DESPAIR CAN BE HELPFUL
A re-working of an older piece. I am loving the color gray right now. I also love the blue accents in this particular piece. And somehow, I got lucky and the white drips landed in the right spot. “Untitled”, 10”x 8”, acrylic on wood © 2018 David Limrite
“Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.”
August Rodin, Artist
Despair Can Be Helpful
I don’t know about you but some of my best work happens when I struggle with it.
I think this happens because I just give in to the piece and go with my gut. I make art from my heart and not from my brain.
When I can rely on my instincts, rather than my brain, I make better, more interesting and more powerful work.
I make a lot more mistakes working this way, but you already know that I consider mistakes to be nothing more than opportunities.
However, mistakes often lead to despair, at first, before I can collect myself. When I am in a state of despair, my mistakes tend to work better.
When I do not know how to go on with a piece in progress, it can be stressful. I have learned to be motivated by stress. Despair can actually allow me to throw caution to the wind, have more of a “devil may care attitude”, and take bigger risks.
During my moments of despair, my results are very often better than if I am calm, cool, and collected.
There are days when the work seems to just flow effortlessly out of me and the work progresses quite easily. However, these days do not happen as often as I would like them to.
So, I have had to learn how to create in the middle of despair.
I think that when things are going badly, I allow myself to paint more freely and with reckless abandon. As a result, my paint and brushes will often make better work than I can make them do.
Learn to use despair as a positive tool for creativity, rather than allowing it to block your creativity, or worse yet, shut you down altogether.
Best,
David
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