Rock on

I was thinking a lot recently about creativity and how it manifests and as I was preparing a short presentation on what it is or what it is not, I realized it needs so much time and space. In order to connect the dots, you really need to learn more about each one of them. It can be a stroke of genius, but most of the time, it is a process. As Elizabeth Gilbert pointed out, it’s beautiful to get inspired, to be visited by the muse, but when it comes, it better find you working. Creativity is work and it’s also a lot about letting go, unlearning and releasing oneself from the perceptions of what is art, beauty and creativity itself.

I have been also thinking about that work and the story about 10 000 hours that you have to put in to perfect something. Is that still a thing really?! Because I also remember the saying that was always repeated at school - repetitio est mater studiorum - repetition is the mother of study. Is it really so if you are repeating same mistake over and over again, if you are not looking outside the box, book or any other source?! Does practice really make it perfect or is perfect just a drip, a slip and fall away. In a small book I once published, I wrote “say yes to dirt” and I still believe that - making things tricky, dirty, inconvenient, unfomrotable and somewhat unusual, can really make everything look different, new, inspiring and rewarding.

I want to believe that we learn more from not only repeating, but also looking for the different angles, putting things into perspective, playing with its colours and questioning it all again.