The Ups & Downs of an Artist's Life...

Navigating my way around the good & the bad...

Life! One minute you’re up, away, floating on a cloud. The next minute, you’ve crashed to earth with a bump!

But I’m reminded of the lines from Kipling:

“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same,”

Now, I’m getting too old to be bothered by the odd ‘amusing’ (!!) comment as in the right hand image; if there were more, and on a regular basis, I might have to have a word with myself. Remind myself that, as long as I enjoy what I’m doing, that’s all that really matters. And also, I’m of the age, that I’m not glued to social media, and am aware that I can block/switch off notifications etc. But I just don’t understand why people do this? Do they lead such sad lives? I would much rather cheer and support others, rather than try and knock them down.

Needless to say, when checking out this sender’s profile - there was nothing to see. No output, no content - nada, zip, nil, nothing…. And this reminded me of Theodore Roosevelt’s ‘The Man in the Arena’ speech…

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Theodore Roosevelt

Dealing with ‘less than positive comments,’ self-doubt and imposter syndrome formed part of my second conversation with artist Anna MacDonald;

You can discover more about Anna and her work on her website: annafmacdonald.com

Other people mentioned in the chat include:

Tracey Elizabeth Downing

Phoebe Minson

Gina Cross

If you’re feeling as if you might benefit from some form of mentoring, why not check what Anna, Tracey, Phoebe and Gina offer….

Regular readers will know that I’ve been trying out Janette Phillips’ latest course - Deconstructed Florals. I was also very lucky to have attended an in-person workshop with Janette this last weekend. She lives in a very beautiful part of the country, and to say that I’m jealous of the view from her studio is an understatement! (These images below aren’t of that view, but of the surrounding area taken by my OH - I was so engrossed in the course, I forgot to take any!!)

Cumbrian Vistas...

Anyhow, back to the course. Suffice to say, I came away enthused. Sometimes, when the creative muse isn’t flowing, I’ve a tendency to just plough on doing what I’ve always done; sometimes that approach works, but not always. Sometimes, trying something different, seeing how someone else approaches their work, what their processes are…well, sometimes, that’s what’s needed to be able to move forward. Not a case of ‘one step forward, two steps backwards’; rather ‘a pause, before taking a step forward’.

Now back in my own small studio, I’ve continued with the processes…and, as the rain fell, and the coffee cups mounted up, I suddenly realised that the morning had slid by in a profusion of large sheets of paper, fluid drawing ink and mark-making…

Two of my favourites...

It was one of those ‘light bulb moments’. I’d become so fixated on thinking that every time I went to paint, I had to create something worthy of selling, that it was stifling me, making my work ‘tight’, making me repeat the same things over and over… AND, because I hadn’t created anything that I thought ‘good’, I became more and more loathe to be generous with my materials - and so a vicious circle began…

I know, you’d think I’d know better, wouldn’t you? But sometimes, you just need someone else to point things out to you!

What’s that buzzword - mindset…? It never ceases to amaze me, the complexities of the human mind. I can tell myself a hundred times what I should be doing, but it’s only when someone else points out the obvious that the penny drops and there’s a shift in my ‘mindset’.

I’m going to print out, in large letters, ‘It’s all about the process; enjoy it!’

And all the rest will follow…..

Despite the weather, signs of spring are everywhere. Each day, a fresh delight; a burgeoning bud, a cloud of blossom, goblets of colour…and leaves unfurling. I’ll leave you with this poem by Philip Larkin. Or, if you’d prefer to hear him recite it, click here…

The Trees

The trees are coming into leaf
Like something almost being said;
The recent buds relax and spread,
Their greenness is a kind of grief.

Is it that they are born again
And we grow old? No, they die too.
Their yearly trick of looking new
Is written down in rings of grain.

Yet still the unresting castles thresh
In fullgrown thickness every May.
Last year is dead, they seem to say,
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.

Philip Larkin

Until next time,