Ep 34. Facing Your Art Fears

SANDRA:
Welcome everyone to the show.

Thank everyone who’s been sharing their work on social media

Say what’s caught my eye

Bradly Burgin
Johanna Brown
Cassie Nobbs
Sheryll Martin

Ask Tara what’s caught hers

TARA:
Respond to above.

Ask Sandra what’s new

SANDRA:
Respond to above.

Talk about my painting going off to Belgium and my Prints

Talk about the videos

Ask Tara what’s new

TARA
Respond to above

Talk a bit more on the videos
SANDRA
In today’s episode, we talk about why it’s important to face your fears and draw what you think you can’t. It’s all too easy to stay well within our comfort zone, but daring to break out of it is an important part of being an artist.

TARA
By trying something you think might be really hard, you can sometimes really surprise yourself. You’ll never know what you are capable of until you try it.

SANDRA
Talk about how I began painting glass straight away because I thought it would be a good idea to tackle what I was most afraid of right at the start… and how it became my favourite subject to paint,

TARA
By avoiding what you are scared of, you’re only holding yourself back from progressing and you can find your art at a standstill. So if you are at a point where you are feeling ‘stuck in a rut,’ then it might be a sign that it’s time to push yourself.

SANDRA
Sometimes it can be more about being scared of feeling like a ‘beginner’ again. But you can’t learn without getting over that hurdle.

TARA:
Sometimes it can be more about fear of the end result. When you’re trying something different, it’s bound not to be your best work to begin with, and you have to accept that, because it’s all part of the learning process.

SANDRA
Remember, failure is not the opposite of success, but a stepping stone to success.

TARA
It might be that you’re afraid that you may never be good (enough) whatever standard you judge that by. But one way of making that a certainty is if you don’t try at all.

Something most artists are guilty of is comparing themselves to other, more experienced artists, but the reality is that they were once where you are and it took a lot of practice and failures to hone their skill.

SANDRA
I’ve always been afraid to draw in a cartoony style because there is a certain expectation of me now. But recently I’m experimenting outside of my online stuff and it’s fun.

TARA:
You need to work out what is ‘fear’ and what is something that you just don’t like drawing, the only way you can do that is try it. And sometimes you assume you won’t enjoy something, but when you actually try it, you can feel really different.

SANDRA

There’s nothing more disheartening than spending hours or even days of your time on something that ends up going in the bin. But those pieces are never wasted… You will always have learned really valuable lessons from them and you go into your next piece armed with that little bit more knowledge.

TARA

Fear that you are wasting time, what would people think, should you really be doing something else.

Fear that other people may not like your art if you decide to share it.

You’re scared that your expectations exceed your current ability, which could lead to disappointment and negative feedback if you share.

Suggest that people listen to a previous episode on ‘Dealing with Negative Feedback’
SANDRA
Fear of starting – we procrastinate so much, whether that’s deciding what to draw or because we have an idea we want to get out. the problem might be that you have a perfect image in your head that you are scared to ruin that.

TARA:
I was like this with recent paintings. I still have one in my sketchbook that I am holding back on creating in case it doesn’t look good.

Some people are scared are trying certain mediums, for example watercolour. You will hear how tricky it is and that can put you off. Sometimes I wonder if my dislike of acrylic paint is caused by the fact it slows me down because of my lack of experience. If I put the time in maybe I would like it more, and break that barrier. – When I was a kid I really did not want to use colour, I think this stemmed from someone saying they preferred my black and white pencil drawings. But of course this was only really the case because I did them more and so had more practice.

SANDRA
I used to paint with watercolours because I was afraid of oils – The mediums all sounded so complicated. When my friend finally persuaded me to give them ago, I never looked back. They don’t have to be as complicated as they seem.

TARA
Fear of being able to follow something you have just created. When you create something you like, sometimes it’s scary trying to repeat that in case the next one doesn’t work

SANDRA
Fear/worry of going to an art class or workshop – Sometimes the unknown is far worse than reality, even if people are better than you they’ll generally just try and offer advice.

TARA:

Finally read out the answers to our previous question…

The question was…

Q. What is the best piece of art advice you have ever received?

SANDRA
Dorothy Walker “Experiment and do original things. Don’t copy other’s work, such as in tutorials, but let yourself be inspired by them.”

