How to be less than perfect, but still creatively amazing: Let go of rigid expectations

Ahh to be perfect! With Christmas upon us, how many dinners will be ruined by not being faultless? How many family gatherings sullied by not living up to the Platonic Ideal? And, in general, how many art works, novels, poems and songs may never get made because of the imaginary standards we hold in our heads? In a seasonal special How To, artist Leah Hewson offers some wise advice.

Is starting hard?

Someone smart, possibly Voltaire, said that perfect is the enemy of good. It definitely makes it more or less impossible to get going. “Starting is hard if you have to, but you’re not ready,” says Hewson. “It’s hard when you have a rigid expectation of how things will go. Losing the fear of making mistakes is a good way to start.”

Sounds easy in theory, but what if I’m still scared?

“I like to start a few paintings at the same time. It takes the pressure off of each one and creatively keeps me loose. What’s left are the good ones, and usually one that I like to call ‘the humbling painting’. In other words: the shite one that keeps you on your toes.”

What if there’s too much “humbling” going on?

“Every once in a while I will have a hard day that remains particularly sticky. If this happens I give myself permission to get stuck and give up on the day. But in that contract I promise to myself that I will have a fresh start the next day, usually with a clear and achievable to-do list. More existential sticky issues might require a full week.”

Michael McGrath: ‘Nothing is ever as it seems. We’ve ended up with seven children, but we had loss along the way’

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A week in Center Parcs in Longford: Standing in the forest, you feel the money draining gently out of your bank account

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Paul Howard: I never loved an animal as much as I loved Humphrey. For 13 and a half years, he was my constant companion

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I do like a good list

Who doesn’t? On really bad days, you can always write down “have a cup of tea”, and then feel satisfaction as you cross it off. “If It feels like a borderline day that could go either way, I tend to begin with hoovering the studio or buying new paint. Something easy to achieve.” Hewson also suggests getting things moving by moving: “A little studio bogie, some kind of expressive messy painting task.” In writing, the fear of writing a terrible first paragraph can be tackled by deliberately trying to write a terrible first paragraph. It’s frequently never that bad, and you can always delete it if it is. Starting at all is the thing.

But what about that ideal that’s still living in my head?

“For years I tried to translate images and ideas from my head,” says Hewson. “But it always seemed to fall slightly short and felt like a limited way to be creative. I try my best not to have any expectations of what I want a piece to look like. I find this the most liberating way of creating because there are no mistakes, only potential outcomes. It gives space for you not to be afraid but also the opportunity to be surprised by what you create.”

So go on, surprise yourself. Let go of perfect in life as well as art. Looked at the right way, even the most disastrous Christmas dinner could be considered performance art. In fact, perhaps the most disastrous Christmas dinner should be considered performance art? Jingle all the way.

Leah Hewson’s work is currently on show at the Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts as part of In and Of Itself, until January 29th