The Power of Focus

As an artist or creative, focus can be a challenge.  With so many appealing options, it is so hard to not want to do it all!  Of course it is not only okay to try everything, but even encouraged. Vincent Van Gogh said, "Great things are done by a series of small things brought together".  At some point it all starts to come together.

My experience has been that true focus happens organically as you continue doing everything.  It often appears and may actually happen that some start with a focus.  The reality is that great success is born out of too many failures to count.  This is true in the world of making.  Every piece of art I create is a learning experience that has me thinking about at least one or two things I would do differently if the process were to start all over again.  Fortunately, somewhere along the way, my eye for perfection gave way to acceptance.  I accept that perfection is only a construct of our imagination and does not exist in this life, outside of the occasional moment or timing.  Even then, we are likely making some kind of perceptual compensation.  But, I digress.

Focus in art is the sweet spot.  It is the place of knowing where you want to take your art journey and setting a course of action.  In the studio we call it being "in the zone".  It is those precious moments where a single or body of work cooperates with your vision and acquired skills.  It is where creating becomes more deliberate, however fleeting, and the artist can feel in control of the outcome.  It comes in waves after many hours of no real direction, only doing.  Doing is the key.  We keep coming back around to that, don't we?

What was your favorite experience or moment of being in the zone?