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Yesterday I had to talk one of my students “off the ledge”. She was feeling discouraged and depressed about her art. Most of us feel that way once in a while but some artists seem to live in that place.

The problem is that humans constantly talk to themselves (if you don’t believe me, monitor what you’re thinking right now). We have an endless stream of subject, verb, object going through our heads…and all too often it’s negative: “Idiot” “I started too late.”  “I just can’t draw.” “I don’t have what it takes.” “I always mess up the values.”  “I just can’t see color temperature.”  “This sucks! Etc.” We say things to ourselves that we would NEVER say to someone else!

I don’t know if we’ve internalized overly critical parents, teachers or peers or if it’s a natural result of childhood. (We all start out small, uneducated and powerless.) But it’s no wonder that we often feel demoralized. Worse than that, the negative self-talk slows our progress. If we’re busy beating ourselves up we can’t ask the questions that might actually help.

If our paintings don’t look the way we’d like, it probably comes down to errors in shape (drawing), value, color, edges, or design. We should be asking ourselves “Is the shape right?” “How is it off?”

If we ask ourselves the right questions, the answers are usually apparent. It often helps to ask “paired” questions: “ is that stroke too light or too dark?” “Is the edge too sharp or too soft?” “Too warm, or too cool?” “Too saturated or too grayed” etc. NOW we’ve got something to work with!

Here are some other ideas:

• Make a gratitude list – all the things about your art that you’re thankful for
• Acknowledge your accomplishments i.e. what have you learned in the past six months?
• Set two goals for the next six months and tape them to your bathroom mirror so you’ll see them every day. I bet you’ll accomplish them!
• “Attack your weakness”. Find a skill you’d like to improve and work on it (see the blog on being a perpetual student.)

Don’t just compare yourself to Sargent or Zorn. Think about this: there are 7 billion people on Earth; half are just trying to survive. But of the 3.5 billion that are above the subsistence level at least 1% call themselves “artists”…that’s 35 million! The fact that you’re even reading this blog means that you’re probably in the upper half. So remind yourself “I’m already better than at least 17 million other artists… and I’m improving!”