Process or Finished Result

I am reading a book by Twyla Tharp called the Creative Habit. She challenges the reader to learn about themselves by answering an assortment of questions—one being, "When you work, do you love the process or the result?"

At this time, that question really resonates with me. I've alway loved process but thought the result was what mattered most—mostly because of the result driven society we live in. Drummed in my head (along with finish your dinner) is, "can you make money doing that?" I am realizing now how much this point of view has been tainting my ability to really enjoy the process of making art, along with my inability to call myself an artist, because let's face it, I'm not making much money making art and most artists aren't.

Artists like Andy Goldsworthy and Christo and Jeanne-Claude now take on a deeper meaning for me. I've always enjoyed this kind of work, but never really understood why. The art is actually the process. The finished result is so temporary. The story of the process lives on.

Recently Leslie and I took a trip to the Decordova Museum and one of the sculptures that interested us was these stacks of newspapers arranged in almost a maze fashion with plant-life growing on top of them. I will attach a link here about the piece by Steven Siegel, becasue the thought process is so fascinating.  http://www.decordova.org/decordova/sculp_park/siegel.html

So what does all this have to do with me creating an artist habit? By the way, I didn't do so well last week and am slacking this week as well. I gotta deal with the somethings that come up ALL THE TIME. But having said that, I think the more I understand why I make art, the more it will help me to let go of the roadblocks in my thinking that are holding me back.

I am excited about the new art project I am taking on with Leslie and Leeann. We each bought a sketchbook last week and have committed to drawing in them until the sketchbooks are filled up.  Each time we meet, we will exchange the books with each other. The end result will be three sketchbooks with art by three artists responding to each other. The process will be a blast. Maybe it can turn into a project we expand.