Living in the scary…



If you as an Artist are not constantly facing self doubt, fear of failure and fear of criticism, walking against the establishment and worried whether your new work will sell or not because it is new, innovative and has never been done before, then I think you are not in the creative center of your world.
It is what I call living in the scary, that place where fear becomes your compass, because if your inner voice is not screaming at you saying, “Don't do this, people will laugh at you and criticize you and you will not sell and you will end up with no money living on the street and you will lose your family and you will end up living in a cardboard box and die.” Then you are not living in the scary.

Anything that is new and difficult and birthed out of your creative you, will bring on the scary and it will do all it can to stop you.
It wants you to live in that safe place where there is no scary and you try nothing new, where you can be mediocre and average and constantly repeat what you paint and not rock the boat, but always dreaming of a better place and great success, just dreams, this is a safe place where a lot of Artists live.
Living in the scary is a decision to change your creative world, to walk against the negative inner voice that wants you to only do what is safe, being safe is not the life of the true creative. You can never defeat the negative inner voice but you can use it to help guide you in your creative journey.
I certainly know what it is like to live your life trying to please others and always want them to like you, but it is a self defeating place where you allow this inner negative voice to control your life, safe yes, but you achieve so little because you are always afraid of what others think and it stifles creativity.
To do really great creative work, you cannot allow what others think to impact on you, some will like what you do, others will not.
Some will encourage you and others will critize you, that is life so you have to do what is best for your Art and you, that is to learn to live in the scary, where this negative inner voice becomes a compass not a roadblock.
I had to learn to use that negative inner voice of mine to guide not control.
Living in the scary is where creativity begins and blossoms.
----- o -----




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ISABELO TAMPINCO.. “ THE GLADIATORS".

Image
ISABELO TAMPINCO.. “ THE GLADIATORS" .                                                           “ GLADIATORS “    [ original title unknown]                         by ISABELO L. TAMPINCO. (19 November 1850 – 30 January 1933)      “ Gladiators “ is not the original title as that is unknown. We will do the description of the two sculptors but the sculpture that we will refer to as soldier “B” is in the National Museum of the Philippines and the title on the sculpture is, “ Soldier Unsheathing his Sword “, Isabelo L. Tampinco, plaster cast, ca. 1880's. Description of “ THE GLADIATORS “ [original title unknown.] cast marble. 30.5cm high x 28cm x 20cm. Base is round 21cm dia. 1....
Read more

Why don't people want to pay what my art is worth?

                                               Why don't people want to pay what my art is worth? I keep reading on an artists group pages again and again the same old question, “ I cannot sell my art for what it is really worth?” This is always a question raging in the art world, sort of the never ending question. Every artist has an opinion about this and it sometimes sounds like whining and of coarse they do not want to hear any opinions that differ from the fact, that their art is worth far more than they can sell it for. Of coarse my opinion comes from my experience with Galleries and collectors and of coarse artists and you may not agree with me and that is fine and I hope I do not upset to many people but lets take a look at the reality of the situation. First lets establish this that the price an artist can ask for a painting has nothing ...
Read more

“ I wish I had learned about this when I was trying to sell my paintings.

Image
Your weakest skill, sets the height of your success. If you don't know your best skill, you had better find out your weakest skill, because its the weakest skill that holds you back. As Artists we so often coast along depending on our strongest skills to get us through, never realising that it is the weakest skills that hurt us the most. Now I have learned what not to do, because as an Artist I never did this but after years in Galleries I wish I had, it was a weak skill that determined the height of my success. Question, “From your last exhibition or showing, what was the worst part?” Now you cannot criticise anyone or anything, this is all about you. I don't want to hear about the terrible Gallery, terrible economy or the terrible public who just didn't appreciate your work. No, no blame on anything, just talking about you. What could you have done better? As a gallery person I now sit on the other ...
Read more