The Unknown Path
To make great art you have to be fearless. Courage within the creative process is essential. I couldn’t count how many times I need to be brave and take chances while I’m making a painting. Why would I be afraid of taking chances with a painting? There is always that little voice in my head that asks, what if you screw it up? The thing is, if I don’t take the leap of faith and do what is necessary for the painting, it will be less than great and therefor “screwed up”. So, I must take the chance if I want the painting to succeed!
Of course the rewards of bravery are not limited to making a painting. In the vast woods behind my home there is an extensive network of trails, so many that after a couple years I’m still finding new ones. Sometimes when I’m out there I may find myself in an unfamiliar place, and a subtle feeling arises in me. I realize that I’m feeling a mix of excitement for something new, something undiscovered, and a fear of the unknown. A place deep in the woods that is completely foreign holds in its shadows dark parts of my own psyche.
At the fork in the trail I need to choose between the familiar or the unknown. Which path I choose will depend on my own condition. These days, time allowing, I will always choose the unknown over the familiar. I want to explore the unknown forest and uncover its secret teachings.
This is a truth not just in the woods but in all of life. Everyday we are faced with this choice between the familiar and unknown. See for yourself and observe throughout the day how many times you chose between the familiar and unknown. On the average day we do this constantly but are not consciously aware of it because it’s so automatic. We hesitate to order an unfamiliar dish at our favorite restaurant, hesitate to trust someone we have just met, and hesitate to take chances with out art.
The thing is, once everything and everyone in our lives was unknown. There is risk in every choice we make but with that risk there are also endless possibilities and outcomes. I have found that if I check my expectations and keep an open mind that failure isn’t an outcome, for what is failure but a chance to learn something new.
A painting can be repainted endlessly until you either ‘get it right’ or decide to move on, and if there is one thing I know for certain it’s that I won’t make a great painting every time, that’s just part of the game. The real gain is not the painting itself, it’s what happens in the studio lab while I’m making it. The path is the destination.
After all, I invent the degree of loss or achievement in my own mind. More and more I find myself choosing the path of risk and exploration, whether in the studio or out in the woods. The gain of discovery far outweighs the disappointments of misadventure, in my opinion. Better to have tried and failed than sit around wishing you had gathered your courage and taken a chance.
