What is the Best Part of Creating - Process or Product?

Happy summer!  I am finally on summer break (second week in), and I have been creating like crazy!  Doing art every night has been so relaxing and amazing!  My inspiration antennae is up and running at full strength!  Before and during my creating process I have been journalling.  I journal every night about whatever is in my head.  The last part of the entry always ends up being about whatever project or projects I am working on, and new ones that pop into my head.  During several of these journal entries, I have contemplated an important question that I had never really given much thought to before; Which do I enjoy more-the process of creating, or the outcome of a piece?  For me, I have found, that it depends on the day.  However, I do lean more one way than the other.

Do I love the pieces that I create?  Yes!  Have I learned to be more fearless and forgiving with myself as I create?  Yes!  Do I enjoy trying out new techniques and products?  Yes!  But it has taken me quite some time to get to this point.  We are our own worst critic.  We tend to cut ourselves down and look for errors and mess ups.  I have switched my focus.  I pay more attention to the process than I used to.  Never before have I sketched out ideas and thought through the materials I am using and the look and feel of those materials.  This, however, has become my greatest ally.    This has also brought my focus more to the creation of pieces and not so much on whether they come out perfectly.  I enjoy the process of making art much more now.  I worry less about whether or not my skill is perfect, and more in the curiosity of  "what would happen if I did this?".  Each night when I journal, I think about how I can continue with the piece that I am working on.  I think about the stage I am in, the parts that make the piece a whole, and whether my plan is what I really want to do.  Sometimes I contemplate what materials I could use to present certain parts of the piece.  Sometimes I contemplate how best to place objects or focal points.  This has opened up my inspiration and creativity more than anything.  I look at other artist's creations, make notes in magazines about things I want to try, or like.  All of this "research" plus the slowing down of journalling through a piece has made me so much more confident in my creations; and it has made me love the outcomes! 

I should state that the sketches that I make for my creations are not the end all be all.  They are guides.  They are the baby bird that needs to grow.  And grow they do!  My end piece, while the integrity of the design is in tact as thought of in the sketch, it has morphed and grown into a more beautiful reality.  So, I guess you would have to say that I love the process for watching my ideas grow and morph into their full potential!  In the words of Life is Good (www.lifeisgood.com), "Do What You Like, Like What You Do!"

The following are twin paintings that were born one right after the other.  I planned them, thought them through, and enjoyed every moment of their birth.  I hope you enjoy them as well!  ~Peace~ S.