The Creative Process

Face it. Artists are a strange bunch. We work on our craft for months, perhaps years, before we consider any particular project complete. Then, as if by design, we look back on it and thoughtfully declare that it could have been better.

I've read that Michelangelo was a tormented artist. He never felt that his work was good enough; never felt that his work was complete. Likewise for da Vinci, Rafael, and many of the other greats.

With this in mind, do we debase our work because we don't want to appear pompous? Or, contrarily, do we really feel that our work is always evolving? Pierre Bonnard said, "A painting that is well composed is half finished." This is true of all great works of art, I believe. Writers could go on page after page and never feel their manuscript complete. Let's be honest: there is a little Tolstoy in all of us. I've often wondered about the thoughts going on in his mind as he wrote 'War and Peace'.

They say that the first page is the hardest to write. I feel that the last page is the hardest to write.

What do you think?