My art story.

I've always been a creative person. As a child I enjoyed drawing immensely... until one of my grade-school teachers told me that I should strive to make my artwork more realistic and, well, “better” after I proudly showed him a stick-horse I had drawn during art period. While I believe the intention behind his words was good and growth oriented, this comment impacted me deeply and very negatively. So much so, that it wasn't until several years later that I tried drawing and painting again. By this time I was also heavily involved in equestrian related activities and as a result, I only worked on my art skills sporadically and very infrequently. Perhaps because of this, and the fact that art was not my main focus, my creations remained just as unrealistic and elementary as they had in grade-school, though I had gained more precision and better motor skills with age. I’ll tell you a secret… my painting and drawing skills remain what some may term as "basic" to this day.

Once I settled into my chosen field as post graduate with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, my life took on a very systematic routine. Not long after this I began to realize how pinched off from my creative flow I was, and as a result, I felt very out of touch with myself. It had been some time since I really let myself get involved in any kind of art project.

After moving into our current home which was in need of a "sprucing up", I made the decision to do a couple small projects myself. It was during this time I realized I was still carrying around my grade-school concept of my artistic abilities. That my results needed to be better. That they were very poor. I was hyper-focused on the perceived flaws of my projects until I realized that I was the only one seeing them, often loudly pointing them out to any company we had to get in front of any criticism and judgement. Do any of you have a habit of drawing attention to your perceived flaws whether about your appearance, or something you’ve done or made?

 After a few repetitions of this, I realized that other people were just seeing art (or in some cases a freshly painted wall) and often had no idea what “imperfections” I was talking about. This realization changed my whole perception of myself and anything that I create. This idea of seeing a perceived imperfection as part of your art (or anything you do), is not a new one, nor do I take any credit for the invention of it, but I had previously neglected to see how powerful this idea really is.

We’ve all heard the saying that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder ” and others along the lines of "art is an entirely subjective experience”, but for some reason these concepts never hit home with me until I started actively dissecting my art more and more. Through this process I was able to experience the reality of my own biases and shift my perception to an outsider’s perspective. I can’t say it any better than Bob Ross: “Mistakes are just happy accidents.”

Now, that's not to say that my art isn't dreadfully ugly or basic to some, or that it makes me the new Picasso, it just simply exists as is for others to perceive it as they will. Understanding this deeply liberated me from false notions and is the main inspiration behind imPerfect Justine, though not the main focus. The "imperfect" parts of your creations and all the steps that you “did wrong" along the way simply don't exist unless you choose to look at it through that kind of lens. This fear of failure and judgement (it’s only part of the learning journey) often holds us back from doing the things we’ve always wanted to do and learning the things we’ve always wanted to learn. I’ve recently decided point blank that this attitude does not work for me anymore. Skills and success don’t come ready-made or packaged in a box. They need to be brought out from within, cultivated, refined, and honed to get the results you desire. They must be earned.

So… make a deal with yourself to create what you want, how you want and in exactly the manner you want, no matter your “education” or “experience level”, because the only imperfections in your creations are the parts of them that you perceive as so. I’m so glad you found this page, and I wish to express my sincere gratitude to you for taking the time to read this story. It’s my hope that it provided at least a sliver of inspiration or value to you.

Bye for now,

Justine

My first wall mural.