The power of failure, some books to explore + a peek at Penelope's Journal

What would you try if you knew you couldn’t fail? What if failure is a good thing?

Fear of failure often keeps us from trying new things. And sometimes, it’s not even failure, it’s just the fear of looking foolish in the attempt, of not being perfect the first time out. As a recovering perfectionist, I know how often that fear has held me back. I might be getting encouraging words from everyone around me, but I heard the fear in my head instead and didn't even try.

Something I’ve learned over the years is that I often don’t learn from getting things right the first time anyway. Great lessons and the useful insights actually come from the very “failures” I feared.

In art, we often call these “happy accidents”, when a material doesn’t behave the way we expected and we get something way cooler as a final result. After enough of these “happy accidents”, you get braver with your materials, your attitude becomes more like: “I wonder what would happen if …”, instead of being hung up on guaranteed results.

I wonder what my life would look like if I’d taken that same approach to the challenges I came up against where I didn't know exactly what to do.

Of course, the thing is, it’s never too late to start. 

And here are some books to help you on your way:

Find Your Artistic Voice by Lisa Congdon
Are you feeling overwhelmed by too many visual options?
This book is full of advice and mini-interviews with working artists on
how they found their true creative expression and assures you that you can, too.
I borrowed this as an audiobook through the Vancouver Public Library
and it makes good listening, too.

Sketchbook Project World Tour
Sometimes the key to trying something new is seeing something new.
This book features pages from hundreds of sketchbooks by “ordinary artists” who created their work from their heart. If you want to view the fabulous creativity of the Sketchbook Project from the comfort of your home without buying the book, I very definitely most highly recommend going to their online digital library and searching by keyword. I would suggest the *perfect keyword* search options would be things you wrote down in your own brainstorming session.

Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon
An entertaining (and classic) set of 10 simple instructions for making your way in the world of art without losing your enthusiasm for play and experimentation. If you like his approach to art and being an artist in the world, you can also do what I've done and sign up for his newsletter where he tells you about Ten Things He Thought Were Worth Sharing This Week.

Your Inner Critic is a Jerk by Danielle Krysa
If the voice in your head is saying you’re not creative, this is the book for you. It’s got an answer for every argument. I also recommend her book: Creative Block, full of actual exercises to get you creating.

Going to finish off the posts this month with some pages from my journal. I really want to tell you (yet again) that I often don't know where my pages are going when I start. I'm not aiming for pretty. I just want to play with colour and quotes and have a little fun, and I encourage you to do the same.