How do you approach your work’s flaws? Do you try to make everything as perfect as possible? Or do you like the imperfections in your work? Do you choose to leave them sometimes or do you resign yourself to the work not being perfect and live with it? If so, how do you live with it? Can you embrace the flaws or do they make you feel inadequate or embarrassed?
The way we deal with flaws in our work can help or hinder our productivity and the joy we find in out art. Let’s talk about the ways to look at flaws, why flaws don’t always need fixing, and how to see what really matters to your buyers and viewers when they encounter your art.
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CREDITS:
Cover design by Sage; Illustration by Olga Kostenko
Deterior Pendant by Sage Bray Varon
Music by Playsound
Transcript:
–AI transcribed, unedited. Please excuse the copious errors.–
Why would we think that the imperfections and the evidence of our imperfect being as humans, the evidence of our creativity and of the work that we put into our art like tool marks or fingerprints or splatters, are actually problems to be solved? Hello all, my beautiful, imperfect, creative human beings out there. Thank you for joining me on the Sage Arts podcast. This is sage. I am in the studio, not quite by myself. I have river here. She is tearing up a toy. I had to give her something to be quiet and hopefully that won’t get picked up by the mic too much cause she kind of snuffles and huffs while she does it. But in any case I like the company and hopefully you do too. There’s plenty of room here if you want to come in and join us. I would love that. Come sit on the lounge, hang out, get a cup of tea. Now. I haven’t talked about that in a while. You start. Always start out with what I’m drinking. I just have water today. I just need to keep my voice clear and water is the best thing for it. But you bring whatever you like and come and join me. It’s going to be a kind of short one. Today, at least, I think it is. I have to move along here. We’ve got a lot going on all of a sudden, family stuff and house stuff and you know, the usual life gets in the way. But I wanted to build and kind of go off on a whole other tangent from something I said in last week’s episode, which was about last week’s is about the whole wipe other thing. And that we get into these funks and moods where we feel like we don’t want to do anything. We’ve lost our motivation. We’ve lost our enthusiasm and I suggested that perhaps. Those phases, because I think we’ve all been there, right that those phases are actually part of a cycle that we as creatives go through that when we’ve done an awful lot of work or we’ve hit some. High and meta. Goal or or or we’ve hit a low. We have periods where we need to stop. Our muse wants to take a break, wants to rest. Either to gather more energy or to figure out what the next big thing is, we’re going to be after or to kind of recover from the the beating that that we took from whatever lack of success we had that brought. Down. But there’s more to that idea. There’s a parallel idea about this, which is about perfection. Now, I’ve had a podcast about perfection. That was episode 18 in April of 2023, and the baseline of that conversation is that perfection is not the goal of artwork. Right. But there are some evolving, at least for me, evolving revelations about how to look at your work and how to correct what does need to be corrected and know when to leave, what might be perceived as flaws alone.
So the questions you might ask yourself right now to keep you focused and kind of like figure out what it is you need. From this conversation is how do you approach your works imperfections. Do you try to make everything as perfect as possible? Do you like the imperfections in your work? Do you leave them there on purpose or do you resign yourself to the fact that it’s not going to be perfect and just kind of live with it? And if it’s that last thing, then how do you live with it? Are you OK with it or does it make you feel inadequate or embarrassed or any of those kinds of things so. Let’s talk about it and see where you stand. This is kind of a new viewpoint, a thing that I’ve been working on with myself lately because I didn’t realize how detrimental my view of my so-called problems or flaws have been until a very wise person got me thinking about it. And I’m coming to the conclusion that sometimes when things aren’t going the way I want them to when I mess up, when I. Have ongoing issues that sometimes these. Things aren’t things. That need to be. Fixed right. I feel like we live in a society where we are constantly being told what we need to fix and someone’s going to sell me something on how to fix it right? So if you’re on, I didn’t bring this up last time. I feel like every time you’re on. Lying, whether you’re in social media or you’re on a website, you’re on YouTube, you’re on. Well, they’re just everywhere, and the majority of these ads seem to be about problems. We may not have even recognized this problems before, but they have to teach us that it’s a problem in order to sell what they’re trying to sell. So I think we end up feeling like we are just flawed. We are imperfect, we are just we’re just a mess and maybe we are, but I don’t know that that’s a bad thing. I mean, everybody in this world, you, you don’t get through unscathed, right? We all have our traumas. We have resulting behaviors from them and maybe they aren’t ideal. But maybe they are just a part of who we are and not only do we not need to be perfect, but we should even embrace the imperfection of who we are and what we do, because all the things that I have that I’ve gone through, they’re a part of me. And well, I like who I am. Now. If you’re unhappy with who you are. There are probably some things you want to work on. Maybe get some help on, but a lot of US stress about rather minor things. We aren’t ever going to be perfect, but there is something and I think particularly in Western society, that makes us feel like we have to be chasing that perfection. Otherwise we’re just lazy sobs or something. I