Many years of coaching and counseling lead me to the conclusion that the source of most of our problems is the insecurity that springs from our sense that we don’t measure up. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in our art.
People talk about themselves and art in comments that seem to be connected to that same insecurity.
- “I am just not artistic.”
- “I can’t even draw stick people.”
- “A quick sketch.”
- “Self taught artist.”
So, I wonder then what makes something “art?”
Most people would agree that all four of the people who produced these paintings are artists, their works sell for high bucks, or Euros, or NZD…
And all must agree that they are quite diverse in content, composition, and style. Yet few would say they are not art, even if one did not particularly want to own one.
Here are two of my pieces that have received the most likes of anything ever posted on Instagram.
They do have some similarity to each other but are quite different from the four artists above. They would easily be accepted as art.
Our challenge with our art, and with much of life, is that we have come up with some kind of image of what our art should be like – “good art looks like…” Then when our efforts produce anything that does not look like that we are overly critical and we come up with disclaimers.
Art at its most basic should be an expression, Munch said, “I don’t paint what I see, I paint what I saw.” Or, our sketches should capture the moment, the feel of the time and place.
The best art is what makes the artist happy. Typing that I recall that it was one of Bob Ross’s tenants, that you should just have fun.
So I remind myself of this and any who may be too hard on themselves, just have fun.
theTravelsketcher 
The ‘don’t measure up’ statement is so true. As a child, I used to get my parents to draw for me if I wanted something specific because they were better at it than me – not that they ever stopped me from drawing, quite the opposite, and there was always paper, pencils and paint about, but it was something I believed. Anyway, that is my excuse! I have a sketch book and I have pencils.
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You get it, it is something we believe that is the problem.
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What you don’t allow for is that some people don’t have the capacity to have fun with art, Terry. Whether from conditioning or just lack of ability, if you put pencil and paper in front of me I have no idea what to do with it. I don’t even doodle well. But I love watching programmes like the Landscape and Portrait Artists. The work they produce is phenomenal xx
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I get that, yet the point I wanted to make was how our often erroneous standards are what prevents us in so many areas of life. I posted a blog a few months back about just putting a blob of color on a square, and a few folks have found fun with that. Some times even a scribble works. If it’s not fun don’t do it, for sure, but that is different from not doing something because it might not meet some standard.
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What is art indeed? In recent years I realised I had too many clothes. I tried to create a capsule wardrobe where everything goes with everything else but I love colour and having all neutrals would make me sad. I now rotate my clothes every 3 months with a different colour palette for each season. I’m getting more confident with what unusual colour combinations can interestingly work well together eg pink and green. I’m also now starting to get creative with how I wear things. On Saturday I wore a cardigan back to front with the buttons done up down the back. My husband complimented me on my new top not recognising it as one I wear the other way round quite often. This is really fun and makes me happy, arty if not art!?
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I love this, you get the point I was making for sure.
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I have been a so-called ‘art lover’ all my life . . . travelling around the world art galleries have always been the first attractions . . . yet, smilingly, you have made me think of what ‘it’ is all about . . . well, impressionism still draws me most . . . Lord only knows why but let it be . . . 🙂 !
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Yeah, my goal is to make us think.
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