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Friday, November 25, 2022

Nov 2020 from Chuck - comparisons


I wonder if Chuck mailed his Dec mail early. This is clearly postmarked Nov 18, 2020. I am writing this on Oct 30, 2022 - I dabbled with my watercolor pencils yesterday because I could not find my Cotman set of watercolors and was too lazy to do a serious search.
Lucky for the readers, I have a ton of fabulous in-coming-mail to post - so you will not have to put up with my endless whining about the sorry state of my own work. 

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To anyone who was reading the conversation about makers/artists/hobbyists/etc - and made a note when I got to the part about comparing skill levels - and muttered - That Jean is so inconsistent. She's said numerous times: Comparison is the thief of joy. 

So what's the deal? Should we compare or not?

Well, if you are enchanted by something and you want to give it a try - a certain amount of comparison is required. A few people - out at the very end of the bell curve - can do their own thing from day one and end up creating something amazing - but most of us see things or hear thing or watch things or taste things - and say, "Hey, I wanna try that." And then we do. The results vary. Comparing one's output to the inspiration is part of the process.

When we are inspired - there are a few different paths available: 1) exclusively imitating, 2) learning and then going off on one's own, 3) dovetailing disparate things. There are probably many more paths. Hopefully you find a path that you enjoy. If you are not enjoying your path -- you are free to bounce over to a new one. 

That's the gist of my blog -- some people who have bounced over here have found kindred spirits. There might be others who are appalled by this perspective - so far, they have not left cranky comments - but, it is highly unlikely that I would ever come up with anything that was agreeable to *everyone.*
 

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