Friday, March 06, 2009

You can do it!

Yes, I’m living proof that you can finish what you start even if you’ve been dragging your heels—or whatever the artistic equivalent is—for years.
Back in 2006 I started what I call a “process journal.” By this I mean a place where you experiment with different techniques. Things went pretty well there for a while, and then for no particular reason, I suddenly ran out of steam.
Of course you can’t finish everything you start. In my opinion, some things are just meant to go belly up, but when you only have 16 pages to go in a journal, they keep nagging away you to finish them. The longer you leave something, though, the harder it becomes to deal with. (I don’t like to think of art making as a chore, but let’s face it, sometimes it really is).
Finally I decided I had to tackle my creative mountain—well, it was more like a small hill really—and I felt surprisingly intimidated. My usual way of doing things is to graze through all my supplies and gradually distill them into elements I want to use. But I know from experience how easy it is for me to get caught up in caressing my art materials, so this time I just grabbed a pile of stuff and told myself that’s what I was going to work with, no matter what.

Now I’m feeling quite pleased with myself that I actually managed to do it. In fact, I felt so energized by the experience that I actually started a new and larger process journal. But anyway, the point of me telling all this is to encourage you to finish something that’s been hanging around annoying you because I know you can do it!

4 comments:

Godelieve said...

Must feel really good! And it looks like it turned out beautiful! Must be nice to go through the pages.

I noticed the word verification I had to type is "herobloc" :)

Ronna said...

Well done. I believe! Now I'll go and try to finish some languishing project I've shelved long ago...

Irene said...

my whole house is at that state, artistic endeavors included. I felt so accomplished yesterday when I went through a stack of papers, mail etc. I had brought home from my mothers and I didn't need to keep any of them. thanks for the encouragement, what a great journal.

emikk said...

thanks for the encouragement to get off my butt and do something.