Creativity Takes Courage (2025)

Maine Memories, 2025

My friend shared a breath-taking photo of the Maine coast near her new home and I knew I wanted to paint it. I also knew that it would be a lot easier to just paint it straight up, but that doing so would probably also be boring. I spent a lot of time contemplating how to proceed.

As I stared at the pristine white 18x24" gallery wrapped canvas, I kept weighing my options. I've been wanting to explore painting more American landscapes with the Korean Hanji paper I'd been using. But at the same time, I've been struggling to master the technique. Heck, I've been struggling to figure out whether it's even a technique at all!

So I just stood there for several minutes, afraid to begin. I knew how I wanted it to look in my head, but the challenge was going to be getting it onto the canvas...successfully.

And that's the problem. "Success."

Success and Creativity don't have to be mutually exclusive, but what I've been learning is that a focus on Success tends to stifle Creativity. Success places demands on us that can be limiting and exhausting. We begin to fear making mistakes, and we tend to go with the "sure thing," the thing we've done before, perhaps too many times, the thing that feels safe.

Creativity, on the other hand, makes its own demands. Creativity requires Courage,

Perseverance, and a willingness to make mistakes. But Creativity also stretches us, delights us, and motivates us to keep going further and further into the process. We have to accept that there are no guarantees of "success," but that that's not the point of making.

And, in the end, it's just art supplies. And maybe a dose of ego.

I decided to lay down the Hanji paper and just get started. I wanted to use mixed media, with it's evocative layers, to help capture the wistful, sometimes bittersweet memories of the end of summer, in a special place and time. I also enjoy creating subtle layers that cause the viewer to linger, look closer, and find their own connections with the piece.

I can't say it's the greatest piece I've ever created, nor that it was exactly what I was hoping for. But at the same time, I recognize a lot of "successful" parts to this work.

That leaves me with a choice as I continue down this path: to focus on the parts that worked, to celebrate and to keep going, or to return to the familiar and wash my hands of creative exploration into the great unknown. Seems to me, that just as in life, the journey is just as important as the destination.

I'd love to know your thoughts about "Creativity" and "Success"--comment below (if you dare!)