When is the last time you took a risk? How did it work out?
Again with risks. Am I risking now?
Every time I start planning a new project and then start running through the steps of doing it. Even just setting up to do it. It all feels like I’m risking something.
My own approval maybe?
The approval of others?
I’ve know for a long time that you can’t please everyone. Art is an extension of that. All aesthetics are. Everyone has preferences and no artist should attempt to do art that appeals to the masses. I think I need to keep learning this even though it’s one of the most obvious lessons that I learned in art school. A funny side note about art class in college is that in the lower division classes, the way to get top grades was to appeal to the instructor’s preferences. I’ll never forget painting over a whole section of one assignment because I hadn’t learned yet that this professor didn’t like yellow. He suggested that it should be gray. I didn’t argue, I just did it. When I figured this out about art teachers, I felt like I cracked the code.
I cringe a little over that, but I was bearly 18 at the time. I had little to no art in high school (my school was heavily academic), so I was mostly leaning on my very raw talent and what I’d learned in middle school. I really didn’t know how to be an artist at that point, all I knew was that grades were important. Or thought I knew…
Risks are decisions. Decisions are risks. Any time I embark on a new creative goal, which is usually born from an idea which came from a bit of inspiration, I have a bunch of decisions to make which initially seem exciting. That’s the part that pulls me forward. Being excited will cancel out fear for me.
I suppose I’m always risking, but when I make up my mind to do it confidently, I forget riskiness a little. When I doubt and question myself, anything feels risky. When I move forward calmly, my projects propel me. When I doubt and fear I feel stuck.
This has been an interesting post for me to ponder. When I think of risks, I usually think of rock climbing or hang gliding, as in death defying risks, not the usual day to day kind. Art overlaps so much of my life that I sometimes miss the metaphors. It’s not just with art, it’s with all of my life. Calm confidence is something I keep getting reminded to practice. Practice practice practice…
Peace Kit 