"Imperfectly Perfect"

PERFECTION

What does it really mean anyway? 

Trying to be "Perfect",

Trying to make things look "Perfect",

 Trying to appear "Perfect"

But what is it really?

I've realized that I suffer from perfectionism sometimes just like all of us do.

I try my hardest to be everything to everyone but quite frankly,

 I'm exhausted!

Today I was thinking about this concept and I came across an old piece of wood at my parents house.

 It's part of a fence picket that was old and broken and probably should've been discarded

 but my Mom and Dad save wood.

 They always do and they find ways to reuse it in one way or another

 even if it's to prop up a flower pot.

So I picked up this piece of wood and thought to myself how it was wonderfully

"Perfectly Imperfect".

 I looked at it and could just SEE it.

I saw the life it had, holding up a fence at one time or another,

 brand new,

 just ready to be part of the best fence it could be.

It had some strong years where it simply just was part of a fence.

It knew what each day would bring and what was expected of it.

Slowly, the fence was moved and taken apart as the yard changed,

but still it reassembled as it should,

 strong and steady,

 part of the fence.

Year after year,

It did it's job of what was expected of it.

But somewhere along the way, it started to wear down,

There was a weak spot.

Maybe where nails were driven into and out of,

or places where dogs rubbed up against it

 and children kicked their soccer ball into.

Slowly, slowly over time it wore down into a smooth surface

until it wore down so much

 that it just broke in two.

Set aside to find a new use.

I picked it up,

It was weathered and jagged but it had so much character.

This discard, this broken thing was so very beautiful.

I took it home and just studied it for a bit.

Then I pulled out my chip art tools intending to use them on a piece of

chip art then to attach it to the wood somehow.

But I thought for a brief second, what if it worked on the wood?

It did!

The softness of the wood as I hammered the tools into it felt as if the wood was saying,

"Yes, please make me into something."

"I want to feel useful, to have a purpose."

I began to create.

(I lined up my paints perfectly.)

I squeezed the paint into a perfect little circle.



I found some cool things I might use and cut out a bird

 and place a chip art heart onto it of course.

I found this cool old cruppled up velevet and paper flower pin

 that once belonged to my great-grandmother. 

I start to layer it into a nest on top of some cool crinkled paper I'll paint over.



I paint and place the bird into the nest.

I paint in the letters.

I paint over the paper and cut it out so that the real wood knot shows through

and is incorporated into the tree.

When I finished, I looked at it and realized how simple it was.

This broken piece of wood,

became

"Perfectly Imperfect".

To me, it showed me that with all of my flaws,

with all of my "weak spots",

With all of my knots and jagged edges,

I am still perfect just as I am.

I am me.

And that is just how I was meant to be.

If I listen to that statement and keep it in my heart

then maybe, just maybe I will feel

"Perfectly Imperfect" and like it just for me.

This project was created by looking at things in a different way,

 trying new things, love, sweat and my own two hands and

 Handmade by JillyG.

 Just as I am.