Fear of action. Fear of results. Fear of showing your art and never getting started. Why some people never show their art, or never finish.
I just recently watched videos of Chris Guillebeau and Jonathan Fields. They gave talks about Fear. Each video is about 18 minutes long, and I recommend that you watch them. I would summarize what they talked about but I don’t think I’ll do them any justice. You’ll just have to watch the videos. http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/turning-fear-into-fuel/
I for one have put off for so long of presenting my ideas and artwork simply because of fear. I was afraid of what people would think. My thoughts became crowded with questions that would produce doubt. Is there grammar or spelling errors in my blog posts? Is my art work sloppy or does it look like a child’s painting? Am I a good enough artist to show my work? What business do I have to put my work up for sale if I’m not a good enough artist with any formal art degree? The questions go on and on and on. At some point you have to stop the madness and silence those voices producing questions of doubt and lack of confidence. This is fear of failure. So what if I fail? If I make a blog and show my art what is the worst thing that can happen? * … You should answer this question for yourself.
My point is that you should not let fear get in your way. Yes you should be open to criticism, and yes you should consider using some of it to try and improve your work, but don’t let that ever, ever stop you from creating new work or even slow you down. Don’t spend too much time over-correcting yourself. Just note what you need to get better and move on to the next piece. You will get better over time. I recently discovered a secret something that may or may not blow your mind. Ready? You can sell art with mistakes. You can sell art that has flaws and is not perfect. You know what else… People will buy it.
Yes I’m sure my art can be better, Yes I need to practice, Yes I’m sure my website could be better, Yes I’m sure I may be making mistakes with the structure of my site, yes I’m sure I can have a better bio, yes I’m sure my store front can look better or be improved, yes I’m sure I can have better image quality, yes I’m sure I could learn to write better, yes I’m sure I can learn lots of stuff from other professionals that have done the same as I as far as blogging etc, yes I’m sure A can be better, B could be better, C could be better and so on. But you know what. If I wait for all that stuff to be done, to be perfect. I will never get started, I will never get better, and I will never help anybody. My friend Charlie Harper came up with the slogan: “Go as you Grow, and grow as you go.” Mistakes are made to be corrected, but you will always wind up with nothing if you produce nothing. Do you need permission to do art, or blog?
What is keeping you from blogging with your art, and what is keeping you from selling your art?
Thanks for stopping by.
Beau Gauthreaux
beau@artandmotivation.com
*(That is for blogging with your art, but if you want to hang your art in galleries you need to be prepared to answer tough questions presented to you by the curators, galleries, and critics http://www.artbizblog.com/2010/06/judges.html) (artbizblog.com is a great site btw).