Taking a BIG leap of faith...

In my last newsletter we talked about letting go of the things that pull your time and attention away from what truly matters (and if you didn’t catch that email, you can read it here). For me, that was INSTAGRAM. It cluttered my headspace, constantly made me feel like I was never doing “enough”, and caused a lot of imposter syndrome and comparison to other artists.

Since letting go of Instagram, I feel much more grounded in my art and in my daily life. My attention span has increased, my headspace feels more peaceful, and I have SO MUCH MORE TIME for my sketchbook. But imposter syndrome still found a way to creep in…

In May, I painted something new. Everything from the color palette I used to the concept itself was a bit outside of what I typically do. But although it’s more unusual, it’s an illustration I am so intensely in love with. So much so that I decided to enter it and my Meraki Meadow Market illustration into the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize competition! But to be fully honest… I wrestled with myself for A WHILE over whether or not to enter them. I spent a lot of time looking at the previous winner’s entries and felt a great deal of imposter syndrome. Their styles, their mediums, their ideas were so far from my own… did I even have a chance at being a finalist?

But the more I thought about it, I realized that didn’t even matter to me. Don’t get me wrong, winning the competition would be insanely cool, and I’d probably pee my pants with excitement (okay, TMI, sorry…) But my heart behind entering, had very little to do with actually winning. In the end, my love for these two pieces exceeded my fears over entering. It doesn’t matter if I win or even make the finals, because these are pieces I’m proud of and want to share with the world. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, and I’d rather enter and not win than let fear cripple me from entering at all.

So, if you’ve been wrestling with taking a chance of your own, let this be your encouragement to TAKE IT. Enter the competition! Take the art commission! Try the new medium! Let your love for your creativity exceed your fears over failure.

If you want to hear more about my thoughts on creative comparison/imposter syndrome, check out my new Artist Q&A on YouTube where we chat about this as well as some other hot topics!