Monday, June 20, 2016

Stop worrying and make something!

Sometimes the fear of not doing something well prevents us from even trying. Isn't that silly? Unless you're about to try sky diving without a parachute, you are probably not going to hurt yourself in an attempt to do something artistic or crafty.

I know this and still sometimes put up emotional obstacles. I was doing that again recently until my inner voice told the outer me to stop this and just make something! I'm not looking to sell my work so there isn't the stress of public acceptance. I'm not expecting anything I make to hang in a museum. My goal is to learn and to have fun, so why was I beating myself up?

There are long answers, short answers, unrelated answers and no answers. The good news is that I am done with that again, hopefully for a long while. When the inner voice reminded me that I'm not in competition with Mother Nature, my instructor or the people on either side of me, I knew that was right and calmed down and enjoyed creating again.

Here is my proof:
Amaryllis

Dogwood

Trillium

These are all class assignments with one more that needs to be restarted. Botanicals scare the heck out of me. Isn't that silly? I can't keep a plant alive but that shouldn't apply to painted plants.

There is something in each picture that I really like and at least one thing that causes me to wince in each, but overall, I am happy and plan to frame each one.

I would like to say that I'll return to these images and paint them again, starting over fresh, but honestly. I have so many things that I want to create, that might not happen.  The objectives of each class will hopefully stick with me and allow me to merrily flit from one project to the next.

Edited to add: Here is a photo of them framed. By framing standards, these are not expensive, but they are matted, under glass and were sprayed with a sealant the day before framing.

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