Wait...wave the white flag?? You think I'm crazy now, don't you?
Why the hell would you want to surrender anything in your art? You've worked so hard to prove everyone who said you couldn't be successful as an artist wrong, to prove you can take on different mediums, and to prove your points through your work. So what place does "surrendering" have in the equation?
Surrendering control of a piece doesn't have to be a bad thing, and can even feel liberating! My first encounter with the concept was in my college printmaking class. I would take hours etching my designs into zinc plates, inking the plate just right, then I'd send plate and paper through the press...And it NEVER came out "right". I HATED it. I would think I had things lined up perfectly, with an even distribution of ink, the right depth in my grooves to create the perfect balance of shadows...Then I'd see the paper come out the other end looking nothing like I expected and it killed me every time. I was so frustrated, because my control wasn't completely there. A similar thing happened in my watercolor class. I'd lay the paint down on the wet surface, imagining it blossoming out in a beautiful way, and then..wait-where are you going? AHHH NOT THERE!!...Well that wasn't supposed to happen. To sum it up, I started out by digging the process, but going bat shit crazy over the end results, to the point where I was beginning not to dig the process at all.
Turns out, these two classes became my favorite. I had amazing professors who taught me to be patient, and to accept that the work wouldn't always go completely as planned. They taught me that the process was more important, and that it was okay to mess up, but most of all, how to recover, re-adjust, and find the creative solution to get the piece where I wanted it to be.
I put this technique of surrender into practice sometimes when I draw. A little idea or a pose will pop in my head (to use an example, I've begun a new drawing of a girl crouching by the water's edge). I want her to be looking into the water below, the surface whited out by reflection up close, the ripples dissipating further out to expose something different in the water. Maybe this is her dream? A reflection of her thoughts? I didn't begin with a clear end goal in mind. As I draw the piece, other elements take shape, and the story is written before me. There is no disappointment, because I didn't begin with a huge expectation. There is no right or wrong way the piece could go, because things are happening organically. This is a vulnerable way to make art, leaving your mind completely open. You've surrendered~
I like to "surrender" when all my thoughts are scattered about, and the basket to collect them in has a big fat hole in the bottom. And I know you've felt this way too, because every artist goes through ruts, long and short lived.
So when you feel insurmountably overwhelmed by the possibilities of where a piece could go, to the point of an actual standstill, try giving up the need for perfection! When your head is in that space, perfection is not obtainable. Surrender to let your work take shape, and roll with the punches as you progress.
Let it go Buds,
xoxo Rose
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