Practicing Art

Discouragement comes easily to all of us. My journey in creating art has been full of the potholes of self-doubt which can too easily lead to quitting for a season before picking up the brushes again. I think I had the notion that to create art was to create a worthy painting each and every time. That is until someone introduced me to the concept of "practicing art". Of course this is a concept that aligns with every other thing in life we learn to do. We don't wake up one morning and suddenly find ourselves with the talent of Rembrandt or Caravaggio; we work our craft, being willing to make the mistakes to learn and grow. 

The painting below was one in which I was learning throughout the painting. There are some things I really like about it and some that I don't. The blurred edges on the lower side of the fruit work for me, and the segment (the part I worked on the most) feels like it reached a stage of completion. The main body of the fruit feels like it needed more work. My edges are not ideal. There isn't the depth I would like. The background was rushed and not worked through properly. But this is how I work and learn. The perfectionist in me looks and critiques, which is not a bad thing, but rather than looking solely at the finished result, what if I look at the process: what did I learn? what would I do differently next time? did this painting help my skills grow? I think my answer to all these things would leave me feeling very satisfied in the knowledge that my art will always be in process and will form over my lifetime. Seeing art as a practice is to honor the journey and remember that the pilgrimage of art is as important as the destination, at least for the artist, because it forms who we are which in turn influences what we create. So don't quit if you have a series of paintings where at completion you are dissatisfied. What did you learn? What will inform your art as you move forward?