Perfectly imperfect artist's



"Life is the Art of drawing without an eraser."
- John Gardner



 

 

When I was in Design school, my classes were a mixture of design, architecture, and art.  I remember taking a drawing class, where most days were all about "timed" drawings.  We would all be in a circle with our easels and there would be a still life set up in the center of the circle we formed.  The instructor would start a timer and we had a minute to sketch EVERYTHING in the still life.  Then she would take it down to 30 seconds to sketch the entire still life.  Then 10 and eventually only 3 seconds to sketch it all.  While this exercise is good for many reasons, the one that always jumps out at me is that it gets you over the phobia of "doing it wrong" or "making a mistake".  You didn't have time to worry about it, you just did it.  We would just be ourselves and do it. When we were done with the exercises, we would walk around and look at each others easels full of sketches.  We all had the same subject matter at the center of our work; the still life.  But each easel had a vastly different style.  A completely individual look.   Every easel of sketches, was different and unique. 

 

 The mistakes within the sketches became part of our beautiful style and being our authentic self. 

When a designer is starting to put pen to paper, they use a paper known as vellum.  It is a very thin transparent paper that you can see through.  It comes on a roll and is used in the ideation and sketching process to start most projects.  It is considered a scratch paper or trash paper if you will. You tear off a sheet, tape it down and do your rough idea sketch.  The beauty of this paper is that you can then continue to tear off sheets from the roll and then layer them on top of the first sheet and refine your underlying idea sketch.  Most times, I would end up with around 30 layers of vellum paper before I had my final drawing. (This was more popular in the days before CAD (Computer Aided Drafting), but is still used in the ideation process or in the field.)  Funny thing was, you never worried about a stray line or a wrong idea, you just kept sketching and layering until you got to that top sheet which you would then use to trace onto the final drawing.  ALL of the underlying layers were still there and used.  All of the sheets where ideas and sketches were less than perfect or finished, were still there aiding in the final top layer.

 

 Each imperfect layer was an important part of the final product. 

 

I think the greatest lesson that I learned in those classes, is that as a budding designer and artist, 

 

there are no mistakes.  The imperfections are perfection.

 

These are always my last words to my children each time I sit them down to blank piece of paper or canvas.  Invariably one of them, will have a moment in their drawing or paintings that is not what they had envisioned.  Sometimes, one of my children will even have tears over the disappointment in what they believe to be a mistake in their art.  I always come to their sides and remind them again,

 

"There are no mistakes when creating your art." 

 

 

In coming alongside of them, we talk about ideas of what they could do with the "stray" line or their so called "wrong" color.  How it can be worked into their work of art and how it can become richer and maybe even better than what they imagined.  Last night, my son drew an apple and he was dissatisfied with it's overall shape.  He claimed it looked flat on one side.  On his own he turned his paper so that the apple looked as if it was resting on it's side....as if it had fallen to the ground and landed on it's flattened side.  He proceeded to draw a rock under the flattened side of the apple and was off and running with a completely different story for his drawing.  When completed, my son beamed and commented on how much more satisfied he was with the "mistake" in his drawing and where it had led him.  We looked at his drawing together, and my son proceeded to describe each part of his picture in detail, constantly marveling over the

 "once mistake", becoming a unique beautiful perfection. 

 

 

I can't help but think over my life and how many mistakes I have made and how God has intervened and made them a unique beautiful perfection.  Through Him and in Him these once thought of mistakes in life become an incredible beauty to behold. He finds a way to show me how to take my mess...mistakes...hurts,... my "trash", and turn it into "treasure"!  How cool is that! Our Creator is an Artist and Designer himself.  I find so many times that I am like my children, looking at my canvas (my life) and I suddenly realize with dissatisfaction that I have made a mistake on my painting of life.  Some how, he speaks to me and gives me a different way to look at my imperfect paint stroke (a decision or situation or hurt or anger) and helps me to find a way to integrate it into the most amazing painting on my canvas of life.  It is always better than anything I imagined myself.

 If our lives were "paint by number", how boring would that be?!

Be Yourself.

Be fully who you were made to be.

Live fully right where you are.

See the so called "trash" in your life as potential "treasures".

 

Finding a way to turn messes and mistakes into a work of art.....THAT is Artful Living!

 

Here is a little inspiration from Mercy River, called "Beautiful Life".  Enjoy!



 

 

 

 

 



This Week:
What "yuck" is going on in your life right now?
Have you recently made a mistake or realized, in hind sight, you made a mistake?
Are you nursing a wound, a hurt?
What decisions for forward movement, healing, and peace of mind, need to be made?
What potential "Work of Art" lies within your "yuck"?
How is our Creator, the ultimate Artist and Designer, guiding you to be creative with your mistake?


"For we are God's masterpiece.  He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago." - Ephesians 2:10

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." - Psalm 19:1