A few weeks ago, I did a little gouache painting in my sketchbook, and it took everything within me not to immediately rip it out and throw it away. I was in a bit of a “mood” while I was painting it which most definitely did NOT help the painting process. But overall, it was a series of mediocre painting choices that I simply wasn’t happy with. (Most notably, her skin… I don’t know what happened there…)
I fully planned to never show this painting to anyone because I found it so embarrassing to look at. But like we’ve been chatting about for the past few months, this really is the year of me facing my fears in a multitude of ways. I realized, I needed to face my fear of sharing the bad art. I need to share it, and I believe you need to see it. Because I think we both need the reminder that sometimes artists make bad art.
Failure is an inevitable part of committing yourself to doing something. We are imperfect people, and we’re going to make imperfect art. Yes, we’ll create beautiful, magnificent masterpieces, but we’ll also create some utter rubbish. And that’s OKAY! The icky pieces and the wonderful pieces are BOTH a part of our creative practice. Be proud of those amazing pieces, laugh off the ugly ones, and keep creating. 💛