Accepting imperfection

I tend to be a perfectionist. I try NOT to be, but there is a part of me that naturally, unconsciously seeks it out. The hard part about being a perfectionist artist is to be willing to accept imperfections. Realistically, perfection is something that I can rarely achieve. And I actually find that I am often more drawn to the imperfection anyway. For instance, I frequently prefer a free-spirited, loosely drawn flower over the slavishly copied version.

Even in realistic portraits, there will always be elements, often the imperfections, that reveal the hand of the artist. These are usually the things that make the artwork interesting. So why is it so hard for me to relax and accept the imperfections? I’m working on it, of course. In fact, for the last ten years especially, I have be trying to work looser and more improvisationally. It’s funny that it is so hard for me to do that. Maybe it’s the result of working with precision computer drafting for seventeen years, or maybe it goes back even further than that.

I won’t bore you with nit-picking the parts I don’t like. Instead, I’ll tell you that I was thrilled when my normal Monday activities were canceled yesterday, so I practically had the whole day to paint. And, it’s nearly 3 PM on Tuesday right now, all my chores and responsibilities are complete, and I have the rest of the day and evening to finish painting this. It’s been so wonderful to have so many hours in a row to really concentrate on what I’m doing! My goal is to have the painting portion of this quilt complete before I go to bed tonight.