think we need to get in minds that we aren’t ever going to be perfect and we’re not ever going to be perfectly happy. And you should ironically. Be happy with that because it’s our imperfectness that keeps us striving. It’s what keeps us motivated and excited and looking forward to the next great thing we could do or improve or just because we have something to challenge ourselves on. I do talk a lot on this podcast about how to fix things and it’s in large part. Because I like to fix things, I think I’m happiest when there is a problem presented to me and I have to figure out how to fix it or make it better or find a better way to do it. What? Whatever it. But there are things in life, things in who we are and things in our art that may not be ideal, but perhaps that is exactly the way they need to be. When I was younger, I would say I was a lot more emotional, maybe even a little bit volatile. But Art was a lot easier for me to do then. Now. And maybe it was in part because I didn’t know better. You know, the whole ignorance is bliss. The. Right. But also my emotions kind of led everything, and that was the primary focus of how I made art. But how I made my decisions about what I was doing with my art. And I always had this deep well of angst and joy and sadness and awe that I could reach into. So I felt good about what I was making most of the time. But as I got older and the traumas piled on went on top of another, I came to find that I was good at getting myself through hard times and finding solutions and ways to deal with it. So I learned that fixing things was kind of of superpower of mine and that I could control my world and limit my damage by. Not looking to other people for help, not waiting for someone or something to help me, or by just living with it, but rather I could take control of the situation myself and fix what I thought was broken. Lately I’ve been made aware that although I can leave things incomplete or imperfect, and I’m OK. I still see those things as problematic, even if I can walk away from them, they’re still a problem. There’s still something I didn’t do right, and then I had to just leave that way and that view that these things are imperfect and problematic, it can leave us with feelings of failure and embarrassment. And inadequacy and doubt in oneself and and doubt in your abilities and your worth. And this extends into our artwork. I really can’t imagine I’m very alone on this. I’m sure the majority of you out there have had these moments, if not kind of a regular existence in this kind of doubt in our abilities as artists. But as artists, I think we are particularly critical of ourselves and our work and our abilities, and I wonder if it’s not in large part because we looked at our imperfect work and our less than ideal situations and our failures and our mistakes as problems and not as learning experiences or even just. Part of life. The reality is not everything. That isn’t how we want it to be or that came from some kind of disaster or damage or even trauma in our lives, actually needs to be fixed. Sometimes things are just part of our fabric as artists and humans and conscious beings in this wild and wacky world. I mean, I think there are things that we all have either in our lives or that we’ve seen or experienced that are messy. And broken and flawed. And yet we know and see them as beautiful, and we wouldn’t want to change anything. About them, I mean, we certainly can see that in like humans that we have in our lives that we see them as beautiful and we desire them to be part of our lives. But they’re not perfect, you know, and and our relationships with them aren’t perfect, but we still pursue them and and preserve them and know how precious they are to. And then you could just go out into nature and see the cycle of life and all the beauty that that entails. I mean, there’s all these various conditions in the cycle of life that make up the wonder of what you get to be a part of, what you get to experience and what you get to take in with your senses like winter trees they’re bearing in leaflets, but they don’t need to be fixed. They’re gorgeous. I love winter trees against the cloudy skies. That’s one of my favorite images, actually. Or take during flowers. They’re often things that should be left behind. I find them fascinating and a lot of people want to deadhead them, but actually a lot of flowers, especially if they’re native flowers in your area, you should leave them alone because it feeds the birds and other creatures, and that’s actually how the plant survives, right? Because the birds and whatever else feeds on them or brushes up against them, those animals help distribute the seed and allows. The plans to send their children out into the world, to multiply and beautify it. Doesn’t that kind of mean that damage can be part of breaking things down to make room for new growth and renewed beauty? Maybe I don’t know, something I was thinking about. If it’s true, why would we think that the imperfections and the evidence of our imperfect being as humans, the evidence of our creativity and of the work that we put into our art like tool marks or fingerprints or splatters, are actually problems to be solved? Flaws to be erased. Sometimes they are, sometimes the work necessarily needs to be perfect in order for for it to say what you want it to say, or to sell it to the kind of people that you’re trying to sell it to, or because you actually get joy out of working the pieces to the point of as much perfection as. To manage, but maybe when things aren’t as perfect as we may have set them out to become, or our previous expectations aren’t met in a particular piece, or our skill level was not what we wanted to be, maybe we step back and see the beauty and even the rawness of the work. If we can see our efforts. And our intentions in what we did that may be more than enough for the work to speak to a buyer or a viewer or however it is that you’re going to. Right. As I said in the last episode, and I’ve said this probably half dozen times before when you are dissatisfied with your work, you’re not going to