first, but then, a big fat blob of ink fell onto the page. This led me to try to water down that dark blob. The ink ran. Then I felt like I needed to replicate that big fat blob so that the page would feel more balanced. The next thing I knew, the ink had all run and found its way into the center of the page. I was frustrated and a part of me wanted to throw the whole thing out.
Sometimes it helps to have a new set of eyes to look at your work. They see past the ugly parts that you see. When my son looks at the page, he sees the whole piece. He sees the planned parts interconnected with the mistakes. He told me he thought I had intentionally made the ink run and connect the way it did, as though the ink splotches were reaching out to each other. He didn’t see the mistakes. He only saw that I had taken the time to create an art journal page.
And so we come back around to the point of this post. If it happens again, let it. Mistakes are opportunities to grow. Now it’s your turn to let your creativity grow. Get out there and create something!
