Hi, my name is Anthea, and I have perfectionist tendencies.
It holds me back, because in reality nothing is ever “perfect” – but many things that are imperfect can still be lovely and enjoyable! So I try to remember that holding myself back until I have the perfect post, the perfect image, or the perfect state of mind is a recipe for never doing anything.
Creating the designs was actually the easiest part (so far) of the Scintillant Squares project. In developing the idea for the book, I had already decided that precise symmetry would get boring, so I had given myself the freedom to embrace artistic imperfections.
But when it came to picking a name, a logo, and doing the cover and interior print layout, each step required discovering over again that at some point, I have to say “it’s good” and let go of the striving for absolute perfection. I want this to be a high-quality book that lots of people will enjoy, so some degree of perfectionism is useful, but not if it means I never hit “publish”!
I run into the same thing with coloring. It can be hard to get started, and it takes conscious effort to accept when the pen doesn’t go where I meant it to, rather than getting upset that I’ve “ruined” my picture. And when I have massive morning-brain and spill my coffee all over everything, including an almost-finished picture… well, it can be very discouraging.
But I’m still happy with how it came out. 🙂
(cat included for comfort)
(click for more detail)
This is one of the designs included in the free coloring pages if you sign up for the email list. If you color it in, I’d love to see what you do with it!
-Anthea