Nature's Blessing
Recently I purchased a program called Self-Authoring.
The purpose of the course is to gain a greater sense of clarity on who you are, what you have learned from your past, and where you want to go in the future.
The first part of the program asks you to reflect on the aspects of your personality that you feel are presently hindering you, your personality “faults.”
From a long list of options my top three personality faults were:
Lose opportunities because I am too isolated
Believe that I have to be flawless
Am too perfectionistic
For each one of these selections, you are asked to write in detail about how these are affecting you and what you would like to do to change them.
What stood out to me most while I was writing was how interconnected my top three traits are.
As I wrote about them, they appeared almost like a story… a circular story. A closed loop.
“I believe that I have to be flawless. Therefore I express powerful perfectionistic tendencies in my work. I feel that my work is rarely good enough, I’m rarely good enough, I don’t want to be seen, I lose opportunities because I am too isolated.”
Yikes. That sounds like a recipe for disaster for an artist.
I don’t know about you, but when I become aware that I am in a behavioral prison of my own making, every cell in my body screams to break free.
So I followed my instincts and did the first thing that needed to be done: “Make something imperfect.”
And now, the second thing that needs to be done: “Share it.”
Nature's Blessing
2025, Oil on Linen
20 x 26 inches, unframed
Please see the Available Originals page for current availability.
After I finished writing about these three personality “faults” in the Self-Authoring program, I packed up my gear, went out to one of my favorite spots, stood in the icy tundra, and did the bulk of this new painting in a just a few hours.
For someone that typically spends weeks or months getting every detail of a painting “perfect” this was not an easy task.
I had to work at a furious pace, with complete abandon.
There was no room for thought or calculation.
There was only the immediacy of responding to nature as quickly as possible.
And do you know something?
I actually really like this “imperfect” painting.
I can even see qualities in it that I am usually working so hard to “try” and capture, but that sometimes get lost in the rigidity of perfectionism.
So often I’ve talked about wanting to express this kind of fluidity and freedom in my work, and so rarely have I been able to let myself do it.
Or at least, make work I am satisfied with using this technique.
I hope that as I move into springtime this year, I am able to make space for imperfection.
That as I emerge from hibernation, and feel the warmth of the sun on my face again, I am able to continue inviting these spontaneous melodies to play freely in my heart, in my brush, and on the canvas.
Something about it feels so right.
Sincerely,
Dustin
P.S. - Typically my paintings take several days, sometimes weeks, sometimes months or years to complete. Because this painting was done so spontaneously I am pricing it differently.
Please see my available works page for details. 👇
P.P.S. - Here are a few more shots of my adventure creating “Nature’s Blessing.”
