Feel the Mess

This week I’m in the not-so-inspired space of the creative life. As often happens, I start with a great idea and get working on it, and then part way through the painting or story idea, I come grinding to a halt.

I’m left staring at this mess that has taken over my lovely concept. There are problems to solve in the composition, the colour scheme. There are elements that need to be dropped or painted over that I cling to. Suddenly I despise the whole thing, can’t stand it.

This is not an abnormal stage of my process, and quite often I pull through and love the thing in the end. But sometimes paintings get set aside, or in our house, hang on the wall in varying states of completion.

So while I was thinking these thoughts about my aerial abstract farm painting, which at this moment in time appears to be an eyesore, I enjoyed this video pep talk that a friend recently shared. It was a good reminder to just push through and create a larger body of work. Push through the mediocre, to recognize it and be OK with it. If you are in the midst of any creative work, take a moment to watch this video, “Ira Glass on Creative Work.”