Make. Good. Art.
“Go and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. Make. Good. Art.” -Neil Gaiman
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I just read that quote yesterday in this piece on living the creative life. The point was no matter what happens in your life, nothing is so shitty that you can’t go on and make good art. In fact, shitty things, and mistakes and screw ups, are part of what propels you to make good art.
But I also took it literally. Recently, my musical mentor got my old electric guitar working again. Then he searched all over town for two months till he found a case that would fit it. His dedication inspired the need for some artwork. We had talked about our appreciation of predatory birds, and particularly, owls. That seemed the right choice.
So I took up my pencil and focused on the wings. I hadn’t thought about the rest till I got there. I tried and tried to get that face right, but the thing is, I made a huge mistake in the way I had drawn the body.
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Then I read the Neil Gaiman piece and thought about Making. Good. Art. I decided to stop trying to fix the bad art and start fresh making good art.
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I am still not sure how I am going to end up PAINTING this owl, but at least I won’t be working from a mistake. Hope this goes well. *fingers crossed*
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“Sometimes you have to step back, look at it awhile, and then it’ll come to you.”
– my mother, on my frustration with this project
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Dodie Goldney
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The Treehouse by Dodie Goldney 
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