https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sHCQWjTrJ8

I'm Jonnay, and it's time for macrame!

My first attempt at a full vlog was huge. 800 words huge. That is far too many words. I was going to talk–or ramble–about learning. I thought I had a great first draft, but when it came to reading it to shell.. well… <sad trombone> (frowny face)

Given the reaciton I got from all the wonderful new viewrs, I wanted the next vlog to be really super cool. I got some great positive feedback from some trusted friends and I really wanted the next one to be one that would blow peoples minds.

I kinda… brain-cracked the crap out of it. That's a ze-frankism where you have a project in mind, and you spend so much time thinking about it, and not enough time doing it that it turns into this beautiful piece of artwork in your head , and any attempt to execute it is TOTALLY FLAWED.

Instead, I'm going to talk about perfectionism and the fact–quoting hemingway here–the first draft of anything is shit.

Look, if you're an artist, You're going to get really heavily emotionally involved into whatever it is you do. It's the nature of art.

Art, or at least, some art, needs the work of passionate individuals who can really get involved with what they are doing.

The real intersting kinds of art, the real world-changey chunks of awsomeness are so obviously created by passionate people– you can feel it practically drip from every…. Whoah… is it hot in here?

But this passion is something that will likely get you really deeply involved in your shitty first draft. So much so that you… and really i mean me… get so wrapped up in how awesome it's going to be and you, I mean, I forget that it is… shit.

So There are 2 keys. The first key is just to laugh at how much your first draft misses the mark. That's important. Make that, the shitty first draft of it part of the process. It's not that you just missed the the net for a winnig goal–wait did i just sports analogy?–its a slow methodical zeroing in on what the work is really going to be.

The second key is: find someone who can be a good critic. That person doesn't have to be involved with the art you are making, they just need the capacity to enjoy it. You are going to need someone honest. That someone needs to be a court jester. Someone who is not afraid to laugh at your beautiful work, and call out it's ugly warts that you… really know are there. I was lucky, I got to marry mine.

And it's going to hurt. The critique, not the marriage. They're going to call out the blemishes that you are busy ignoring, or even worse, they'll tell you that the lovely ring of red around an irradescent pearl is really just a pimple.

Try not to take it personal… but know that it's going to be hard. That passion that was neccisary to get the work off the ground in the first place? That emotional involvement will trip you up in here. Try to sublimate it. And by that I mean don't detach, just remember it's for the Good of the Work, and cut.that.shit. Get passionate about the finished work, not the start.

There is an interaction here that is worth noting, and that is about perfectionism. If you have the opportunity, watch my wife take a picture when she is really ON. She will set up a picture, perfectly, take it, and then spend the next 20-30 minutes tweaking the background, fixing the part there where the cable detracts from the image and just take care of every little detail. It's shown me that perfection is not letting it go just yet, taking the time out to make it better and better each time. Taking care for the small things.

But know that perfection–or rather close enough, and that's important–is reached on the FINAL mark of the paper. When that zeroing in finally happens after interation..after interation….

So… an episode about learning is coming soon. But for now, you get the shitty first draft.

• gives you freedom to really jump out and explore weird things.
  • If the first draft is shit, you don't have to worry about making it look nice, you can really explore.
• Gives you freedom to try new things without judgement or preconception
• shell : my art … also bring up Peter Carroll.