What It Takes To Be A Painter
“If you hear a voice within you saying, ‘You are not a painter,’ by all means paint, boy, and that voice will be silenced.”
Artists put too much pressure on themselves. Not all of your work will be a masterpiece, and that’s ok. You won’t be proud of everything you make, and that is good. That means you took risks and tried new things. We have to be willing to try things that scare us. We have to be willing to be bad at things. Even if you never master whatever it is you’re longing to do, at least you can say you tried, and you can always keep trying. We have to be brave and do it scared. If your project fails, you are not a failure. You are not your canvas, and you can try again.
“ If your project fails, you are not a failure. ”
Art is one of those tricky things that is so subjective. Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder, and when one person loves a piece of art, but another detests it, neither are right or wrong. Make your art for you. Make art for the sake of making art and if other people are into it, cool. If other people aren’t into it, you don’t have to stop making it. You and your art don’t owe anything to anyone.
The only thing standing between you being a painter and not being a painter... is you painting. If you want to be an artist you have to have the balls to create it and if you choose to share your work, do it without fear of criticism. Because there will be criticism.
Also, to be perfectly transparent, I’m not writing this because I have mastered these concepts, but because I need to remind myself of them almost constantly to keep pushing myself to create.
In an effort to foster a creatives community I’ve started a Facebook group called Art is a Record, the same name as this blog. I would love for you to join in the fun as we discuss creative living, projects, art, and life.
