265. Beginnings And Endings

You want to create a new artwork but you can’t seem to get started. You’re worried about beginnings and endings. You aren’t sure where to begin or how you’ll reach an end result that makes any sense.

You don’t want to start because you’re concerned that what you would make will be incomprehensible. You want your ideas to fit together into a consistent and unified form. You want the meaning of your creation to be obvious to you and to anyone who sees it. You want it to be clear and powerful from beginning to end and never confused or muddled.

You don’t want to start because your current position doesn’t feel like the true beginning. It feels like there’s somewhere else — a place that should come before or after where you are — and you don’t know how to get there. But the only place you can ever start from is where you find yourself.

You’re always in the middle, always in the midst of things. This looks like a problem, but it’s only a mirage. You can start where you are and explore in all directions. You have much exploring to do, but exploration takes place through the process of making — it isn’t something you can do in advance. It will happen as you work with your medium to bring your ideas into reality.

It’s from the middle that you must begin, and from there you’ll make your way towards the edges. As you do so, you’ll discover the beginnings and endings that are possible for your creation. You’ll see which meanings are already apparent and which are missing. But above all, you’ll create something tangible and this will be your most important achievement.

It is by creating that you learn how to create again. The practice of art making is just like any other practice in that you learn mostly by making mistakes. Your mistakes will show you new possibilities and it is from them that your future creations will be born.