Process vs. Product

Thanks so much to Life is the Art for pointing to this great post over at Scott H Young. Both articles have some really great things to say about process vs. product, something you know I've been struggling with.

I've not put it into those words, but that's what my Art struggles boil down to, isn't it? Somewhere along the line, I've lost the joy of doing Art for the sake of Art; I get too focused on the end results, wanting mine to look as good as the next person's. Well, as Max Ehrmann's Desiderata says: "If you compare yourself with others,/you may become vain and bitter;/for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself." I think that's what I've become ... a bit bitter.

Scott says, "When you approach an area of life from a process focus, you see the entire path, not the goal as the reason to start. Run a business because you love running a business... Interest in the process is more important than the result of a goal." That's what I've lost, the interest in the process. I am, thank God, slowly gaining it back. Since I've started my art journal, I'm remembering the joy of doing art for the sheer joy of it. I'm remembering how much pleasure comes simply from smearing paint on paper, with no rhyme or reason.

Go read both posts -- you'll be a little richer for it!