failure
“In the end, learning how to write songs is, in large part, about teaching yourself to fail and being OK with it” - Jeff Tweedy, How to Write one Song
There's not much I'd pat myself on the back for. I haven't accomplished much. There's nothing brilliant or revolutionary or original about my work. There's nothing very special about me. I've never been and am unlikely to be particularly successful in any way.
But if there's one thing I'm good at. If there's one activity I excel at exceptionally, it's accepting, welcoming, embracing, and, perhaps even enjoying the process of failing.
If you are a maker of any kind. Of any stripe, bend, persuasion, or caliber. Failure is not only inevitable and unavoidable, it's also essential. It’s necessary.
The data failure provides is invaluable, and in most cases cannot be accessed or arrived at any other way.
You can strive for perfection. You can set your sights on the highest standards of quality, but if there's one thing I've learned, it's that there is a doorway to inspiration and failure is the key.
P.S. ICAD 286-289 - all the collages featured in this newsletter are available for purchase here.
I think that one of the other solid qualities you have is “doing”. There is the sense of failure that can burden us when we avoid trying. That form of failing doesn’t teach us much. But what you’ve tapped into are the forms of “failure” that can only come from doing and making and trying. It’s a powerful thing to motivate yourself in that way.
I’m currently in a bit of a “not doing” slump and I know I will feel much better if I just make the space to make. Even if it feels shitty and rusty and filled with friction, returning to making flips something inside me for the better.
Even though you hesitate to get started — perhaps that is a function of life/world/stress rather than the art itself. I believe you are endlessly curious to find out what happens when you rehearse/ layer/connect/glue “x+y+z” together on your art table. ♻️ You absorb what works and what doesn’t and drizzle that into future iterations. I so enjoy your work! Happy you are continuing your ICADs!!!