I think if I were to reach out and tell my kindergarten art teacher that a comment, she made to my class nearly 2 decades ago still resonated with me today, she’d be a little surprised. I know I would be if I were in her shoes. But hey, sometimes it’s the smallest gestures, or the simplest things we say that have the most impact. At first glance, one might say, “no mistakes in art? well, that’s not true, I completely messed up that line art,” or “that color isn’t mixed quite right!” I wouldn’t say that this is wrong by any means, however this phrase means far more to me than its face value.  To me, it’s about the process. Sure, you may have messed that piece up, but it’s just one part of the learning process. And who knows? Maybe you can even transform it into something more interesting than if you had got it right the first time. You’ll never know unless you take the risks, try ideas or techniques that may not work at first. 

Besides being an artist, I’m also a perfectionist. I’ve come leaps and bounds from where I used to be, where I carry such negative emotions for any slip up, no matter how small. However, when it came to creating art, I never had the same shame when I messed up. Without mistakes in my art, how would I ever improve? Each piece, no matter how good or bad it was, was part of my growth as an artist. These days, I’m much more forgiving of myself, even if I still have some work to do in managing my perfectionism, and it’s in no small part realizing I can apply this attitude to the rest of my life as well.