DASHES AND BLIPS

     I'm a bit creative in a crafty way and like to do artistic projects. I have made seashell mobiles and beaded boxes, framed pressed leaves and painted pictures. And the lesson that reigns supreme for me every time I approach anything artistic is the importance of letting go. Inevitably there comes a point where I find myself urging towards tension as small details do not come together as I think they should. I get hooked into a drive for perfection. I want to destroy what I've made and start over because there is one small bit that does not please me. But the truth is that the small bits don't matter in that way, not from a creative standpoint. Each one does not have to be perfect. Somehow it comes together in the end, and the grand effect of the entire thing usually works.
     I love to stand up close to a painting in a museum and look at all the lines and dots of brushstrokes and seemingly random colors. They look like nothing up close. They are shapes and blobs. But as I step back and gain some distance and perspective, I see it. I see the unified image, the angle of a face or the wash of a landscape, perfectly captured in all those multiple dashes and blips.
     Imperfection in art adds something. To know that an image is made up of shapes and colors and scratches and wipes is refreshing to me; that the overall effect can be delightful and complete even if it seems chaotic up close. Perhaps life is like that, and the human character. I want to remember not to get hung up on being a perfectionist with all of the small details in the process of my day today, and to trust in the wholeness that comes from the vast multitude of dots of uncertainty, errands and laughter, exercise and rest.

Today I will trust the creative living process, and not get hung up being a perfectionist.