Taste Gap

Something interesting about art is that it shows what is within you on the outside.

You get to see what is rising up for you. And for the most part... it's not something else that anyone else could or would see. It shows where you hesitate, where you feel under or unsure. It reveals not only your skill level but also how you experience that skill level.

Do you judge yourself for that one teeny tiny spot? Do you want to crumple up the sketch paper after a few swipes? Can you forgive yourself for not being perfect? Do you expect to be the greatest artist who ever painted as you're unboxing your first set of paints?

Ira Glass famously talks about the 'taste gap'...

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

What shows up when you do something that isn't what you saw in your mind's eye? How are you judging yourself and holding to some sort of imagined expectation? Why does it have to be great on the first try?

Can you let yourself learn and grow and develop into what wants to come through you instead of trying to make it like something you saw or some external measure of 'good'?

As we develop and grow something comes out of us that we never could have imagined when we began. We're developing like a Polaroid instead of instantly arriving like a digital image.