‎“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.

Art is knowing which ones to keep.”
-Scott Adams

I like my work best when I let myself be free and loose, and not getting too attached to what’s on the canvas at any given moment.   Sounds fun, but it really isn’t that easy to do.   I have to keep reminding myself “Don’t be afraid to mess up.  It’s just paint.”  To really make progress, I have to get into this certain frame of mind, where I’m immersed in the paint, and not really thinking about the outcome.  It’s a place of subconscious that I haven’t been able to explain…..until today.

When I found this quote yesterday, I didn’t know who Scott Adams was, so I did a little research on him today.  Turns out, he’s the creator of the “Dilbert” cartoon. I checked out his blog (www.dilbert.com), and guess what he posted about today?   He talks about his theory that artists get “Crazy Eyes” when they’re in the creative ‘zone.’  You can read about it here.  http://www.dilbert.com/blog/entry/crazy_eyes/   Really funny stuff.

Yep, that’s a good way of explaining it — crazy eyes!  That “sort of glassy, unblinking, dreamy, scary look” when someone is lost in their own imagination.  I’ve never checked out my eyes in the mirror when I’m in that zone, but I can only imagine that they must look crazy.   I think my husband has noticed it.  He’ll say something like, “I can see your wheels turning.”  Usually, in a matter of minutes, I’m in my studio, with paint on my feet and in my hair. Fortunately, some of the paint lands on the canvases I’m working on as well.

That makes me think about this painting that I finished this last month.  It’s inspired by a Crazymaker that I know (a term coined by Julia Cameron in “The Artist’s Way,” and not at all the same as Crazy Eyes).  This Crazymaker had been making quite a bit of crazy for me over the past several months, so this painting was my therapy to work through some frustrations.  I scraped on a background layer of color, then added some personal thoughts with charcoal.  The next part is kind of a blur, because I let myself just let go and not worry about how it came out.  I had nothing to lose.  This painting came together quickly and I couldn’t have created it if I had been trying.  I just let myself make some mistakes, and artfully chose the ones to keep.

Some trivia:  Scott Adams grew up in Windham, NY, and I grew up in Windom, TX.  Quite a serendipitous day.