Alyice on May 25th, 2008

Create Art For The Right Reasons

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I love creating and it doesn’t matter if anyone else likes what I create or not because right now I am not creating to please someone else’s idea of art but rather creating to learn and grow as an artist and to relearn what it means to absolutely be in the moment. But I also have a dirty little secret: If I start a project with the intention of selling it, I almost never like it and I rarely complete the piece.

I couldn’t put my finger on the cause until today. After interviewing Linda Cain and listening to her talk about the importance of staying true to one’s self when it comes to creating, I realized that every time I sat down to create something with the intention of selling it, I hit panic mode. I began thinking, “What if they don’t like it? What if it doesn’t sell? What if they ridicule the piece?” You see, I was going about it all wrong!

Linda believes that “when it comes to art, it’s important to remember that it’s your time and your money; do what YOU like. (Of course commission pieces are different.)…Save yourself time and energy and just do what makes YOU happy if you can. If others truly don’t like your art, there’s nothing you can do about it anyway.”

When it came to creating with the intent to sell, I was truly creating for all the wrong reasons. I was creating to meet someone else’s expectations, not my own. I was creating with some preconceived notion that what I create has to be a certain style or look a certain way for the public to be interested enough to buy. I was creating with the wrong person in mind.

And that’s when it hit me: For gifts, for personal use, or for sales, create what feels right first and foremost. It is funny how you know things in your head but it takes awhile for your soul to catch up.

Until next time,

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Linda Cain says:
You’ve really made my day! See this is success, and this is happiness….rock on!
Posted at 2:28 am May 25th, 2008

AlyiceEdrich.com
I'm a freelance writer, mixed media artist, SMVA, and the owner of The Dabbling Mum.

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