A good start…
“It’s a good start.”
A phrase I can hear ringing in my head any time I get impatient with a piece I have been working on. My mentor and friend says that… “It’s a good start”… and you just know. There is still work to be done. That your efforts have been acknowledged, but it is probably not your best work. Or that it needs just a little more finesse to get just the right shape. Maybe it is that you didn’t understand the process or get what you were after as a whole. The point is, that it is OKAY to not have gotten it just right. Wether it then comes down to working more on that same piece or saying, “ Well I learned a lot from that one, but next time it will be better. It was a good start to learning something new. Let’s try again”
Simple words carrying such resonance. Weight. We are our own worst critics, artists. For as resilient as we can be, there is a fragility too. There is nothing left to hide when you have put your heart and soul into efforts that are then laid bare for the world to see. To judge. To tarnish with their own prejudice and preconceived notions. It can become too much quite quickly for many. Countless friends of mine have stopped being creative over the years. When the snide remarks of singing off key, or drawing crooked lines cut them deeper than anyone else could know. In general, most people can sing, they can hold a tool to make a mark on a page, they can squeeze a piece of clay, they can write a story… but they don’t try again.
Simple words carrying such weight. Crushing. My music teacher in college used to say that everyone can sing, they just get told at some point they shouldn’t. She helped me find my voice and I did things I never thought I would be capable of, because she believed in me too, and told me “It’s a good start. Now again.” I would lay underneath the grand piano listening to her patiently play out the notes I was meant to be learning, but I struggled still to read sheet music and in my inpatients she would remind me that it was okay. Saying it again.
Simple words lifting us up. Freeing. It is easy to feel worn out. Raw and broken down by the constant efforts of trying to make a living as an artist. From a different perspective, perhaps from that of a sculptor, everything changes. Where you create by taking away, perhaps this is just the beginning. Michelangelo releasing forms from the marble that were already in there. In ceramics when you throw a pot on the wheel it’s not done when you create the form. It must rest and dry a little before further shaping of cutting away the excess clay from which it arose. Then faces the fires of the kiln. It is no easy journey with no certain end… but if things fall apart you can do it again.
Don’t quit, is the part that I have added to what I tell my students. Making a choice to no longer continue is one thing.. but quitting is usually irrational and leads to regret. “It’s a good start, don’t quit.” Make the choice to do your best, despite what other people may say. My heart carries the scars of mean words and harsh critiques, I know how it feels. I have chased this dream since before I can remember… it is not an easy road. But I will keep going because I don’t know how not to, and as long as I am trying it will be a good start.