TARA:
Deb Saine never compare your work with someone else’s … bad art happens, so move on … you learn more from mistakes …

SANDRA
Cybel Gonzalez Nin Don’t give up, just try another medium!

TARA:
Carol Vasenko Never give up! Especially on a piece you think is hopeless. Keep going. You can turn it around.

SANDRA
Mary Flynn Don’t be afraid to make the darks really dark

TARA:
Mary Flynn Don’t take rejection personally, if you don’t get accepted into a show don’t take it personally

SANDRA
Sheryll Martin Try new things all your life

And life will take you on an adventure..art is a new thing for me and I am enjoying the adventure

TARA:
Mummsy Savo To be proud of my accomplishments and post my work for feedback all thanks to KitC and the support of the group I’m never now embarrassed x

SANDRA
Sue Colter Lesch Great artists were beginners once, you are seeing their work after years of practice.

TARA:
Kim Hine The same one I am giving Miss five year old … look for the shape of things and draw those. Learning that has made my art more accessible.

SANDRA
Flottefort “It is only a piece of paper. …if you fail you can throw it away ” from my drawing teacher

TARA:
Dorena Belle Petty Actually it’s a quote that I read recently. ‘I don’t wait for the muse, the muse waits for me. I just show up.’ Akiane Kramarik, child prodigy who started painting at age 4. She said this at about 9 years old. She is an amazing artist! This really struck a chord with me, too often I wait for the muse, or the weekend or until the dishes are done.

SANDRA:
queeniexcviiKeep practicing and don’t focus on your style. Get the basics down and through your practice your style will emerge just keep practicing.

TARA
Laughingoutloudatuorme Redoes are ok! Keep at it.. Just never through it away & quit!

SANDRA:
King_ah_england” Don’t stare at it for too long, if your over thinking it take a break and come back to it later” -My Wife @vannessa.l.king

TARA:
gorgebikefitter”Let go of expectations and outcomes. Play.” That and a version of something said above, “It’s only paint and a canvas. What’s the worst that can happen?”

SANDRA

And we have a brand new question for you, which is:

Q. Where do you see yourself creatively in 5 years?

TARA:

As always you can Tweet us your answers at KickCreatives or let us know in the facebook group, which by the way if you haven’t already joined, I highly recommend that you do! We will put the question up there and also on the facebook page… and of course on our Instagram page, kick in the creatives.

Before we go, we just want to mention the challenges we have coming up for May.

So, first of all, we have a brand new challenge, ‘Blooming Marvellous May.

We are challenging you to create a piece of flower art, every day throughout May. You can use any medium you like such as paint, embroidery, clay, printing, digital or mixed media… You can even use actual flowers!

SANDRA:

We also see the return of ‘Miniature May.

We are challenging you to create a miniature piece of artwork, no more than 5 x 5 inches, every day throughout the month of May.

TARA:

We have Quick Kick May.

“Quick Kicks” are our monthly creative challenges that you can complete in 15 minutes or less per day.

For ‘Quick Kick May’ we are challenging you to create a simple drawing using your non-dominant hand, every day throughout the month of May.

This challenge stimulates the ‘creative’ side of our brains by using our ‘wrong’ hand. Studies have shown that when using our dominant hand, only one hemisphere of the brain is active, however by using our non-dominant hand, both sides of our brain are active.

SANDRA:

And finally, we have Kick Time May.

Kick Time is our monthly challenge designed for those creatives who would prefer to sink their teeth into one big project over the whole month, rather than to take part in lots of smaller ones.

And it’s designed for any kind of creative project. We will give you a prompt each month and you can use it to inspire a story, a poem, a piece of art, a piece of music, an animation, a film, a screen play… The list is endless!

The best part is that you get to work on any creative project, which is inspired by that word, for a whole month!

We will give you a brand new prompt word at the beginning of every month to use as your inspiration. The work for May is ‘Evolution.’

Don’t forget to pop over to our website at kickinthecreatives.com to find out how you can take part in some of our upcoming creative challenges! And of course there you can also subscribe to the Podcast, so you never miss an episode… And if you are enjoying the Podcast, we’d be so grateful if you would leave us a little review on iTunes, or even just a star rating if you don’t have much time.

TARA:

Also, don’t forget to check out and subscribe to our Weekly Youtube videos, ‘Art Kick Sunday.’ The videos are light-heatred and fun, but also genuinely informative too. So if you want a chuckle, check out the ones we’ve aired so far.