Dear friends,
My name is Jess and I am a recovering perfectionist. I am the eldest daughter, of an eldest daughter, of an eldest son, and so on back many generations. I was raised by my mother and Martha Stewart to keep everyone safe and get everything right all-the-time.
Let me tell you - that is not a great mindset for making art!
Art feels scary, dangerous and even subversive sometimes. There’s also an enormous amount of uncertainty and no right answers. So my need for safety and certainty crashed up against my creative desires for years - and creativity always lost.
Creativity lost because perfectionists are not good experimenters or risk takers. They think in absolutes (he is talented and I am not). They have low frustration tolerance. They want to do it once and be done. And this is a harsh environment to grow creativity.
Then I learned a magical mantra: Practice, Not Perfection
This saying (and the educational philosophy of growth mindset that underpins it) changed the way I teach, parent and live my life. When my intention switched from “be perfect all-the-time” to “practice and learn all-the-time” my creativity blossomed - and eventually grew into Slow River Studio!
Huntley, Sue and Barbara are great examples of this too! All three of these women are tenacious students who improved their sketching with consistent practice. How did they do it?
They learned to let go of perfectionism and quiet their inner critic.
We all have an inner critic. Mine is named Prunella. Sue's is Daphne. Yours might be Hildegard or Brian. Our inner critic is the cranky voice who lives in our head and tries to keep our lives small and safe by criticizing every risk we take - even if the risk is just drawing. It's perfectionism personified.
To build a lasting art habit, artists learn to calm and quiet their inner critic. They name it. They learn not to take it seriously and even make fun of it, "Silly Old Daphne." Overall, they keep on practicing in spite of their fears!
So if you want to become less perfectionistic and you are yearning for a more creative life, let us help you practice! Everyone at Slow River Studio (staff and students) is on this journey together. So say it with me:
“Down With Perfectionism! Up With Art! And Let’s Go!!!”
