Uploaded March 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Perfectionism
Once we overcome the hurdles of fear
And drift and resistance
And actually reach the high water mark of
Working on our dream
The forces that worked to hinder us
Change or evolve and work to hobble us further down field in the form of perfectionism
‘Art is never finished, only abandoned' - Leonardo Da Vinci
Is as true a statement as there can be
When I think about the letting go and releasing of every album I’ve ever made
Or most any other creative act for that matter
For when we are working on our art
We are always in a dance that is very much alive
Like two entities breathing into one another
Or having discussions long into the night
Obsessing and living in each others atmosphere for more extended periods of time (even years)
So for an artist to finish a work
Is a kind of goodbye
As the work is born into the world
In some ways it’s like a death for the artist
And like any other goodbye
It tends to be a complicated event
Perfection doesn’t exist so to finish something
Is to accept the flaws that still exist
And allow them to be presented to the world
It’s a mind game
Because the flaws the artist perceives might not be recognized at all by the audience
But are typically glaring for the artist himself
I will always remember being mortified
Before my first album came out
When demons filled my mind telling me it was terrible
Much money was spent by the record company at that time
And I really wasn’t in any position to stop it
And start from scratch
Or else perfectionism might have gotten the better of me
In a way it was a crash course in overcoming perfectionism
Because I was forced to let go
And the first reviews of it were raves
Which proved the demons within to be liars
Added to that is the fact that an artist is like a shark always swimming in the sea of creation
And a work of art or an album
Is more than just a product
But an evolution in the artist development
And so the work following a work
Tends to rectify the problems of the previous work
So an artist will almost always favor the current effort over the effort of yesterday
Coupled with the fact that the current work is still alive
From the artist’s perspective
Naturally it will seem to be much more vital
And in fact might be
But also might not be
The artist has a distorted perception here
He’s too far inside to really see
And the mind is throwing phantoms against every wall
I don’t know the number off hand but I’ve probably made and released more than 20 records
And this strange dance has never not occurred
It’s never good enough
And yet in that perception or energy
One must simply let go
Or abandon
This old friend
This crusty dance partner
this disenfranchised lover
At the side of the road of public consumption
I’ve even released records that I refused to listen too
Once they were being mastered (the final stage)
Mastering is when records are eq’d and compressed
Where levels are evened out
And audio problems are addressed and rectified
To the degree they can be
Stories of artists tweaking a master to ridiculous degrees are common
As the demon called perfectionism torments and tortures them into wild submission
Obviously perfectionism is rooted in fear
And is fear’s final form in any act of creation
Fear is an evolving creature that comes along for the ride
From the beginning to the end
It changes as the process evolves
It too evolves
Determined to thwart or stop the process anyway it can
There’s no magic sentence I can write that would help anyone overcome perfectionism
For fear is simply a fact of life
And for an artist who is obsessive about their work
It is doubly so
What is helpful though is knowing that perfectionism to some degree or another will always be there
Being conscious of that reality
And how perfectionism operates is really the only way to overcome it
To recognize fear in all its many disguises
Along every pathway of creation
Including the end stages
For some as they evolve as artists this gets easier
And for others more difficult
Some artists stop creating altogether
And so there is no hard and fast rule when we discuss an artists relationship to fear or perfectionism
It’s a highly individual matter
Depending on the artist’s reaction
But the demon remains the same
An anti hero with a thousand faces
At the beginning phase of work
Perfectionism wears the face of procrastination
In the middle phases procrastination can become addiction
And once we are getting ready to finish it puts on the mask of perfectionism.
More info at josepharthur.com
Perfectionism
Once we overcome the hurdles of fear
And drift and resistance
And actually reach the high water mark of
Working on our dream
The forces that worked to hinder us
Change or evolve and work to hobble us further down field in the form of perfectionism
‘Art is never finished, only abandoned' - Leonardo Da Vinci
Is as true a statement as there can be
When I think about the letting go and releasing of every album I’ve ever made
Or most any other creative act for that matter
For when we are working on our art
We are always in a dance that is very much alive
Like two entities breathing into one another
Or having discussions long into the night
Obsessing and living in each others atmosphere for more extended periods of time (even years)
So for an artist to finish a work
Is a kind of goodbye
As the work is born into the world
In some ways it’s like a death for the artist
And like any other goodbye
It tends to be a complicated event
Perfection doesn’t exist so to finish something
Is to accept the flaws that still exist
And allow them to be presented to the world
It’s a mind game
Because the flaws the artist perceives might not be recognized at all by the audience
But are typically glaring for the artist himself
I will always remember being mortified
Before my first album came out
When demons filled my mind telling me it was terrible
Much money was spent by the record company at that time
And I really wasn’t in any position to stop it
And start from scratch
Or else perfectionism might have gotten the better of me
In a way it was a crash course in overcoming perfectionism
Because I was forced to let go
And the first reviews of it were raves
Which proved the demons within to be liars
Added to that is the fact that an artist is like a shark always swimming in the sea of creation
And a work of art or an album
Is more than just a product
But an evolution in the artist development
And so the work following a work
Tends to rectify the problems of the previous work
So an artist will almost always favor the current effort over the effort of yesterday
Coupled with the fact that the current work is still alive
From the artist’s perspective
Naturally it will seem to be much more vital
And in fact might be
But also might not be
The artist has a distorted perception here
He’s too far inside to really see
And the mind is throwing phantoms against every wall
I don’t know the number off hand but I’ve probably made and released more than 20 records
And this strange dance has never not occurred
It’s never good enough
And yet in that perception or energy
One must simply let go
Or abandon
This old friend
This crusty dance partner
this disenfranchised lover
At the side of the road of public consumption
I’ve even released records that I refused to listen too
Once they were being mastered (the final stage)
Mastering is when records are eq’d and compressed
Where levels are evened out
And audio problems are addressed and rectified
To the degree they can be
Stories of artists tweaking a master to ridiculous degrees are common
As the demon called perfectionism torments and tortures them into wild submission
Obviously perfectionism is rooted in fear
And is fear’s final form in any act of creation
Fear is an evolving creature that comes along for the ride
From the beginning to the end
It changes as the process evolves
It too evolves
Determined to thwart or stop the process anyway it can
There’s no magic sentence I can write that would help anyone overcome perfectionism
For fear is simply a fact of life
And for an artist who is obsessive about their work
It is doubly so
What is helpful though is knowing that perfectionism to some degree or another will always be there
Being conscious of that reality
And how perfectionism operates is really the only way to overcome it
To recognize fear in all its many disguises
Along every pathway of creation
Including the end stages
For some as they evolve as artists this gets easier
And for others more difficult
Some artists stop creating altogether
And so there is no hard and fast rule when we discuss an artists relationship to fear or perfectionism
It’s a highly individual matter
Depending on the artist’s reaction
But the demon remains the same
An anti hero with a thousand faces
At the beginning phase of work
Perfectionism wears the face of procrastination
In the middle phases procrastination can become addiction
And once we are getting ready to finish it puts on the mask of perfectionism.
More info at josepharthur.com