be objective when you feel like you haven’t done well or not good enough. Just put the. Work away. Don’t look at it for days or maybe weeks or months if. If you can do that, come back to it with fresh eyes. And if the beauty and your intention is there and the parent and it really shines at first. Balance. There’s a good chance it doesn’t need to be worked anymore, at least not very much. Maybe you see a few things you’d like to change, but chances are you will be easier on the work and yourself by giving yourself time apart so that you can have a fresh. Look at it. I don’t think you know really that we are in a place to judge. Or work fairly right after it’s been completed or nearly completed, because we’re just too close to the work, right? We will see and remember every little so-called mistake. It takes time for those things to recede or disappear from our memories, allowing us to overlook the imperfections or see that they are just part of the beauty of the human handmade work that we’re creating. To know what actually needs to be fixed, I think we need to be able to look at our work the way a potential buyer sees it, or the way we will see it once it becomes familiar like we’ve had it around for a while when it’s had time to live on its own. And if that makes sense, do you know what I mean? The things that we live with, we create connections with it, and I’m talking about inanimate objects. I mean, obviously people and animals and all that kind of stuff, we realize that we have these relationships, but they’re two way relationships. I want to say that we also make connections and relationships with things that are inanimate. Even though it’s a one way connection and one way relationship, and I know this might sound a little crazy. At first, but just you know. Hear me out. Most of the things in our. If fall into a hierarchy of favorability, maybe even take on kind of personalities for us because they give us joy or they annoy us, or they remind us of particular times or emotions. And I think it’s those connections and associations that give those things kind of a perception of having a life of their own, not that they. Are themselves doing anything? Obviously, but we create a differentiation and associations with them, and this includes things like our artwork. Now, if you’re still not sold on the idea that we actually have relationships with all the inanimate objects around us, look. Around you, if you’re at home or in your car, or you can even look in whatever you’re carrying in your purse and think about the objects that you own, which ones do you feel fondly towards and which ones do you really want to just trash? But maybe somebody else in the house won’t let you. There’s emotional connections and associations and differentiations. With most everything in our lives. It’s true that we’re probably. A bit ambivalent about like I don’t know our silverware or our trash cans, but like, I even have favorite kitchen towels that make me happy when I pull them out or pens that I feel like are my writing partners. When I do poetry in the morning or. Here we go. What about that favorite tool in the studio? That one that you would probably grieve for if you lost it? The one that’s been through it all with you and has been by your side. And you can depend on every day when you’re working on your artwork. Mine is a needle tool with the handle I covered in Palmer Way back when I started. And I probably had a handful of tools. What’s the time? That tool is like my buddy in the studio. It’s always on my table. It’s like my partner or something. It’s not pretty. Look at, it’s marred and the steel is kind of stained in spots somehow. But this thing is precious to me. I would miss it every time I sat down at the polymer table if I lost it. You know, you have that tool too, right? It’s worn, it’s beat up and you just love it. So that’s kind of another example of imperfection that doesn’t and shouldn’t be fixed. And yes, I’m totally doing air quotes, right. But I’m kind of digressing what I’m getting at with this whole emotional connection thing within animate objects is that when you set the artwork aside before you try to fix what you think is wrong with it, it lives with you and the primary associations and the primary motions and its value to you kind of floats to the top over time. And if you’re in tune with that, if you can recognize those connections and associations with the art, then when you go back to make an assessment. It would be or should be. I think much closer to the kind of response a potential buyer or viewer will have because they aren’t looking for imperfections or thinking how it could have been done better. They are having an emotional response and if it’s a positive response, a potential buyer will take a closer look and consider things that often. Had nothing to do with the art, such as its affordability, or would it fit in their house, or what outfit would that jewelry go with if it has potential as a gift? Because it has imagery that they think their friend might like. Those are the kinds of things that they’re thinking about at that. Time and I think if we can look at our work with a similar initial glance, I think Wayne, that potential emotional response can be a priority. So when you look at what strikes you as off or wrong, you can do so with an eye to preserving what is right and what is right is probably going to be. What the right buyer or viewer will be drawn to? Now I do want to stop and emphasize that I’m talking about what you do when evaluating a basically or nearly finished work. I don’t think you should have the buyer of your in mind while designing or working out major details of your pieces. I mean sure, if you know you can sell a lot of dangle earrings at your next show, you’ll make a lot of dangle earrings. That you won’t necessarily need to make all the decisions about the shapes and the forms and the lines and the things that you use, all the elements of design can be your choices to reflect your style, your voice, your personal aesthetic that you want to share and connect with with your potential. But. There’s. So