Friday, April 15, 2011

Failure's siren song

Mild panic last night, when I sat down to play with more of these images and hit a series of fails.  It's not all that amusing, actually, when that fail voice kicks in.  I'm sure you've heard it; its song goes something like this:

Okay, kiddo;
you've blown it now --
foolish of you,
to have assumed you'd finally found something
you might actually be good at,
because really
that was just a fluke
and you don't actually have
any gifts, or any vision at all;
more like one of those monkeys
who just happened to get lucky
and type up a Shakespeare play...

It was, therefore, reassuring, to try again this morning and find there might still be something there...

The good thing (and there's always a good thing) is that the failure voice can keep you humble, and grateful; can remind you of the blessings in each gift, and the fragility of all our expectations.

The bad thing is that it can so quickly derail you.  But I'm made of tougher stuff now; I don't cave at the first recitation...

A friend sent me this marvelous example of failure's siren song: enjoy! (Warning; some offensive language ahead)

4 comments:

Maureen said...

That's the spirit. This image is another I like a lot. I'm fascinated by what you're doing with these; their full of textures, incredible colors, both abstract and representational.

Kimberly Mason said...

I've heard that voice! That's an evil voice. :(

I have one girlfriend who calls her my Evil Pollyanna, "It's okay that you suck so bad. You were never good anyway, so you shouldn't be upset ..." and so on.

I'm learning how to shut her up. :P

Joyce Wycoff said...

I truly love this series of images. You are such an inspiration to me.

S. Etole said...

These images you are doing are fascinating.