Does Creating "the Perfect Work" Make You Like Your Other Works Less?

Yupp, so the bar always gets higher. That is a good thing.

every piece i try to make better than the last. when i make something i forget about the last one. so much so, i forgot what i made, and i was just guessing what it was in the shower the other day.

but i try not to think of about it.

make it. then forget. make it , then forget.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

They are all different, each one has been good enough at the time I made it, it served it's purpose, but I'm looking towards the next, isn't it just like living the moments of ones life?

Hi, Alicia,

Reading your post cracked me up/ Nobody suffers from that much ADD, do they?!?! :-)

I don't remember feeling that way. Sure, sometimes I think, 'Wow, this is my best work ever!' But, even feeling that doesn't make me like my other works any less.

My images are like children -- all perfect in their own way, all inherently flawed in their own way. Still, I love them all, and would never, ever wish any of them out into the cornfield. ;-)

Collectively, they are greater than the sum of their parts. #TooFocusedForADD

I thought all artists did this, no matter the medium, to constantly do better work... but as the work improves I do not necessarily like the others less ...just like the newest piece more. I sort of forget the last one too. The other day I finished a piece...it was late and I was tired and instead of hitting save I hit delete. (my medium is digital paint) I really liked it and it was gone...that ticked me off. A few days later I thought I would do it again...obviously from scratch...couldn't do it...forgot most of what it was.

Always experimenting, trying new things, trying to improve, trying to move forward. I try not to look backward too much.

It depends. Because as a designer sometimes I go for simplicity, as an artist sometimes a whole lot of detail. And that goes for straight photography too - I've removed branches, leaves, rocks and grass just to reduce the clutter in the image, and also added them in when I thought the scene wan't cluttered enough

I had never create a painting or capture a shot which blows my mind. I use what I learn from each one and apply to the next and make it better than the last. since I don't make the same twice so each one has their place in my heart.

Alicia, I do perceive the older works differently when comparing them to newer works that have been produced at a higher level. When possible, I use the advanced skills and techniques to re-work earlier pieces, and am generally pleased with the results. This brings the body of work to a higher level overall.

Of course, re-working may be easier in the digital realm, but apparently it is not uncommon for oil and acrylic painters to rework their pieces.

And yes, the feeling that the bar has been raised happens often; it is a daunting, but exciting feeling.

Yes-ADD is bad, and I forgot to take my morning meds until right after I left to go shooting (ADD...lol) so had to drive back home and grab it (would have just gone to shoot if it was just the ADD meds but also forgot the anxiety meds, aka pills that keep me from kicking people in the face)

Even though I have been shooting for so long, I only recently broadened my horizons into wildlife and wild birds, only started birds in early summer, and I can see drastic improvments in my photographs since then. I remember the first time I saw a hummingbird perch, I was so nervous I could not hold my camera still and took 15 shots of blur. Today, I realized I am tired of hummingbirds for now, and got amazing shots of other birds and critters. I have learned so much about their behaviors, what the different birds songs sound like, and how to identify them. I have also learned much more about how to shoot them, as when I would take a photograph that was not what I wanted I would research the camera settings I needed to get it right the next time. But after all of the good shots today, I stopped at a bridge on the way home to shoot the piers, and forgot my lens was wide open at 1.8, and blew the sky so bad it made my head hurt to look at the photographs later...lol

“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

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I always end up comparing older works to new ones, and often end up doubting what I was once sure I loved (though I rarely allow myself to edit older works, I have to become distractingly obsessed or ingeniously inspired for that to happen). I can really let this self-doubt get in my head sometimes, so I do my best to shut it down as soon as I realize I'm going there. I am also slow to post new work as well, because I want the initial infatuation to wear off so I can look at it from more of a distance before I can be sure about unleashing it on an unsuspecting world. Don't wanna inadvertently cause any pain or suffering.

Perfection does not exist.

Edward-

"Perfection does not exist."

I guess you don't know me.

I love days like that where everything seems to go right. It's like a drug and leaves you wanting more. Then I have a day where nothing goes right and I doubt I will ever have one of those amazing days again. And then I do. And so goes the cycle. :-)

lol I thought today was going to be the day that did not go right! I got out to my spot (same place I shot yesterday) and after about 5 minutes it started to rain...so I went to a little gazebo they have and sat-with a family with badly behaved children I might add) sat there about 15 minutes and the rain stopped, so hiked back to my spot, for the rain to start back as soon as I got comfy....back to the gazebo, thankfully no one else was there this time. Waited, waited, waited...thought the rain would not stop. Finally it stopped, and I thought about just getting in the car and leaving, but decided I would do a walk around the boardwalk real quick. First thing I see is a big white ibis...snap, snap, snap.....walk a little more, hear a woodpecker, but could not find him, walked around a corner and ducks were lining both sides of the boardwalk rails, snap snap snap, walked a little more-big pileated woodpecker, almost snap-he flew away before I could focus.....then saw a great blue heron, snap snap, fly, snap snap snap....then went to one of my rest stops and saw a few wood ducks swimming in a pretty spot, snap snap, got close disturbed a red bellied woodpecker nest, snap snap, quick lens change, snap snap. So walked more. Saw an eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly, snap snap, got bitten by a bug that made me feel like I was drunk for about 20 minutes, squirrel, goose, robins, puke, walk car, home....lol. The bite is fine now. :)

Alicia,

The most beautiful women have birthmarks. Men look at a woman longer if she has a birthmark. And they see beyond the mark.

That said if the technical mistake or mistakes are too many, I scrub the image. But if I invite a new look from the viewer with an imperfection
good.

All art has problems, solve one problem and often you will create three more right behind it.

No art is perfect and I am not in search of older French gentlemen as an ideal. My guess is Ed will pass as well.

John Lennon used to twist his compositions and lyrics in the wind till some gem came his way. Just some food for thought.

Dave

Perfection is unattainable. The best I can hope for is to be in the, "zone" for as long as possible when I'm creating something. Otherwise it doesn't exist.

I think I am getting better, and taking photography more technically lately, looking for better ways to get what I want with less post processing work.