Failure is the Terrain

Failure is the terrain.

I share my studio with Failure. I know this because Failure keeps my hours, and on occasion generously accompanies me home when I’m feeling extra low.

Nothing emerges faultless. When Failure stumbles, quick wins ensue. Momentum restored, doubt silenced.

For the works that were not immediate, the ones that I toiled over, Failure was corrosive. Its voice left me angry, so disillusioned I would abandon projects mid-flight rather than sit with the discomfort of working through. I endured the sting until gradually, unexpectedly, it began to matter less. Not because I grew thicker skin, but because I stopped fighting what was always going to be there.

Acceptance changed everything.

I am now more comfortable with Failure’s presence. More than that—Failure has become the companion who asks the questions I avoid, who points to what isn’t working before I waste months pretending otherwise. Failure makes me look closer, push further, identify what actually gives the work its spine.

What I once mistook for an ending is really just the middle of the process.

And so Failure remains a steady presence that pushes me toward results I wouldn’t have had the courage to find alone.

You need courage for Failure.

And still, occasionally, there are days that I prefer to be alone.

#artistic failure #art and courage #fine art process #creative process #embracing failure #anne michael artist