If we don’t know where we’re going, how do we know when we’ve arrived? So often we set out with a vision of what an artwork is going to be. It’s the whole reason we start it. We begin with the end in mind, and we work towards it. But maybe that’s setting us up for disappointment. What if we don’t get there? Or worse, what if we *can’t* get there with the skills we’ve got right now? As artists, so often our expectations lay just out of reach of our ability. That’s what makes it an infinite game. And while, in some ways, that’s what makes our art a life-long pursuit, it can also be terrifying along the way.
Maybe there’s another way.
Maybe, sometimes, we need to fling something at a canvas with no intention or plan, just to see what happens; respond to what’s right in front us, instead of what’s in our mind’s eye.
It might not get us to where we thought we were going. It might be really uncomfortable to feel that we’re flying blind. But maybe ‘no destination’ is exactly what we need to take the pressure off. If not all the time, just once in a while.