The truth is that the piece of art which seems so profoundly right in its finished state may earlier have been only inches or seconds away from total collapse. Lincoln doubted his capacity to express what needed to be said at Gettysburg, yet pushed ahead anyway, knowing he was doing the best he could to present the ideas he needed to share.
It’s always like that. Art is like beginning a sentence before you know its ending. The risks are obvious: you may never get to the end of the sentence at all — or having gotten there, you may not have said anything. This is probably not a good idea in public speaking, but it’s an excellent idea in making art.
In marking art you need to give yourself room to respond authentically, both to your subject matter and to your materials. Arts happens between you and something — a subject, an idea, a technique — and both you and that something need to be free to move.
— ART AND FEAR: OBSERVATIONS ON THE PERILS (AND REWARDS) OF ARTMAKING, by David Bayles and Ted Orland
Wow. Love this.
I typed this up a few months ago and have read it dozens of times since.
Love this. And these photographs are beautiful.
I took them flying home from Dallas in February. Love how the snow made the fields 3-D!