Tuesday, March 3, 2015

A Little Secret...


"I'd like to let you in on a little secret: sometimes the wrong way is the best way. This is especially true when it comes to creativity."

This is an excerpt from my column - The Creative Pulse - in the newest, March/April 2015 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors. The theme of this month's column is mistakes - something we all can relate to!


Feel free to leave a comment and share your experience with making and/or embracing mistakes...

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a sign at the entrance to my studio and it says, "Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep!" I once told my granddaughter who cried when she "messed up" her card we were making together that a mistake just calls for something else to be done there and that is what art is all about. She smiled as we thought of things to do to "fix it".

Caterina Giglio said...

Sarah Fishburn told me once that mistakes in art are simply "opportunities for embellishment"! So very Sarah... but I have been fearless about making mistakes ever since she said that.. great article and congrats again on being a columnist...

Jennifer said...

Mistakes often end up being the best part of my art. They push me and make me view things differently. Great article Seth!

Jen Worden said...

the only way anything can be called a "mistake" is if you have a preconceived notion of your result. eliminate that? no more mistakes! :)

elle said...

Perhaps it is my optimistic nature but I am always sure that a fix lurks around the corner and I tell my peeps that nothing is a mistake, just an opportunity. Its true! :)

Carol said...

As James Joyce said "mistakes are the portals of discovery a". There are no mistakes in art.

Jo Murray said...

For me, art is a constant learning experience...and we learn best from our mistakes. Sometimes they are happy accidents.

Wendy Watson said...

I was in education for years and found a simple way to teaching students to critique their work rather than just want to begin again. It wasn't so much a mistake that upset them and made them want to hide what they had done, although that was bad enough, it was the thoughtthat they had insufficient skill or talent to make the image the same as the one in their head. Here's a link to the steps I used with kids and still use for me.
https://latestartstudio.wordpress.com/2015/02/09/you-dont-have-to-like-everything-you-do/

Kay Wallace said...

Yes, I have made mistakes (both in life and in art!). Yes, I will continue to make them (in life and in art!). And, I have found, that is okay! ;-)

Parabolic Muse said...

Hi, Seth. Mistakes are just about the status quo, and I'm glad. I've found that a mistake is only something I didn't expect to do. But I would say 80-90% of the time, they create a pathway for doing something surprising and enriching with my work. They used to cause me to stop. Now they urge me forward!!