:: PERFECTION - the enemy of the artist.

One of the biggest mistakes all artists make is trying to do everything perfectly, immediately.

Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the artist. Perfectionism will ruin your creativity, blocking inventiveness, playfulness and life force.

When you learn to turn off that inner critic, let go of the need to be perfect and begin to trust the process and the power of your imagination, magic happens on the screen and in your life.

People get into trouble and waste an awful lot of time because they don't understand the rules of the creative process, which is very different from the way most of us tackle problems in life.

Creativity involves an unusual and contrary set of laws. If you violate them, you will expend enormous amounts of energy and get nowhere.

If you want to create you have to understand that initially,

1. You will make a mess. Creating is never a neat, orderly or predictable process. Mess is inevitable. You make a mess. You clean it up. You lose your way. You find it again.

2. You must create badly first. Trying to get it perfect right away will only get you blocked. Artists need to explore numerous possibilities - to get it right. You'll do better if you lower your expectations.

3. Mistakes lead to discovery. Creativity is a game of mistakes.  Mistakes and uncertainty are good. They create a new combination of possibilities. Good and bad go hand in hand. Letting yourself be bad is the best way to become good.

Because making mistakes is the quickest route to your next breakthrough.

Don't be put off by so called mistakes. Be daring. After all they are just opportunities in disguise. Mistakes invariably teach us something that will take us to the next level, if we're open enough to let them.

Remember, a professional artist is an amateur who didn't quit.

Enjoy...

Sandra Lee Paterson