Distance Brings Clarity

If you’ve ever made any kind of work of art you may be familiar with the difficulty of trying to see your creation with fresh eyes. As creators we are so close to our work that it is virtually impossible to see it as a spectator.

This can be a challenge for an artist because during the creation process you may be struggling with your work, stuck on some detail maybe, or just stuck on a feeling that something isn’t right but not know what exactly; something feels out of balance, or just a bit off but what is it? 

The problem in a nutshell: the ego is blocking you from freely creating. Because you have your original vision obscuring your view and you’ve seen the work evolve through this vision starting from nothing, from blank canvas, it is impossible to remove that knowing and just see the piece for what it is here and now. You see what you wish to communicate, you see what you are trying to say, not what is actually there on the canvas.

The solution? Distance. Put the work away in a closet or turn it to the wall and work on something else for a month at least. Forget it even exists. When you finally revisit the work after several weeks you will look at it with fresh eyes. Mistakes may immediately seem glaringly obvious and other parts that maybe you didn’t appreciate will reveal their strengths to you. As the creator you will always have a unique view of your work but distance will be the best way to bring some separation between your ego and your work. 

With enough time, years or even decades, a painting will eventually feel completely separate from you; as a child that has left home and gone off to become their own unique being in the world. I’ll sometimes see an old work for the first time in many years, maybe I forgot about it completely and I have to ask myself, did I paint that? I don’t remember who painted that! What was I thinking? Who was I then and why did I make this? I see it as a spectator finally. Then maybe I see that it wasn’t such a bad painting after all, or the reverse, I smile and put it away (for another 100 years) and recognize how much I have grown in my creative practice over the years. 

Here’s and example:

The painting below, “Big Dreams” evolved and changed dramatically from what I originally intended. I struggled with this evolution for awhile because I was clinging to a vision that wasn’t working anymore. I put it away for more than a month and when I came back to it my hold on that original vision had softened and I was able to let go and let it evolve freely and let it become what it needed to be.

I realize as I type that last sentence that there is actually another lesson to be learned here, and maybe I’ll write about it in my next post; how can we as creators check our egos and let he magic of the creative process run its course?

“Big Dreams” Acrylic on board