Art and fear

Dear, deviantart fellow artists

We all fear for something - whether It's related to our art, lifes, decisions. We fear about how people will react, about how what we do can influence what will happen next. And we are humble about that. 

1. Fear of critique. 
People will always have their opinions about things. And sometimes they might say it out loud - whether It's a relative, teacher, random observer - the main thing is not to take things way too personal. If It's about your art - even though you put your heart and soul in it, don't be afraid to listen to advice (when it comes from someone whose opinion matters to you) and seek ways for improvement. Ignore trolls and surround yourself with people who support you and make you happy. 

2. Fear of not being good enough.
Just admit that you'll never be good enough and move on. There is always so much to learn and artists work all their lifes to get the skill and make artworks with an honest effort. As I mentioned in journal "Being Humble" we become by doing. Think about it as a journey rather than just focusing on destination. And it will get better. 

3. Fear about future as an artist. 
The path of carrer as an artist may be tricky and uncertain. People may sometimes not support you, even the closest ones, but you have to remind yourself why you do the things you love. Be also a realist and do something every single day to get closer to your goals. Think about how you'll be able to support yourself financially and realize that you don't have to be a "starving artist". Your future, quite frankly, is in your hands. 

4. Fear of blank page. 
Whenever you start a new painting or drawing the white, blank page can be so intimidating. It just waits for you to create something, but sometimes there is no inspiration. And that's why you should carry a sketchbook - take a notes of your ideas, sketch them as much as you can - later on they will help you on developing new stuff. Or just experiment a lot, play with shapes, silhouettes, colors, get something on canvas and work with that. 

5. Fear about time. 
Whether the time you spent is meaningful or wasted. You'll never now. Or you can be cautious - think if you procrastinate too much or you are in burnout. It's about finding the balance and maintaining it. Work hard, but take breaks. You know - we are all gonna die someday and it's up to you - do you want to achieve nothing or do you want to leave a mark? (not Mark of Cain) 


About me - I do have some of these fears, but not all the time of course. (I'm also a bit afraid of heights, falling and spiders).  I try to be positive, but It's not always as easy as it may seem. And you know - you just have to keep going, think about these fears as ways to motivate yourself. What is the worst that could happen and what you can do to prevent that, and make your decisions wisely. 

So, how about you - what you are your fears and how you deal with them?

This week I found some great resources - blog about traditional artworks and overall inspirational posts - underpaintings.blogspot.com/ , the review of amazing book -  The Art of John Harris: Beyond the Horizon spectacular fashion designs by www.robgoodwin.co.uk/ and a blog post - How To Accomplish More By Doing Less by Tony Schwartz that has the similar idea as the youtube video about productivity that I added in this journal.

P.S. I quite frequently post some sketches and artworks in my art tumblr - snowmarite.tumblr.com/. and I have a weekly Music Sunday post on aerismade.blogspot.com/