Hello, it's been a while. Happy New Year.
Life has a way of throwing you off course, redirecting you and bringing you back full circle.
Even though I haven't been writing a blog post update, I haven't stopped writing or creating art. So, that is a plus.
As I stood before the easel wall today, mixing paints, essentially playing, I looked at my art and giggled as I thought in my head, this
looks like a five-year-olds art. And in reality, I'm very pleased to say so, I'm so glad it does.
Why should we artist be annoyed or demeaned for having fun and painting like a five-year-old. I still have a lot of my kids works from when they were five. And its free, fun and fabulous, to say the least. Did they care what they were making? NO!! they were playing, smushing around paint with any object they found handy, including their hands and fingers. Maybe somewhere in the back of their minds they were making it for someone, but for the most part they played, experimented and just had fun. The colors weren't realistic; they didn't need to be. The features weren't always recognizable to you but, they knew exactly what it meant. They were free from judgement to do anything they wanted.
As an artist, there are many days when I stand in front of a canvas and feel frustrated. Using the same tools, colors and marks. Feeling like whatever I am doing is going nowhere. But in my short time of calling myself an artist, albeit a young, beginning artist, immature in all the ways of a seasoned artist, I have found that playing is a huge part of the process. Allowing myself to mix colors, use found objects to create different marks, and just being free in my studio from any judgement, especially from myself. The biggest critic.
Because of this time to grow, I'm getting more and more comfortable putting my art in shows, sharing on socials and if someone likes it great, if someone says it looks like a five-year-old did it, even better.
On a recent podcast, the conversation about a well-known critic came up, and how he judged one of the podcasters work. I'm sure that it was hard to see and hear but if any other person, not well known had said the very same things, would it have been just blown off. Everyone is a critic, based on what they want to see, their favorite colors, their own styles of what they think art is. Yes, it's hard to hear unfavorable words but also.... Hey, you saw my work. It got your attention. And the information is a tool, to use going forward. If you trust that person's perspective, make some changes, if not keep being you. But always continue to create. Everything you have learned up to this point is experience.
