How Do You Work Thru Difficult Times?

"Splish Splash" Oil 5"x5"
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This is a quote from a newsletter I read this morning: "When You’ve Hit The Artistic Wall: Frustration and Creativity"...By: Lee Hammond, August 27, 2014.

"I know it’s difficult to not take bad outcomes personally, but that’s what we do. To truly succeed as an artist, you must move through it, and know that art isn’t easy. If it was, EVERYONE would be doing it! I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: There is a reason they call it Art-WORK!"

This is something we, as artists, deal with many times. Not all our art comes easily! Many times we wonder ... as the successes come, and then we become a little dissatisfied with our progress... why?

What questions do you ask yourself?

Do you work through a painting that is giving you fits? Or ... do you say to yourself, I think I'll play today with my art and just see what comes out of it?

The painting above is one I did several months ago when I was feeling very frustrated... so I changed the medium (pastel) I was working in at that time, to this one (oil). And, I decided to work small and not feel the pressure of having a lot of art supplies tied up, or time, ... and I actually did three paintings... oooh, let's call them pieces of artwork, that morning.

Another thing I do, is take the pressure off by not calling them paintings! It sounds silly maybe, but it works. It frees me up to have loads of fun and not care quite as much about the outcome. This was not for a show, or a gallery, or to sell... but guess what? It worked, I loved the freshness of the pieces, and chose not to go into them and try to correct every little thing that "could" be considered wrong!

When I do pieces like this... they get relegated to my "Studies" group of artwork! You might be surprised at the price of this piece, unframed... have a look! And, enjoy!