Hello! I hope you had a great week. I continued my January studio clean-up and had a few nice painting sessions.
I recently saw this on Instagram and thought it was worth sharing.
Perfectionism is more curse, less blessing.
The #1 factor that influences creative success? The volume produced.
Use the 70-20-10 Rule.
70% of your work will be mediocre.
20% will suck.
10% will be amazing.
If you’re avoiding failure, you’re avoiding success.
-BEN MEER
In other words, make lots of work (even work that sucks) so that a few fantastic paintings can appear.
For me, it’s refreshing to come into the studio with the intention of getting some of the mediocre work out of the way. Without any expectations for the outcome, I can enjoy the process, lighten up, and be more experimental.
During my studio clean-up this week, I came across my seldom-used jar of Daniel Smith Watercolor Ground. I want to find a use for it before it dries up!
The work in progress (see below) is something I played around with yesterday. I’m testing out the idea of using the watercolor ground as a layer in select areas. On it’s own, it’s like a semi-transparent gesso. Now that it’s dry, I can paint over it and see what happens. Who knows if this will go anywhere but it’s been fun. (And this in on the back of something that didn’t turn out on paper that I’m not very fond of, so not much at stake here.)
What would it feel like to lower your expectations for your next painting session?
How would you paint differently if you knew the outcome didn’t matter?
Starting next Monday, January 30, I’m hosting a series of 5 Co-Create Sessions. This is a time to gather on Zoom for distraction-free creative time. You can find out more here.