The Art of Subtraction
Before I got into printmaking, I spent years in the world of digital illustration. My process was simple, or at least familiar: start with a blank screen, and then add. Add a layer, add a line, add a shadow, add textures... until I was finished. It was building from zero.
Then, I tried stamp carving. And let me tell you—it completely broke my brain at first.
Stamp carving starts with a finished illustration that you transfer onto a solid block of rubber. And then? You subtract.
You carve, you slice, and you cut away. Instead of thinking about what to add, you think about what to remove. “What is the absolute minimum surface I need to leave untouched so this thing still looks like a sunflower?”
This backward-thinking process amazed me and I fell in love with it. The art of subtraction.
And then another mind-blowing moment happened when I started applying this"carving mindset" to my actual life.
The Carving Mindset
Our natural instinct as humans is accumulation. We are obsessed with adding. We ask ourselves things like: “What do I need to buy to make this kitchen look nice?” or “What should I add to my routine to get fit?”
We rarely ask the opposite: What can I remove from my plate to achieve my goals?
Let's look at a classic example. Say you've been working yourself ragged lately. Your brain is a buzzing hive of thoughts, you're exhausted, and you feel completely overwhelmed. Your instinct kicks in: I need self-care. I'm going to sign-up for two yoga classes next week and start doing daily meditations.
Sure, yoga and meditation are great for you in the long run. But in the short term? Congratulations, you just handed yourself three more tasks for next week. You’ve added more pressure to a calendar that’s already suffocating.
But what about this: Instead of adding "relaxing tasks" to your week—you could take some tasks away away to carve yourself some time to relax. Instead of asking "what can I do to relax and care for myself this week?" you can ask "What can I not-do this week to make it lighter and easier?"
See the difference? The goal is the same. But one approach focuses on afforts, and the other—on making space.
…and in the day-to-day
I've started doing this every Friday morning when I sit down to map out the following week. I write down everything I think I should do, and then, I group these tasks:
1. The things that absolutely must happen
2. The things I want to do, and
3. the things I am going to intentionally skip this week. The subtraction list.
And it works exactly like carving a flower stamp. I still get to the end of the week with finished results, but I got there by looking at the block from a completely different angle.
So my tip for this week: next time you feel like you're drowning, don't look for a life jacket to add. Just look for something heavy you can drop.
