The gap between taste and ability

January 13, 2014 thecraftsessions

Photo taken this week as a comparison.... Still learning but there has been some progress.

Last week, while I was writing the post about perfectionism I came across this quote on pinterest by the super Ira Glass of This American Life. And wow! So very encouraging and so very very true.

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

abridged version of a transcript of a video of Ira Glass from This American Life

You can find the original video of Ira here (note: the quote above seems to paraphrase it a little. I can't figure out whether he rewrote it or someone else did?). And some clever person has done it poster style here.

An example of my knitting and my photos from nearly six years ago - Anna and I looked through my Ravelry page last night and could clearly see a massive change in ability and style occurring gradually over those five years. I didn't know how to compose a photo (still learning this one) and they were all pretty dark as I was still learning about light and didn't know anything about editing.....nothing.

Like many people who enjoy making, there is often a long period of time when I am learning a new skill or even a new craft. And boy can that be a slightly demoralising process - not quite achieving the thing you were trying to. Especially when, the version in my head is perfect, so perfect.

Again, it really reminded me again of the quote from my lovely friend Anna's friend Gina (who I talk about in this blog post about being stuck) who says that "sometimes the piece you are working on is the piece you need to make, so that you can make the piece you really want to make". Or in other words, "sometimes you need to make bad art to make good art".

As the lovely Amy said to me this week on Instagram - sometimes we need to hear this stuff over and over again.

So - 2014 is the year where completionism is the name of the game! And that it is only after creating a body of work and making many mistakes along the way, that we can create the things we imagine.

This quote made the process just a little bit easier. As always I would love to hear your thoughts!!

Felicia x