Could I have had more fun this past Saturday? I think not. I packed up all kinds of fun art things ~ paints, brushes, pens, papers, beads, ribbon, lace, paper punches, fancy edge scissors, rhinestones, stamps & ink, glues ~ you name it ~ and visited my fellow artist, Devin on the west coast. I’m not sure which of us looked forward to it more, but I know we both had a fantastic time!
Please forgive the photos quality ~ I forgot my camera (!) but Captain Hubby used his cell phone to capture the day.
I unpacked all the goodies while Dev’s grandpa (and good friend of ours) made me a Mimosa and off we went…snipping, gluing, stamping ~ the creativity was flying, I tell you.
We of course, had to make Paris cards since it is the City of Love…
Devin had to make a card using her favorite color ~ sunny, daffodil yellow!
Then we had to make cards for each other, of course!
Uh, oh, getting later in the day and the artists are getting surly ~ I think this one should be titled, “Thank you very much, Grandpa, but we don’t need your opinion!”
Let’s show off our dirty hands!
These certainly do look like well-worked artists’ hands, don’t they? 
::sigh:: time to clean up….
Besides all that awesome creative energy sharing ~ Devin inspired me in more ways than she likely knows ~ I really enjoyed the conversations we had while we worked. It was easy to often forget I was chatting with a 9 year old.
One thing we talked about has stayed with me and I was going to write her a private letter with these thoughts, but decided to make it part of this post because I KNOW Devin and I are not the only ones who struggle with this issue…
Devin mentioned more than once that my art was better than hers. I told her she had at least 40 years to catch up with me and that she’d get there eventually (especially because she already has a great start). I didn’t come out of the gate with all my skills.
Now that I’ve had time to reflect on her comments and my responses, I realize that it is more than years of experience that I should have addressed.
So here is an open letter to Devin & other artists….
I like to listen to podcasts of interviews with artists and other creative individuals and one topic that comes up ~ again and again ~ is that of self-doubt and comparison to others. We all do it (and if somebody tells you they don’t, I think they’re fibbin’), and sometimes, we let this get the best of us.
I know that when I look at artwork on blogs, in magazines, on product, etc. that I sometimes fall into that trap of thinking my work isn’t as good as somebody else’s. What purpose does this attitude serve? It is really just negative thinking that we’re imposing on ourselves. How silly is that? Silly it may be, but we DO it. The trick is to recognize that we’re doing it and release ourselves from it.
Here are two examples of this that I have experienced in my life….
When I started art school in college, the first day was an orientation into the program and at the end of the day we were shown a slide presentation of graduating students’ work. I remember sitting in the dark, my anxiety rising with each new slide of great work after great work. I held back the tears until I got to my car, but I cried all the way home because I thought, There is no way I am ever going to be that good.
I’m not going to say I came back to class the next day with a bright new sunny attitude, but I did remind myself that I had jumped a lot of hurdles to get into that program and I wasn’t about to quit and that I was going to just have to be the best I could possibly be and see where that would get me. To my surprise in the coming months, I was better than I thought I was and came to the realization that perhaps by the time I graduated, my work might just be as good as those slides I’d seen on the first day.
I realized that in order to ever be that good (whatever my definition of that was then), I had to put the work into learning, practicing and experimenting. I wasn’t going to just pick up a tool and voila! be amazing. I realized that it was a process that I would likely work at my whole life as I continually challenged myself to be better. Am I still challenging myself, learning new techniques, experimenting ~ you bet I am. I’ll never think I have reached perfection or learned all there is to know. Nobody ever does.
My second example occurred later in life, nearly 10 years ago, as I was making the transition from graphic designer to licensing artist. I visited Surtex ~ a trade show where hundreds of artists put their work up in booths to show to manufacturers to use the art on their products ~ and, by the end of my first day walking that show, I was completely overwhelmed. And sad, scared, depressed ~ you name it ~ I was wondering what on earth did I think I was doing getting into this business? I wasn’t anywhere nearly as good as any of these amazing artists. How could I possibly compete???
Again, I didn’t show up the next day with a brand new attitude, but I did remind myself about the story I just related about art school. I remembered having the same feelings and knowing that I could overcome them. So when I did return to the show the next day, I looked at the artists’ work differently. I came to the realization that not only was I every bit as good as most of them, I allowed that I was in fact, even a little better than some. Yet, I was still quite humbled by many. :-) But the important thing I came away with was that I was just as good as the artists I was competing with and that by learning all I could, I would make myself even better.
I have also come to realize that self-doubt and comparison to others’ are natural emotions and the trick is to recognize that I am doubting or comparing and to then remind myself that for each artist’s work that I admire and think is better than mine, I know that there is some artist out there looking at my work, thinking the same thing. I had a lovely moment in Atlanta last month where I met an artist whose work I greatly admire (and compare myself to, wishing I were as good as her) and guess what? She loved my work and said she would be interested in doing an art trade of one of my originals.
And finally, remember that nobody can bring to our art what we can individually. So, feel free to admire somebody else’s work and even aspire to get your skill level to theirs, but remember ~ it may already be there ~ in its own, unique, wonderful way.
XO ~
Beej
