SUZANNE MCDERMOTT
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Magnificent Imperfection

1/30/2018

 
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​Jacques-Louis David
Le Général Bonaparte, 1798

The word perfection comes from the Latin perficere, meaning to complete, to finish, to bring to an end. Sure, the word has additional meanings before that mark and since but for the sake of this post, let's focus on that main definition.

It follows, then, that imperfection merely means that which is not complete, unfinished.
Isn't that the state of being human? Aren't we perfect only when we are finished with our earthly journey?

Near the end of his life, Leonardo (as in da Vinci) went through his notebooks and wrote over and over again, "Tell me if anything was ever done".  Yes, Leonardo struggled with perfectionism.

So do many of my students. I've attracted many perfectionists to my drawing and watercolor workshops and courses over the years. As a recovering perfectionist, I recognize them and their suffering right away. I understand the syndrome and coax them (sometimes more successfully than others) through the process of letting one thing or another go. 

Even if students aren't outright perfectionists, there's a more subtle, related suffering. A constant nagging sense of displeasure or defeat (or both) when showing work they consider subpar. 

I understand that, too. Especially over this past year, when I've only had time, for the most part, to make mad dash demos under pressure of stupidly short amounts of time and (often) interruption, I then present whatever results as an example of my abilities. Actually, the results are rushed demonstrations of how to but still, my ego is crestfallen with the results and the what other people think nattering is super annoying.

“Perfectionism is not self-improvement. Perfectionism is, at it’s core, about trying to earn approval. Most perfectionists grew up being praised for achievement and performance (grades, manners, rule following, people pleasing, appearance, sports). Somewhere along the way, they adopted this dangerous and debilitating belief system: “I am what what I accomplish and how well I accomplish it. Please. Perform. Perfect.”

Healthy striving is self-focused: How can I improve? Perfectionism is other-focused: What will they think? 
Perfectionism is a hustle.”
​

– Brené Brown

Even with my relatively private daily drawing blog, I am posting scribbles and drawings that would be better burned. 

In fact, they're all just teases. Warm ups (with, at this time in my life, nowhere to go for follow up). However, if I can get over myself, all of these (mostly) disappointments keep my muscles flexed, the practice intact and provide some sense of accomplishment. The carrots of disappointment and imperfection keep me in a race that, eventually, as soon as there's more time, will have me winning more often on a daily basis.

Fortunately, the demos I'm creating for the online courses are mostly highly successful. So there's that. I'm not operating in abject failure.

All of what I've just described is experience that cannot be conveyed to a novice or to someone unwilling to let go of prescribed structures. That may be the most difficult part of teaching beginners. The other difficult notion to convey to beginners is that we're all beginners, no matter how long we've been practicing and working away.

There's a large degree of faith involved in the creative process. There are moments of inspiration and master pieces but the whole cloth unfolds over a longer period of time and experience and work that any one piece can adequately describe in terms of perfection. Faith kicks in when you come to understand that you cannot possibly know or control the end result or outcome of any process, let alone any creative process. Faith is a practice, too.

“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won't have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren't even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they're doing it.”
​-
Anne Lamott

Personally, I love unfinished paintings. Gilbert Stuart's Athenaeum Portrait of George Washington, David's Unfinished General Bonaparte, Freud's Self-Portrait, to name a few. I love seeing the process, the partial drawing against the partial paint against the naked canvas.

This may be one reason why I cling to watercolor as my main medium, because the naked paper is always a presence if not clearly visible. Just one reason.

Of course, drawing and painting are not always a matter of suffering. Not by a long shot. Many are completed quite nicely (if not perfectly). 

Come learn about magnificent imperfectionism.

​Work with me.

"Perfectionism is internalized oppression." - Gloria Steinem

The difference between practice and habit

12/5/2017

 
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Creativity is a habit, and the best creativity is the result of good work habits.
—Twyla Tharp



Practice, practice, practice.

Twyla Tharp composed a popular book on creativity, The Creative Habit. It's a wonderful book that I recommend at a certain point during my Foundation Course in Drawing and Watercolor and also to some creative coaching clients.

One thing, though. From my experience, if creativity is a habit, it's formed by practice. You don't establish any habit right away. You have to practice creating a habit, let's say drawing and watercolor until you rewire your neural pathways so that what you're practicing becomes a habit.

However, my experience is that with any creative practice, you are involved, to a large degree, in discovery. You have to be able to continually tweak what you're practicing, sometimes on a daily basis, in order to expand your abilities and understanding.

In other words, if you establish a particular way (habit) of doing a drawing or watercolor and then discover that you have to change that particular way in order to grow as an artist, you have to un-learn certain habits.

As a different sort of example, let's say you've learned a Mozart piano sonata so thoroughly that it's ingrained in your neural pathways and muscle memory and you can play it "by heart". Then you discover that some of the ornamentation and a couple of notes you've learned are wrong and you have to un-learn and re-learn those parts. That's difficult and requires more practice to change what's become habitual.

Actually, I think that habits in creative work mostly consist of establishing the habit of sitting down to practice. Also, sometimes, establishing parameters like, I will sit down at 4 PM for 30 minutes to practice drawing. So, I don't think that creativity is a habit but the habit of practicing creative work is crucial to creativity.

