Trust the Process

I want to share with you a book I am reading for the third time...I pick it up when I know my work is stuck and I need a good teacher. 

It's called 'Trust the Process: An Artist's Guide to Letting Go' by Shaun McNiff and published by Shambhala. He is actually from Beverly, Massachusetts, the city where I was born. You can read more about him here. The following is a quote that makes A LOT of sense to me in considering my approach to art-making.

"It seems that whenever I really want to do well, I am more likely to contradict these basic principles of creation (letting the unique qualities of unplanned gestures and color combinations emerge through the process of painting). If it is an especially important event, I am apt to plan too much. As I deliver the performance I realize I am following a script.  There is no magic unless unplanned expressions arrive to infuse the performance with a spontaneous vitality".

The thing is, even when I don't have a specific deadline, I feel that it is 'especially important' and that I want to do well because:

a. I am recovering perfectionist; 

b. I have made a lot of sacrifices to follow this path;

c. I balance so many other devotions and responsibilities, that studio time is PRECIOUS, I want to make it count.

ALAS, THESE ARE ALL EXCUSES. MAKE ART NOT EXCUSES.

The photos above were taken in La Llonja and Sa Quadrada districts in Plama de Mallorca...I've been looking closer at the walls.