Keep it simple

"ICONS" my mural installation at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. On View until November 10th.

October.
Spooky season.
Best time of the year.
And a big month over here.

I just got done installing my show, "ICONS" at Southwestern University. If you're in the Austin area, check it out until Nov 10th.

It was a feat. The mural itself was 91' long and 13' feet high. It was ... a lot of painting.

And like most opportunities, it came at me fast. When I found out about it, I had one month to put it together. That's right... a month. So here's the theme of today's newsletter: Keep it simple.

Oftentimes when opportunities come our way, it's easy to get overwhelmed and do a creative U-turn (i.e. run away from them). We tell ourselves it's not the right time, we're crazy busy, we're un-prepared, etc.

But the reality is, life is always crazy and you are never really prepared.

So how do you grow your work and try something new and scary, WITHOUT getting overwhelmed?

This is the question.

Here are some ways I kept myself from getting overwhelmed on this project:

I thought about the one thing I wanted to EXPAND on in my work. This was the scale of my murals. I wanted to go big. This was the one new thing I wanted to try. Everything else, I kept simple.

I used work I'd already made.
I only used black and white paint.
I used flat shapes.
I got hired help.
I delegated like a mother-fucker.

So if you're working on a project, and it's getting overwhelming fast, simplify things. Pick just ONE area you want to expand in, not twenty. What's the one new thing you want to try? Everything else, keep the same. Operate in your wheelhouse. You'll stay sane, while surprising yourself in the process.