The story below begins in the Miami sun with wobbly sailboats incarcerated in the straight lines drawn by a well-intending mom and ends with... wobbly sailboats sailing free. It highlights the power of perseverance which is a byproduct of finding the joy in the process and not worrying how things look. There are advantages of being a perfectionist with ADHD. Stick around and I will share more.
You may have read this story before, I posted it earlier, but now it is a podcast with cameos by Morgan Freeman and Harrison Ford. :)
When I was little, I accompanied my mom on art outings to a very tropical looking bay called Coconut Grove, where painters would do their best to capture the sunlit glow of sailboats anchored in shimmering turquoise waters.
Mom had her oil paints; I had my crayons. In the Miami sun, the crayons melted which at first upset me until I realized I could color in yellow, aquamarine, and midnight blue all at the same time when those colors melted together in a giant mutant crayon.
Mom painted like a professional. She had been a draftsman for the aeronautics industry and you could see this in her precise paintings of Jamaican women with wicker baskets on their heads, white foam waves so realistic they splashed over rocks and almost out of the painting, and … shimmering sailboats with perfectly captured reflections. She never considered her art good enough because … Mom was a perfectionist.
Mom would take a non-mutant crayon and draw over my wobbly drawings with corrective scaffolding to make them look more accurate; my sailboats were then incarcerated in someone else’s expectations. Therefore, I concluded, my drawings sucked. I inherited my mom’s perfectionism, but having ADHD made drawing with exactness like a driving a car with no steering wheel. My drawings swerved a lot, looked like they’d driven over a few speed bumps and often crashed before they were finished.
I was still in love with art because I could make flowerpots fly, entangle scribbles in doodle contraptions, and create odd birds with superior attitudes. I could stave off the anxiety, neglect, and inferiority included in my mix of childhood angst with this place where I was inventor, director, and free spirit.The process became most important because I assumed the end product wasn’t going to be acceptable art anyway. If the world of art was an oyster - my clumsy style led to its pearl.
As I stayed with my version of uneven, imperfect squiggles, they evolved into a style of imprecise whimsy, purposeful flaws, incomplete completeness … a style of fleeting, freeing mystery I could relate to more than precise drawings. There’s an energy to loose and free drawing that to me has more of a story than rigid, precise drawings.
This gravitation to playfulness liberated disobedient spontaneity. I entered the league of Wabi Sabi.
“Wabi-Sabi,” says novelist Tom Robbins, “is the aesthetic of finding beauty in the imperfect and unexpected; the secret, private joy of being attuned to the Zen of things.” Wabi-Sabi is Wild Abandon, a form of art I teach now. Wild Abandon is letting go of conformity to rules, tossing perfectionism to the wind, and sailing away to find freshwater pearls.
Fresh water pearls hang out with melted crayons and wobbly sailboats freed from the shackles of corrective scaffolding.
If you want to find or deepen your own version of Wild Abandon... check at my workshops and training listed below.
Is Creativity Ruining my Creative Mojo?
Tuesday, August 8 11 am pacific/ 2pm eastern
We don't have time to keep putting our creative pursuits off, but the insidious reason we procrastinate or don't feel what we do or who we are is good enough, could be perfectionism. Here are some answers to how to deal with it.
Register here: live and recording available for a week
Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching Certification Training: Zoom
August 21, 2023 — December 11, 2023 17-weeks of learning tools and approaches through a rich online community, two live-inactive Zoom classes a week, discussion, reading, and experiences based on science, mindfulness, intuition, and permission to be free from the fear, habits, pressures, and messages we get that stop our creative joy. KMCC here
The Modern Day Muse Group Facilitation Training: Zoom
September 12 - December 5 (no class Thanksgiving week)
Two Muses: Albert (Terry Way) and Bea Silly (Rozy Walker) will be teaching you how to run your own creativity groups based on the book The Nine Modern Day Muses (and a Bodyguard). Or take it to return to, unleash or deepen your own creativity.
Save the date - registration will be coming up in upcoming newsletters. Sign-up here
Wild Abandon at Omega Institute of Holistic Sciences: New York
October 1-6, 2023. A week of immersing ourselves in Wild Abandon writing, art, photography, and good times in a forest in the Hudson Valley. Register here
The Muse in Winter: Writing and Art Retreat in Taos New Mexico:
One spot opened up... email me if you're interested. I'll send you the info.
Feb 10-14, 2023
This year the workshops, art, improv, even the entertainment will be all geared toward writing. We will explore and celebrate creative writing and make art for writers in enchanting Taos. Payment plans available until October.
Art Walk and Creativity on the Italian Riviera
October 14-20, 2024 Plenty of time to save up for gelato!
I'll be providing the creative part of a tour to the Italian Riviera. Here's the link to sign-up For all levels from beginners to travel-hungry pros.
The Underground Highway to Creative Results: Zoom and FB
For regular Fun Creative Prompts and a spectacular group of supportive creatives, join me in the Underground .
Monthly Zoom Creativity Workshop and Wild Abandon art and writing prompts weekly and a secret FB page (optional) for only $23 .. . Check that here.
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