It’s slowly crystallising what this #dailyfail challenge is all about. Maybe it’ll carry on crystallising till 31st December. And beyond. Such are the ways of creative reflections.
I’m realising one very important fact: this is about running completely counter to #adailyselfreflection which was a means of publishing digital work with no other (initial) existence save that of cyberspace.
#dailyfail, on the other hand, is exclusively about real paper, real ink, real paint. There is no undo button. No fill button. No preset textures. No forgiving filters.
If I forgot to do something one day, I could easily play around and produce an excellent little piece in the blink of an eye. I only posted stuff I was pleased with, and working digitally, it is very easy to produce a pleasing result.
Too easy in fact. Great work cannot and does not happen through constant satisfaction with a series of little digital pieces. The self portraits had huge value in other ways, but after proving to myself I could produce a self image day after day after day, the process was not challenging me enough.
I use digital media in my work a lot, and I love what I can achieve with it. But using it too much takes me away from the essence of what it is to be an artist: to actually confront things not working out the whole time.
Today: collages based on some mono prints I did a month or so ago. Huge fun.