and I have to move on to practicing something new. I love starting with the feeling that I cannot do something and pushing through the struggle until I finally feel like I have obtained the skill. My husband tells me that my creative process sounds like, “THIS IS STUPID, I CAN’T DO THIS, I HATE EVERYTHING, WHY DO I SUCK AT EVERYTHING?!” but the SECOND part sounds like “HAHA I AM THE MASTER OF ALL I SURVEY, I AM THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME!” I’m told I have a lot of little tantrums, but I rarely remember that part, because the rush I get when I finally succeed erases all of the struggle leading up to that point.
What hampers your creative expression? What do you do about it?
I would say that most often it is my lack of imagination that hampers me. When I try to express this struggle, people generally fight with me and tell me I’m wrong, because they look at my art and assume I must have a vivid imagination. I really don’t. I’ve never been one of those artists that could wait around for inspiration to strike. If I did that, I’d never create.
The best I can do to work around my lack of imagination is to sit down and start creating. I have no ideas, no plan, and no specific goals for the end product. I’m like a kid in a sandbox. I play until I’m done playing.
Let’s get speculative for a moment: A) The future is fixed and we’re all rolling forward without much more than superficial choices in terms of where life takes us and our art. B) The future is ether and lego — we create as we go and any idea of destination is a waste of creative resource. Which scenario better serves the artist — or is it something else entirely?