sometimes its good to be wrong

“It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, 

than to be always right by having no ideas at all.”  

— Edward de Bono

I spent time this past Sunday cleaning up and organizing the studio. Its a well documented battle here on the blog. Luckily I've finally won the upper hand and while it does tend to run away from me on a consistent basis, I'm able to beat it back into submission in about an hour, two if its really bad.

I took my time this last clean up because I was beginning to accumulate the dreaded piles. You know what I'm talking about - the I'll-just-stack-these-here-and-clean-them-up-later-when-I-feel-like-it piles. I was creating a collection. So I sucked it up and showed no mercy (my weapons of choice are irritation and a black garbage bag, works every time).

 I noticed something as I was sorting through them - there was some crappy artwork scattered in among them. A lot of stops and starts that never got their footing and just went on the wrong side of any effort I threw at them.

And then the quote that's shown up top at the beginning of this post surfaced on one of my web searches today and I thought to myself, "Good point."

I don't mind making crappy work. It means I'm thinking and trying to push and I can't expect everything to work all of the time. If I did I'd drive myself mad and never step foot into the studio again. Not some place I want to go.

I ran out of steam before getting to my design wall. I've developed the habit of tacking up notes and other papers on there as well, something I really shouldn't be doing because my design wall is quite petite.

I'll be honest, I looked at everything up there for a while. I sat in my chair and studied it and kept trying to work out some of the things that were being stubborn in a couple of pieces. In the end, I walked away and left it for another day. 

I seem to be in a quiet stretch right now, kind of contemplative but more then anything - content. Jackie and I got word the other day that we will have a show in 2012 at a gallery we submitted to so I think I'm starting to prepare the studio for the new work I want to make for that. Its like a slow steady exhale before the frenzy begins.

The quiet before the storm.

Its totally my favorite stage in the creative process. :)