Alright I admit it, I am often a jumper. But, to be honest I would rather be a jumper than give into my alter ego the over-thinking perfectionist. Yup, I have that side too!
Sometimes being a jumper leads to embarrassment - the other day I did a facebook live with the phone in horizontal mode (my husband in my mind's ear - when you make a video, it should always be horizontal!) and since facebook is a vertical platform my whole feed was - you guessed it - sideways!
So I was mildly embarrassed. But, only mildly embarrassed. And even so, I was proud of myself for doing it in the first place. I like to think of that movie, Yes Man, with Jim Carrey, not an amazing movie, but YES, an amazing concept! If you don't just jump in and do it you definitely won't grow or even feel alive. The other thing to remember is that people are incredibly nice and supportive when you mess up. Thanks to Julie and Ginny I now know that next time I try a facebook live, I need to keep my phone vertical. And move in closer to my canvas so you can see what I am doing. So, it was a growing experience and next time my I will do better. :)
I approach a lot of things by jumping in and learning from them. In fact, I ALWAYS start my canvases that way. When I plan too much they are dull, predictable, and flat. But, when I just jump in there are wonderful surprises and new design challenges to figure out. And each day I try to push myself to just be brave and try. Admittedly, some jump-ins are better than others, but the journey is always worth it.
Besides, If I gave into that perfectionist, overthinking side, I wouldn't be painting full time and I wouldn't be moving to an amazingly beautiful place (in just 50 days!). In fact I probably wouldn't even paint as often as I do because I would live in the fear of messing up a canvas or wasting paint. But, it's just canvas and just paint and if I mess up I can go over it which often leads to better work anyway.
So what do you think, am I crazy to be a jumper? Do you jump? How? Send me an email and share your recent jumps that worked out or didn't.
I hope to hear from you!
Warmly,
Anne