Embracing the Blur

I’m legally blind. I’m not saying that to get sympathy, or be ‘inspirational’ in some way, this isn’t that kind of story. It’s so that, when I tell you I’ve got epic-level reading glasses, you’ll know I’m not exaggerating. 

I use these glasses a lot, especially when drawing or painting. They’re great. The magnification on these bad boys is so intense, my eye doctor refers to them as microscopes. But, just like most microscopes, the field of vision is tiny; maybe an inch or two radius.

Because of that, it’s easy for me to get bogged down in details, overwork a small portion of the painting and ignore the rest. If I’m doing a landscape, I literally miss the forest for the trees. I’ve gotta take the glasses off, pull back and assess the piece as a whole. Without the glasses, I physically can’t focus on detail: They don’t exist at that moment. Sometimes, that’s a good thing, in life as well as art.

Is there something frustrating you; some bit of the creative process that seems to have expanded to giant proportions? Maybe there’s some method or challenge that, no matter how you analyze or scrutinize it, seems insurmountable. 

Try this: Embrace the blur. Take off the microscopes and let the issue shrink, letting it settle into its natural place within the bigger picture. Sometimes, a change in perspective is all that’s needed to open up vistas and new paths forward. 

Stay fantastic.

With whimsy,

Amber