December 07, 2025

An email landed in my inbox this morning from Barney Davey.

https://artmarketingnews.com/good-enough/?sh_kit=127436ec290ddb0d5733423cbc400a61f558509048966c330b8c580127832806

I think the entire article can be summed up in this single sentence:

"If you give it your best, it’s going to be good enough—and maybe even excellent."

"Sometimes you realize that if you work a little faster and let go a little sooner, you still end up with something excellent, even if it isn’t perfect. It’s good enough. And the benefit of working this way is that you keep your momentum. You build inventory. You give yourself room to market without overextending.

And when you start catching a rhythm with this approach — when you trust it enough instead of fighting it — that’s when you discover something surprising:

Good enough is damn good.

Why “good enough” keeps you going

And here’s the part we forget: Good enough keeps you moving.Good enough keeps you in the studio, the notebook, the darkroom.Good enough keeps you in the conversation.

Perfection has a way of shutting everything down.Good enough lets you continue.

That continuation — not the rare pursuit of mastery — is what builds a body of work, a career, and a life in the arts. It’s where most real progress happens. It’s where most confidence is built. And it’s where most people find the joy they’ve been trying to earn through impossible expectations."

This is definitely something that's been on my mind lately. My husband has been telling me this very same thing. He believes my work is at the point where it's good enough.

But I am unable to stop at 'good enough.' I am constantly striving for perfection, which, of course, I will never achieve, as you can see by my work. This constant search for the unachievability of perfection means I never get anywhere as a 'professional,' which is something else this article talks about. It's something I need to learn to let go of if I ever want to be anything other then a hobby artist alone in my studio.

The desperate need for perfection freezes us. But allowing ourselves to be good enough moves us forward.

I used to be that person, constantly striving for perfection, and I never got anywhere and I certainly never got anything done. Now I've gotten better at letting go of my work long before it reaches finished status--as you can see from my drawings. They are definitely not impeccable or spotless, but at least I'm DOING something. And with every drawing, I learn a little more, about what I should do and what I shouldn't.

There's something to be said for not being frozen in place, even if you're not producing grade A work.

And so, because I obviously have so much more to learn--on to the next.