Life sometimes gets in the way of what gives you energy so I need to remind myself regularly of what makes me happy, to force myself to make time for it, to get rid also of my imposter syndrome, to get past difficult thoughts…
- Tell myself I don’t need to make a masterpiece!
- Tell myself that I’m not drawing a building, but a bunch of lines going in different directions! In what directions are the lines going? Just put that onto your paper.
- And not everyone will find it beautiful and that doesn’t matter.
- Tell myself that yes, everything has already been done before, but not by me/you so just do what you feel like.
The more you create, the more you practice, the closer you will come to find your comfortable drawing line, and your own style, your way of expressing yourself, like when you practiced writing by hand, and you created your unique handwriting.
Do you still write by hand? It’s so iomportant: writing by hand, instead of with the computer and phone, makes new connections in your brain.
Make, make, make. Don’t wait for inspiration. I think it’s Picasso who said: Inspiration will come, but it has to find you working.
I just published a new online class on Skillshare: “Drawing Made Easy: Drawing Buildings Without Perspective Rules“, because it’s something I tend to forget: look at the building as a bunch of lines, and the drawing will go so much easier, than if you draw a roof, a window, a door,….. because life is too short to count windows…. It’s so much more fun to just draw “a bunch of lines”. It takes the pressure off.
And then I got a review telling me the audio was difficult to hear in some of the videos! I was devastated! Because the perfectionist in me was screaming the whole class was crap! I reworked all of the videos to make the audio good. Well no: my husband reworked all the videos… Thank you, Serge! 😉
And I’m wondering now why I react so emotionally when someone gives a negative feedback?
We shouldn’t take negative feedback so emotionally, but when we make something, we sometimes treat it as if it were “our baby”…. It’s not our baby. It’s just a drawing, a painting, a video,…. 😉
So let’s stop being so hard on ourselves. When you beat yourselves up it just makes you tired and unmotivated to continue making things. Talk to yourselves like you talk to your best friend!
And make more art!
Seek out people who understand, appreciate, and like what you do. You can’t be liked by everybody!
Nurture those connections. Be positive and share your enthusiasms. Go sketching outside with like minded urbansketchers. Urbansketchers usually encourage eachother. they don’t judge and criticise. They just want to go out sketching (and drinking and eating ;))
Enjoy yourself.
Choose joy!
I’m beginning to rid myself of that critical “voice”. It’s odd – I know from experience that “doing can bring out good skills”. I’ve kept a written journal since age 8 – I’m now 65. I’ve been told I write well. And I know my skill in writing comes from keeping a journal. (still, knowing that and then starting over at the beginning with art is hard, like going back to school I guess).
My other block comes from my dad – and he would absolutely not want it for me. He was a professional artist, trained at a very good art school – The Cleveland Institute of Art. (he raised 6 kids with his art). My life was filled with art, his and his friends. We saw him work, we helped at art shows, we had many paintings on our walls. Surrounded by that put a standard on me, and it’s hard not living up to that. But now I’m working on 1) figuring out my path, and 2) remembering dad’s line – when he was asked how long it took him to do that painting, he’d say “30 years” or “35” or “45”. All that he learned went into each painting. (I’d forgotten his stepping out of HIS comfort zone. He once bought 2 used kilns and worked on making glass ashtrays/art displays. Lots of trial and error before he found the right temperature. Until then, the glass broke.
Oh Yes Mary ! That’s such a valuable story !!! As you write: he would absolutely not want it for you….
And like he said so well: it took him 30 year to make that painting….
it’s all about skills and doing it a lot!….
you might not feel you’re “as good as your dad”…. but it’s mostly probably also that what you make is very different. Not necessarily less good. It will be loved by other people…. your “mistakes” will determine “your style”….
The main part is to find something with which you have fun doing it… so maybe using some different art supplies, mixed with writing in your art? you write really beautifully!