Failure is the Terrain

Failure is the terrain.

I share my studio with Failure. 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, Failure was corrosive. Whispers, never shouting.

Disillusioned I would ponder to abandonment rather than sit with the discomfort of working through. I endured the sting until gradually, unexpectedly, it began to matter less. Not through resilience but through the poverty of retreat.

Acceptance changed everything.

Now, there is tolerance 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. Failure makes me look closer, push further, identify what actually gives the work its eloquence.

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