The 3 Letter Word that helps your Art
During my classes I often hear ‘I’m not good enough to do that’ or ‘I can’t draw’ when we’re new to making art.
But when we add ‘yet’ to the end of that statement, we completely change the tone and context from one of finality to a journey. We’ve put the emphasis on progress.
‘I’m not good enough/or I can’t do this or [insert your chosen phrase]…yet.’
I’ve fallen into the ‘not good enough’ trap many a time. For example, I procrastinated on writing to you for a year…one whole year because I felt my writing wasn’t strong enough, interesting enough, good enough to warrant it.
You see, English was one of my weaker subjects at school, public speaking literally silenced me and I also went to speech therapy as a child because words escaped me.
Even now, words can often feel very far away, often out of grasp. When I’m tired my husband has diagnosed me with 'brain-word stutter' because I literally struggle to find the right words to say when I’m tired.
He relishes in this, blurting out ridiculous words or shouting ‘WORD WORD WORD’ to fill in my gaps when I’m trying to say something that I can’t seem to find…which of course makes it that much more difficult!
As you can imagine, it’s pretty annoying!
But, just because I’m not the best writer or public speaker in the whole world, does not mean I shouldn’t do these things because I don’t need to catch up with the likes of Stephen King or TED Show hosts.
Instead, if I just keep chipping away at writing, slowly but surely I'll improve. It’s the same for you - you really don't need to catch up with the likes of Michelangelo do you?.
Instead, sketch by sketch, paint stroke by paint stroke or coil by coil, you’re one step further along your own creative journey.
Keep making your mark and when something feels like it’s not 'good enough' or that you're not 'where you want to be,' imagine me shouting ‘YET, YET, YET!’
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ForM is by far my favourite group exhibition of the year to visit and I am honoured to have been one of artists involved in it this year.
If you missed the exhibition, here’s a round up.