Perfection is a goal to work toward, yet mental health thinking tells us it is an impossibility. Only heaven is that perfect place and earth is in no way near heaven. Yet, having a model of perfection in one's mind when a   task is being undertaken is necessary. Otherwise we would never advance out of not caring and nothing better will ever happen.

Perfectionism creates its own failures. It demands so much out of a person that they eventually become fearful of ever accomplishing anything worthy and they stop trying. To illustrate that concept, let's look at art. That is one subject that is wide open for criticism, for experimentation, for thought and yet, truthfully, neither the practice of it nor the talk and discussion about are perfect. Each person has his and her own interpretations of the subject and these depend on ability, inheritance, knowledge and interest. Art is a personal matter and if the person isn't interested, art doesn't matter.

For a person to be successful in art, he must be his own judge. That means he sets no impossible tasks for himself but he uses whatever ability he has, or interest, or desire and take it from there. Taking myself as an example, the only one I truly know, I am no artist; I am no artist in the sense of being in the league with those who create world renowned paintings. I would not even be considered a candidate to be labeled a artist for a local art group.

That's fine, it frees me to enjoy the world of art as I see it. I don't need to have a cheering squad, I know when I am delighted with a 'work of art' I have created. And too, I often don't start out with anything in mind. In other words I don't see a picture and think to create it as it is. I don't have that kind of talent, nor actually care to; what I do have is the love of art for art's sake, whatever that means, and I first start by dabbling. In fact dabbling is about all I do. I love the colors and I like to think a sheet of paper or a canvas has hidden meanings and I am out to discover what they are. Of course I know better, but that makes for an apt description of how I approach art.

This example is from a series I did about thirty years ago. I have several different versions.  I was cutting  cutting out crosses from card stock and painting them with different versions of women. I've long forgotten what I was thinking about but I remember how absorbed I was in the effort. I don't remember much about the dabbling but I still have the results.

I approach art as a discovery. A discovery after the fact. I follow wherever the paint leads. I get suggestions as I go along. It's the same with writing, you begin a sentence and follow it through. You reread it and make changes. With painting after it's finished there's few changes I make, however. Once its finished, it usually stays that way. It's as if that's a moment of time and the next encounter with art will be another encounter with time.

One could get the notion that art is therapeutic with me. It is. It tells me that somehow greater and more in control guides me. I can either accept that or make myself miserable trying to be the boss. I understand that each person has artistic ability and once they discover their own particular version, they'll never be bored. No man made art is perfect, but that needn't be a deterrent to strive to be as mentally healthy as one can be.
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