95 percent of being an artist (or human) is...

Knowing how to deal with mistakes

“Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly at first" and “Nothing has to go right today” are two quotes from Dr. Bob Hoke in the book Dr Bob's Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit which I illustrated early in my creative life. Thank goodness. (Here's more about the book: https://tinyurl.com/2p9bpjd3)

I say thank goodness because those quotes enabled me to practice giving myself permission to not take my mistakes seriously and to focus instead on how to deal with them constructively. Since I make my mistakes in permanent fountain pen ink here's one of the ways I learned to deal…

Here's the mistake: I started to incorrectly attribute a quote to Seneca when it really was by Epictetus. Oops!

So I grab my jar of Dr Ph Martin's Bleedproof White and a small flat paintbrush. My sketchbook pages aren't white, they're a creamy off white, so this will not be an absolutely perfect mistake correction but it will be good enough. Another Dr. Bob quote “Good enough is good enough.”

Then I dip the dry brush into the Dr Ph Martin's and paint over the error as smoothly as I can. I work directly from the jar and don't add any water.

There. I've covered my mistake and as the Dr Ph Martin's bleed proof white dries, in about 5 minutes or so, it will become less shiny.

In the indoor light you can barely see my, now dry, area of repair if you know where to look.

On my patio in the outdoors light it's easier to see where I repaired the mistake but look… look! There's coffee and breakfast!!

Here's a fun book about sketching… it’s a good reminder to get brave and just draw without worrying about being perfect. Good tips about methods too.

https://tinyurl.com/4t245wxd

So go ahead and use the permanent ink as you do you're nourishing your courage! Come to think about it all of the quotes in this post apply just living life too.

I’ve shared this sketchbook page before but it also applies.

Oops, I almost forgot- here's a post with a painting that the drawings on the sketchbook pages I shared last Friday were leading up to… (hint: my adopted Mom loved orchids) … my painting is titled “The Goods Of This Life". It all came together somehow! If you're curious about the painting it's here 👇

The good things of this life

I hope your week contains easily repairable mistakes and many good things that are good enough.