there are some considerations of course. But like I talked about in the last episode, create with the door closed and Polish with the door open, so when it’s closed, you’re not thinking about anything else. You’re not thinking about how it might be judged or how many likes you’re going to get on social media. But then when you come to the point where you do need to ask yourself. This is. One is this what I want it to be? Are there things that are bothering me? Are there things that I would like to change? Then comes the question of are you looking for whether it’s perfect or are you looking for whether the emotional response, the thing that will draw a person in is there or not, right? And honestly, sometimes the things that might be considered in. Connections are the thing that draws people in. I think evidence of handmade evidence of a human having created something and not a machine is part of the draw of handmade art. I’m not even part of the draw. I think it is the primary draw of handmade art. Why would? People go on Etsy or go to an art show and look for things when they can go to target or HomeGoods or order something off Amazon that can fulfill the same function. We do it because we want to have that. Connection with another human being. We want that uniqueness that that voice, your voice in the work so. What I’m saying is that the imperfections and flaws and things that you might see as needing to be fixed may not need to be. Again. I’m using air quotes fixed. It may not need to be fixed. It may be exactly what the piece needs. It may be what you need. It may be what your buyer wants. So the next time you go to look at your work and you’re seeing these imperfections and these flaws and these, these things that aren’t quite what you had hoped them to be, maybe we can look at them and ask, are they actually things that need to be fixed? And if you think you’re gonna have a hard time being objective about it or you don’t have the time to put that away and come and get a fresh look a week or month down the road. Do you have an honest friend or family member that will tell you what they think? Or another artist who can look at it objectively for you and tell you yes, this is something that needs to be changed or no, this is fine. There’s nothing wrong with this here. But most of all, let’s look at the imperfections in our life, in our work, in ourselves, even not as something that is going to need to be fixed eventually, but that some of these things are things that we can be happy about that we can keep, that we can not just live with, but love. We should never feel embarrassed or ashamed or irredeemably inadequate for the work that we’ve done. You’ve done the work. The fact that you are doing the work is major. A lot of people think about doing the work. A lot of people dream of doing the work. You’re actually doing the work, and even if it’s not what you’d hoped, if it’s not what was in your head. That’s OK. That’s OK you did. The work in the first place. Place you got to have that experience. You got to have those memories and the end results are something that didn’t exist before that now exists in the world and helps just beautify our world by there being art. So let’s tweak those attitudes about flaws and imperfections, because I think we’ll get a lot more joy out of our work and our process and just have a more joyful life because we’re not seeing things as problems all the time. And if you’re one of those people that already sees the world that way, kudos to you. Please go out and share it and convince everybody else. That being imperfect is actually just being human, and it’s beautiful. OK, so if you have your stories about such things, if you would like to tell me what you have like if you have that favorite tool, I want to know about your favorite tool. Seriously. I love those stories. So you can write me at the sagearts.com and go to the contact page. You can also reach me on social media, on Instagram and Facebook and YouTube. At the Sage Arts Podcast, and if you want to keep up when these episodes come out and get the extra stuff that might go with some of the episodes that need like visuals or. Not do you sign up for the newsletter? It’s on the homepage of the sagearts.com. Just click the news and notice this button. If you like what you’re hearing. If you’re getting something out of this podcast and you want to give back, you can do so through the buy me a coffee or PayPal links and buttons that you find on the homepage of sagearts.com. It’s about halfway down or in the description section, or show notes of wherever you’re listening to. This. Just from and before you take off, go ahead and hit that subscription or follow button or whatever it is on where you’re listening to this from and if you have a moment, please do leave a review. I haven’t been asking for them. Apparently that was bad, but let other people know what you think so they can decide whether this is a good thing for them as well. We all you know, have only so much time in our world. It’s precious, so let’s help each other out in choosing the right things and the supportive things to fill our precious time. And that’s it. That’s what I gotta say today, at least as far as the art stuff is concerned. I do want to stop and just let you folks out there in Florida and Georgia and the Carolinas, just all of you dealing with the aftermath of the hurricane and the tropical storm that it’s becoming all the flooding and such. Just wanted to let you know that we’re thinking of you and we hope that you are staying safe. And you and friends and family and your community are OK. I know some of you aren’t. And I just really feel. Well, for you everybody, just take care of yourselves and each other, and we’ll be thinking of you and we’ll help out anyway. We can. So for those of us who are not dealing with those kinds of tragedies, I hope you will go out and experience the world with that view of its beauty, even in its imperfections. Go out and get new experiences to feed that news. Be true to that weirdness of yours, and then join me again next time on. The Sage Arts podcast.
