2.3 ART THINKING EXERCISE: WHAT IF YOU DON’T LIKE WHAT YOU HAVE CREATED
IT’S ALL ABOUT MISTAKES
It is often much easier to articulate the things we don’t like about our work, than the things we do. But I encourage you to always try and actively ask yourself what do I like? And do remember creativity is inherently about mistakes, mishaps, problem solving and the odd terrible outcome. We have to try things out as part of improving, resolving and developing our art. Sometimes these things will work brilliantly and sometimes they won’t.
DON’T JUDGE. ASSESS.
If you create something that you deem to have no likeable aspects, then don’t worry, its an opportunity to try a different approach next time, you will have learned something in the doing. How we react to mistakes and how we move forward is a key aspect of our creative practice, rather than judging, we assess and ask ourselves lots of questions;
What is it I don’t like?
How could I improve it?
How could I build on it?
What if i did _____?
What could I do differently next time?
FEAR OF NOT BEING GOOD ENOUGH
I used to allow my self-criticism and unkind self-judgement stop me making art. I would start a new sketchbook and abandon it because I was a such a perfectionist and I didn’t think it was good enough and therefore I wasn’t good enough.
I'd want my sketchbook to be beautiful and full of accomplished work. I wanted every page to be gorgeous and worthy of hanging in a gallery. I wanted to prove to myself that I was a talented and worthy artist. I wanted my sketchbook to fulfil so much, too much. All this pressure, all these expectations, all this perfectionism led to a graveyard of abandoned sketchbooks and a lack of creativity. I now know that I have to go through the pages that don’t look great, the trying the things out, the failures, the missteps, the mishaps to get to the good stuff. Don’t stop too soon.
NURTURE YOUR CREATIVITY
I encourage you to be extremely kind and gentle to your own creativity. To nurture yourself, not criticise yourself. Compassion towards your art and self helps you to develop, grow and learn, pressured perfectionism gets you stuck.
Guard against being too harsh about your own work, just saying I don’t like what I’ve created (without trying to understand why) is like closing a door, inquiring about what you do like is more like opening a door which you can then step through.
GETTING PERSPECTIVE
If you are stuck or don’t like what you’ve created sometimes getting some perspective can be helpful. This could be via time or distance. Physically moving away from your art page, putting it on the floor or looking at it from a distanced vantage point can let you better see the wood for the trees. It brings a little objectivity, where you can literally ‘see the bigger picture’. Other ways to do this include taking a photograph on your phone, looking at your sketchbook page in a mirror or turning it upside down. These techniques all bring a little objectivity. Walking away and coming back in 10 minutes can also allow you to see things differently. Often I have thought I didn’t like a page in my sketchbook only to come back to it a day, week or month later and see if with fresh eyes and a totally fresh perspective.
