Every artist at every ability level can be excellent. They cannot be perfect. Excellence requires that we take all of the ability given to us, and intersect that with all of the resources at our disposal. And we create from that exact intersection.
Ability and Resources.
Excellence then requires that the art created in that intersection be shown to other artists at similar intersections, in order to gain their honest feedback. These are trusted fellow travelers who speak into the art we create, without killing our inspiration. Choose wisely who you travel with.
Excellence finally requires that our art goes public. The artist defines who their unique public includes.
At no point in this creative process is your excellence compared with my excellence. The two look and feel and taste and touch and smell entirely different.
When I look back at some of the short-films I’ve created, or the writing I’ve done, I’m embarrassed. I think I create art today far better than I used to. Other artists have told me that, too.
But I don’t create anything that’s more excellent than I used to. Because years ago, I STILL created art with the Ability and Resources at my disposal, with the honest feedback of other artists, and with the understanding that my art would be seen or read by others.
And that’s exactly what I do today.
When artists begin comparing their art with other art that’s more widely known and more globally distributed, it can cause us to get discouraged and derailed from creating anything at all.
But when we create art from our hearts, with the resources we’ve been given, then we more easily come to a point of actually finishing a project.
So go and be excellent today.
Perfect is a myth.
Honestly – is there an artistic project that’s been waiting forever because the conditions aren’t perfect? Or because you’re comparing yourself with a bigger gun?
