Thursday Jan 29, 2004
Better is not Best
It was cold to the bone with snow and ice sculpting the landscape on the East Coast. I made it to my local Starbucks, got my cappuccino with the milk creamy as it should be, and then began work on my color pencil art piece.
Someone I hadn’t seen in months comes over to say hello and to see what I’m working on. He looks at my art and says: “Yeah, this one is better than the others.”
It’s time to clarify. Comparisons in art are traps.
I say: “You mean that you like this piece better than some of the others.”
“Oh, yeah. That’s what I mean. But a lot of your other pieces have faces in them. Don’t you get tired of the faces?”
He has seen but a relative few of my pieces that I work on in Starbucks; and some of the artworks do have faces.
“I love faces,” I say. “If a face wants to appear, I’m not going to get in the way. Let it come forward to be born. I don’t have an attachment one way or the other.”
He scratches his head: “Yeah. That makes sense. So, I’ll see you soon.” He’s off into the world of who knows what, where, or when.
I realize he had not a clue about what I said, but I did, and I do. When you love a piece, say I love it without comparisons or editorials. This will reflect well on you and your genuine appreciation.
Thank God.»
