Do you dream of being an Artist? How Much do you want this?

To be an Artist! Are you happy to be a social or leisure painter? Do you enjoy a weekly art session, because of the people you meet and the conversations you have? in other words, because of its social and theraputic benefits?

After all that is how and why many people choose to take up art in the first place. But don’t you sometimes dream of being a ‘real artist’? and wonder what it must be like? and how someone like you, might go about getting more serious about their art and creativity. Do you ever say to yourself,  Q) “How could I be better at my art”?  Do you ever think that perhaps you’re only ‘dabbling’ at it in a casual way?

I began, as many do, in an art class situation, once a week, and going from idea to idea week by week, but never really progressing. Very early on I realised that I was never going to get good enough this way. After all if it was the Piano I wanted to learn to play, I know I would have to spend time each day, practising over and over again, between regular weekly piano lessons with a qualified instructor. So why would Art be any different?

Oh it’s a ‘gift’, a ‘natural born talent’, you were born being good at drawing! No No No! That is so not true.

So the real question is “How much do you want to learn”? ( I deliberately chose not to say how ‘badly’ ).

It has always been a belief of mine, that if something is worth doing, its worth doing properly, to the best of your ability, so I realised early on that I had to invest more time and effort, to try to learn the basics properly and to make some real measurable progress, which I had rarely done before, often feeling that I was ‘going backwards’ rather than progressing.  I needed to make changes.

Are we thinking alike, does the above ring bells with you? I always enjoyed drawing and painting, even in those  early days when I wasn’t very good. It is important that you enjoy the process of creation, in fact it is much more important than the outcomes. If you enjoy the process, you will be more likely to spend time practising and improved outcomes will inevitably follow. As day follows night, the more you practice, the better you will get.

Here are 10 ground rules:

1) Practise more often, it’s a ‘numbers game’, have you heard of the 10,000 hours theory?

2) Stop judging your results against other peoples. Measure your results against your earlier works, so date or number them to help you.

3) Even better, stop worrying about your outcomes altogether. Instead, enjoy the process of creativity.

4) Remember the more you practise, the better you will get.

5) Yes, and you will need a teacher or a mentor, to explain your next step and show you how to rectify faults. Ensure they know that you want the truth, ‘especially if it hurts’.

6) Failures are essential steps in the learning process. Without failures, you can’t learn. So learn to accept them.

7) As you progress, your confidence will build. You will also have fewer ‘failures’.

8) As your confidence builds, so will the number of positive comments. The ones that really matter though, are not from family, but those from your teacher or other artists who you know to be further along the learning path.

9) Don’t keep changing mediums, or equipment, stick to one, until you feel you really understand it, ‘inside out’.

10) Never give up, or let someone else’s negative comments stop you on your creative journey. I know so many people who said, “I worry about negative comments from passers by”. Don’t you think Joshua Bell or Nicola Benedetti heard negative comments when they started out on the violin?

There you are: Ten Ground Rules! It won’t be quick, it won’t be without difficulty, but it will be immensely rewarding in the long run. Ah Yes – don’t bother with all those books and DVD’s, you don’t have time. Just get sketching or painting, see rule 4) above!

Good Luck!