Take the Leap

I wrote the following to a response to a question I received by email. As I was responding, it occurred to me that there are likely to be many people out there in Blogville that may be dealing with the same thing...


A number of years ago I spent more time holding on to rather than using my finds. And I had a lot of finds. One day I realized that the only reason I had even collected all the stuff was that I wanted to make art. It wasn't because I wanted to be a collector. I knew that I wanted to make the best art that I could and it struck me as odd that I wasn't using the best ingredients that were right by my side.

So I decided to just take the leap and use several of my most favorite pieces that I had held on to for years. And as a result of being more comfortable with this, my art improved. Does everything work out and look good? Absolutely not. But without risk there is no reward and giving myself permission to use my good stuff made me a better artist in the long run. This one choice has made me more willing to take creative risks.

So I say, jump in the deep end and just go for it.