i have a little box of failed paintings that lives on my painting cart, and in it I recently found some gems. this is unusual for me because i love cleaning house and burning things in bonfires, but this box survived. and the other day una asked if she could paint with me, and, thinking it would be more fun to work on a painting that already had something going on, i reached for that box and i was surprised - i found lovely little paintings. ideas i am currently working on were present, and i saw that i had successfully executed them in the past. i also found half finished paintings that were full of life.

now i’m not so sure about those bonfires, but the cathartic release in burning things and clearing space feels so good. i hope i was discerning, although looking back at photos of half-finished ‘failed’ paintings, i may have burned some gems. i think, in some cases, i was too much of a perfectionist to let them be.

una and i had a good time painting together. she was ecstatic that i was letting her mix my paint with my brushes on my palette, and i was discovering how delightful it is to have a carefree collaborator.

so maybe don’t be too quick to burn those sketches, or journals, or manuscripts. burn some and clear out the clutter, but listen for whispers, and move those to a box somewhere safe. not too many (be discerning), but maybe one day you’ll pull one out and know just what to do with it. or you’ll see that you actually know how to do this already, or maybe you cull a few more and send them to another bonfire. just don’t be so hard on yourself. give it some time. we can’t always see a good thing, even when it’s staring us in the face.