^^ Want to listen instead of read? Click play ^^
I don’t know about you, but I am extremely picky about my pudding. I can’t buy pudding off the shelf, ya know the brands that aren’t refrigerated. The idea is beyond gross to me. No offence to those brands, they serve their purpose in a time of desperation but the truth is, I won’t cook pudding either. I am too lazy to make it from scratch. It’s not the prepping and making that bothers me, it’s the clean-up. I hate the clean-up. No matter how hard I wish, no lil miracles appear to assist and, upon request, the dog just stares at me. I imagine he says something like: “This bitch, I tell ya.”
Enough about pudding…
So what are you here for? Why are you still reading? I assure you, there is a point. Let’s discuss the why. Why you should accept my vision, why you should listen to any nonsense out of this nonsensical mouth, why I should even be allowed to tell you anything about anything. It comes down to one thing: the love of art. I do have experience, but there is a lot of experience floating around this world. You don’t need experience to make art. Just ask my ten year old niece.
Let’s Look at Experience Anyways
I’ve gone through numerous art and design classes at the University of Wisconsin system, MSJC in Southern California, and WCTC. From Drawing 101 to Sculpture, I faced the drudgery that is formal training head-on. Rules on top of rules on top of, you guessed it, more rules. The rules were endless, and some very necessary. But all the others? Pointless! The training? Lacking. I learned more from YouTube than I did in any formal art classes. No more cookie cutter “fine artists”, that’s not why we are here. We are here to embrace our creativity, our art, even if it doesn’t contain Phthalo Blue. If you’d like to dive into my professional experience check out my Web Dev Portfolio.
My Vision
My ultimate goal is to get as many people as possible to accept their journey into art, and this includes you. Your journey to discover art requires three things: compassion, acceptance, and courage and I want to help you get there. The thing is, I kinda need to get there myself. That is what this is. If you’d like to know more check out my About page. But let’s dive into the three things.
Compassion
“Compassion is an action word with no boundaries.”
– Prince –
Have you had a child give you a picture that they worked so hard on only to hurt their feelings? It wasn’t intentional, it really did look like an elephant. That is our adult brain. If it looks like a duck, it must be a duck. And if it must be a duck, I have to make it look like a duck. This poses some questions: Do I see the same duck you do? Do you see the duck the same way I do? Do you see dinner? Do I?
No, probably.
This is why we need to have compassion for ourselves, our journey, our art. You and I are not the same, we have different experiences, memories, viewpoints. Even if we were joined at the hip, we would still have different experiences, memories, and viewpoints. Which leads us to acceptance.
Acceptance
“My happiness grows in direct proportion to my acceptance, and in inverse proportion to my expectations.”
– Michael J. Fox –
We have already established that we are not the same. Which is good. That we aren’t. The world would be quite boring otherwise. But one of the hardest things in life to learn (and do) is not compare ourselves to others. We have a hard enough time trying to live up to our own expectations, how could we possibly live up to the expectations we place on ourselves to live up to our perceived expectations from everyone else? I know, exactly my point. It’s confusing! So maybe we need to try this acceptance thing?
Accept ourselves, our place, our moment… Our journey. Discover art now!
If we try to live up to any expectations, including our own, we will fail. Why? Because expectations are bologna, on white bread, with mustard, and a slice of American cheese. Only good enough to dunk in a bowl of tomato soup. So why do we give up acceptance for expectations? I can only assume it has something to do with some study done at Harvard in the early 1900’s. I have no proof of this. It just seems that the idea of expectations is so outdated and overinflated, it needs to pop.
So how do we let go of expectations and embrace acceptance? Stop chasing the duck. If we lean into the process, the learning, the joy, and accept the journey, everything will fall into place. Pinky swear!
Courage
“You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.”
– Stephen King –
Once we fully embrace compassion and acceptance, courage won’t be too far behind. We will understand ourselves, our journey and we will be more than willing to ride the courage train the rest of the way. So what does courage look like? How will you know it is here? That you are ready?
Short answer: When you start rolling your eyes at everyone else’s advice.
You know the advice I speak of. The videos that tell you what you are doing wrong, and how to fix it. The long winded answers to simple questions by self professed “fine artists”. This same thing happens in the programming world. But “I want to draw, where do I start” does not need judgment. It does not need the passive aggressive “fine artist” view of anything. It needs compassion and acceptance. A pencil, a sketchbook, and a willingness to just do might also be helpful.
If you find yourself experiencing compassion and acceptance of others who are just starting out and of those who have the courage to embrace their own journey. Know that you are well on your way to a non-cookie-cutter-artist world!
Final Thoughts
My art sucks most days. Whether I’m rusty, distracted, tired, hungry, out of coffee, or out of my mind. The reason does not matter. And those days when my art doesn’t suck. The days that I say “wow everyone, look at this. How cool is this?” Two days or weeks or years later, it sucks. Are your sketchbooks full of “what was I thinking” too? If not, they should be.
