Creating art for the sheer joy of creating something, and that something has come from inside yourself. Even if you copy someone else’s art, you still put a bit of yourself in there….unless it’s a direct copy or tracing!

I make art because I enjoy the process. A lot of the time, I don’t even know how it’s going to turn out, or even if it will end up in the trash, but I enjoy doing it. I enjoy the journey and the creation of something from inside myself. If it turns out well, I’m pleased. If it doesn’t, well, nothing tried and nothing learned!

When I’m feeling stuck, I get the most vivid colours I can find and splash them about!  Whether I want to or not, I just start. I call it ‘colour therapy’ and it just makes me happy to see bright colours splashed on a canvas.

Or I go on YouTube and watch others creating art, it rekindles my own need to create.

I create art for myself, primarily.

The sales will come later, as others will see what you put in there… it will resonate with someone at some point, and will sell if it’s meant to. Just don’t worry about it!

I hope this is some help to you.

JJ.

Hi again Luc,

I’m glad you found my post helpful. 🙂

I hope you have started your ‘just for fun’ artwork. Don’t let yourself think about if it will turn out ok. Tell yourself it doesn’t matter if it turns out ok or not, that the whole point of the exercise is to simply create something that you find pleasing.

A blank canvas or piece of paper is scary for some, and for others, an invitation to create something new. Don’t let yourself think that the time you put into creating something on there might be a waste of time, effort and money for the materials… just get stuck in and create it!

All artists have a fear of failure. I attend an art club, and occasionally we have a professional artist in to do a demonstration for us. At question time, I always used to ask if these professional artists had bad days, or had their art work go wrong. Without exception, all said the same thing – yes they do have days when their art work goes into the trash, they do have days where nothing goes right. When asked what they did about this, they all answered similarly… out it goes, start again. Shrug it off.

I gained a big insight from this. No-one is perfect at art, even professionals get it wrong sometimes!  Isn’t that enlightening! 🙂

I can’t wait to see it!  I hope you upload the finished artwork to this thread, Luc! 🙂

Hi there,

I am an artist both as a hobby and profession. I do graphic design to pay the bills and painting for myself. I dream of being an illustrator either for children’s books or for some kind of product. But I find myself hesitant to apply to those things because once money is tied to it, it changes how it feels to make art. It’s still fun, don’t get me wrong, but it’s now a job more than a passion.

I found a happy medium with design. I feel creative and make money, but it leaves my personal work with less pressure to please anyone else. I do enjoy trying to get my personal work in shows or selling at artisan fairs though. It’s nice to get your work out in the world and see people’s feedback.

i feel like this is really up to the individual, you have to find which ways you enjoy using your talents. Everyone is different in what lights their inner fire.

I used to get so uptight dancing or completing a wood working project. Trying to be perfect and getting so upset when I made a mistake.

One day I go so tired of myself I just said screw it. I wanted to make a toy chest and Instead of measuring a hundred times I measured twice and cut away. I used wood that was I had lying around that was warped, blemishes didn’t matter.  I didn’t have the tools to fix things and used what I had.  And you know what? It all worked. Every “mistake” worked and even made it better. It was amazing just going with what happened in the moment. When I wasn’t trying to make things happen and instead allowed things to happen – but with intention. A kind of doing by not doing I started to enjoy the process.

I had the same experience with my dancing. When I let go of expectations how things should be or look, and trying to fix mistakes instead of working with the “mistake” did I learn to dance.

The word Art comes with allot of baggage that more often gets in the way of art. It doesn’t have to matter if one of the intentions of your art is to make money. It can be fun entering into the consumers mind and discovering what they might like while adding something of yourself to it. Is it art? I think so but who’s to say… or care.