Seeing Red

I have many deadlines these days and it just so happens, the ones I set for myself are the last to be completed. This piece has been in the works for two weeks though it sat in my head for most of that time. The composition that locked itself in my thoughts doesn't look like the one above as my work tends to morph when pencil hits paper. However, I was seeing red and red it was going to be.

Deadlines can affect creativity in a big way. I've been dealing with them for at least nine years in creative settings and noticed that they've changed how I approach my own work when deadlines should be non-existent. Everything I do seems to be tackled with speed and efficiency.  How many times have I heard "I need five more drawings by lunch!" and lunch being fifteen minutes away?

There is pressure to make every line count and if you get a couple chances to do over or rework, then life is good. I'd love live without deadlines. Maybe this blog, ahem, weekly blog, will help me break out of time sensitive creativity. Why not let the work dictate when it's done? Maybe it's more effective to create a deadline when to start something rather than when to finish it. Both these ideas seem reasonable and attractive. So why is it I gave myself a deadline to start this blog and impose weekly deadlines within the year long deadline? Good question.

Perhaps deadlines are linked to focus and without focus we become lost. I like to wander but only when I know where the road is and which way it goes. So, my personal view about deadlines? I like them and work fairly well when the crushing pressure to be skilled and creative looms large. There isn't a place for them in the work I'm attempting to do here though. I'll acknowledge the weekly turn-around time to the best of my ability but outside of that, it's time to s-s-l-l-l-l-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-w-w-w-w-w-w down. Case in point, the work above needs a lot more ... work.