We bathe in the illusion of perfection. A touch of the keyboard brings videos, museum pieces, curated images: a tsunami of ideals. In fact, none of these arrived without effort. Like the feet of the duck, paddling madly under the water, every creator works hours, days, years to craft their art. I tell my students, great artists had trash cans too. We just never see what’s in them.

For most of February I struggled with tulips. The glow of their petals. The complexity of their leaves. Check out this time-line - just a fraction of the attempts. Notice how my attention traveled: from the simple fact, to color mixing, to the shape and volume, to the sheer glow. I’m not satisfied yet. Something explosive and colorful is coming. More work to do.

If you’ve been struggling with an idea, an image, take moment and read this. Successes like Dyson and Pixar go through thousands of iterations.. So have faith. Try again.