“Try not to erase.” Those were instructions from the art teacher in the beginners drawing class. A class that required years of excuses before I finally signed up. And now, as the teacher was attempting to take away the one thing that could hide the evidence of my mistakes, I felt certain those words had been spoken in error.

It seemed like ill-advised guidance that only a professional of their craft could offer. But, the more I created, the more I understood the basis of the “Try not to erase” philosophy.

Erasing, in many cases, was a waste of my effort. A security blanket that feed my idea of perfection more than it did the finished piece of art.

It was rarely the case that a line I had drawn was “wrong”, it was my perspective of the line that was off. Which meant that erasing, without changing my perspective, would only produce the same result.

“Try not to erase” is an understanding that our perspective guides us. And until we step back to reassess our perspective, we will undoubtedly keep drawing the same mistake.