Lately, I have been thinking a lot about perfection. Sometimes I find myself paralyzed due to imperfection. I may rerun a loop in my head of an imperfect encounter. Or I might toss out a painting because I can see something in the piece that makes me nuts…a glaring imperfection. This desire for perfection has been in my mind for many, many years. Sometimes I can push it away but it always finds a way to haunt me.
Today we walked through the Parthenon museum in Centennial Park. The collection of 19th century American paintings is a lovely addition to Nashville. I love the landscapes and still life paintings. I like to visit them like old friends. One painting, in particular, caught my eye in a different way today. It is a lovely, large landscape of a pond in the Hamptons. The colors glow and the clouds are rendered beautifully, but I could see an imperfection! This painting spoke to me in an entirely new language. I finally understood my own obsession and how I NEED to let the fixation on perfection go.
I came home and painted this perfectly imperfect sock monkey. Thank you for reading.
My best,
Emily Warren
emilywarrenart.com
www.instagram.com/emmywahwah/
www.saatchiart.com/emilywarren
