Imperfection

Good morning, friends :)

Today I've got a little story to share with you. 

I learnt the hard way that if you paint watercolour over top of a Kuretake calligraphy pen, the pen will run! Big time!
As you can probably see, the lettering was done with different pens. The two lines of Calligraphy pen ran. They would have been fine if I hadn't been too impatient and lettered the words first (FIRST! Can you believe me? Neither) then watercoloured over the top!!
Oh dear. The price I pay for my impatience.

I'm not a perfectionist when it comes to life in general. (I tend to have a 'she'll be riiiight' attitude rather too often!) But when it comes to my art... I like it to look pretty. I want it to be beautiful. Imperfection is just plain old annoying!

So in times like this, when you make a major botchup (and it wasn't even a mistake - it was just because I got impatient *ouch*) what do you do?

You learn from your mistakes, of course!

As Thomas Edison so famously put it - he didn't fail, he just found a thousand ways to make a lightbulb that didn't work.

I'm not failing when I make art I'm not happy with. I am learning. I am gaining valuable life lessons along the way.

And then when I'm looking through my art book, admiring some art and flipping quickly past other pages, I'm reminded yet again of my imperfection. And of how I'm learning so much through this. How we can't rush things. How impatience is never a good idea.

I'm not going to try and 'fix' the blossom tree painting. I could try. And I think it probably would work. Because I learnt something through botching it up. And every time I see it I'm reminded of what I learnt.

So here's what I've learnt:

• Imperfection is a great teacher if you will let it teach you. 
• If you don't learn from your mistakes, there was no point making the mistake.
• Never give in to your impatience. Especially not when you're contemplating watercolour painting over a Kuretake calligraphy pen. ;)

PS. A big thank you to the lovely Margaret from Happy in Heels for her guest post on Bonnie's Blessings! It was lovely to have a bit of a break. Thank you!