Seth Godin has been blogging daily for... gosh, I don't know how many years now. His posts are usually short and sweet but highly inspirational and effective. He committed to the habit of writing daily posts and continues to practice daily (for all of our benefit).

Anyone who meditates daily knows that there is the habit of sitting down to meditate and then the practice of actual meditation which can be (and usually is) wildly different during every sitting.

Setting parameters helps with establishing habits that you can practice within. Particular methods designed to lead you step by step through progressive exercises are also extremely helpful. Commitment is vital. Finally,  there's nothing like accountability to keep you honest and on track as you establish your habit of practice.

Practice rules. Habit helps.





​



Trick or Treat

10/31/2017

 
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The Wicked Witch of the West meets The Omen

"The idea of dying and coming back is what makes the Halloween films work.""The idea of dying and coming back is what makes the Halloween films work."--Donald Pleasence

Trick

What can I say?

I must be a grade school stand up at heart. Here are some seasonal riddles for your mild amusement. (More mild amusements, please, these days, thank you.)


(Find your answers at the bottom of this post.)

1. Why did the skeleton stay home from the dance?
2. Why did the ghost go into the bar?
3. What do you call a witch's garage?
4. What type of dog does every vampire have?

Treat  

$10 Off!!! — ENTER10 Enter Here to Draw and Watercolor
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is a self-paced, independent course on drawing and watercolor pencil.
Includes all the basics of drawing and watercolor (specifically with watercolor pencils) plus an extensive set of exercises with detailed instructions plus videos to practice your basics using watercolor pencils for copying a rare Matisse painting.
It's fun and challenging! If you just want to dip your toes in the water or you're thinking of working with me for personal drawing, watercolor and/or art history courses online or live, this is the perfect place to start! 

​->Discount Code: ENTER10 for $10 off<- 
Regular price $47. With discount $37




Answers

1. He had no body to go with.

2. For the Boos.

3. A broom closet.

4, Bloodhound!

Yuk. Yuk. Yuk.

You're welcome!

Beauty begets beauty

8/15/2017

 
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​

"Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love... Our aim must never be to defeat or humiliate the white man, but to win his friendship and understanding."
​
—Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Because my mind was going a mile a minute when I sat down to meditate this morning, I plopped a vase of mums directly in the line of my meditative gaze. I'm not sure that this helped me step out of the thought stream but they sure were beautiful to look at. Before I stood up to move along with my day, I gathered them between my hands, buried my face in them and inhaled deeply. I love the smell of mums!

It is too, too easy to be sucked into the virtual world of (often) horror and mayhem. Make it a practice to focus on the beautiful objects in your space. After all, you put them there, didn't you? If you haven't filled your space with objects of beauty that the light can find, please, do yourself a favor and do so now.

The objects that the light finds and illuminates will illuminate your mind, whether you love them or not. Practice seeing what the light illuminates. Practice loving that.

Short post. I'm looking away now. Looking for the beautiful in my immediate vicinity.

"I don't think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains."

—Anne Frank
​

The growing season

5/29/2017

 
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“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” ― Anaïs Nin
The garden is coming along.

I can't get the ever-expanding plots all in to one shot so the above photo is a detail of Russian kale that's been keeping me in greens all winter, flowering zucchini, dill, beets, leeks, tomatoes, vinca, lavender, anise hyssop, scabiosa and some native plant in violet bloom that a neighbor gave me last spring. There's more, much more... but you get the idea.

This time last year I started with discarded heirloom tomato seedlings in old recycling bins. I knew little about growing vegetables and still have a lot to learn but I can say that about almost anything. 

Along with the garden, I've been growing new drawing and watercolor studio classes in art history. These have evolved since January in dramatic and exciting ways. Dramatic because of the phenomenal results of student work. Exciting because, well, anytime we create brand new things there's always a learning curve, obstacles, the unexpected (no matter how well we prepare), and uncertainty. 

The entire series of three courses is not quite complete but I've jumped the main hurdles and they'll be ready in an online format by end of summer. I have to say that I have worked my butt off putting these together and yet have loved (not always enjoyed but loved) the process.

All the time I thought I'd have to write blog posts has been diverted to developing these courses. Which is fine! It's just that when I put down one discipline for the sake of another, it does take some time and serious effort to start up the disciplines I had to put aside for a while. 

Writing is the worst, I think. It's always been a challenge for me to chain myself to a seat and to focus on writing. By which I mean...actually writing. Fortunately, I know that I am not alone. The only way to write is to write and so, here I am. Writing. 

After procrastinating (not really, I had so many other important things to do today!), I decided that it was not at all important for this post to be perfect or about anything important. All I had to do was to write something. 

Something.

So here it is. It's a seed for getting me back into my regular blogging. I like the discipline. It's just a matter of doing it. 
“It's hell writing and it's hell not writing. The only tolerable state is having just written.” 
― Robert Hass
One of the books on my bathroom shelf is a collection of essays by Peter Mayle called Acquired Tastes. My favorite essay in that book is The Writing Habit. Every time I need a belly laugh at my life or to feel in good company, I re-read it.

Tomorrow, I start two new live groups of basic drawing students. 20 years ago today, more or less, I taught my first group of basic drawing students down on Kiawah Island at the Resort's Nature Center. Little did I know then that I was embarking on a career of doing so. 

Okay. That's it till next week. ​
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