For many years I struggled with the feeling of not being a 'real' artist. I spent years studying oil portraiture, taking live figure drawing classes, art classes, exploring different styles etc. all to try to figure out what the 'rules of art' was. I had convinced myself that if I knew the rules of art, then this knowledge would finally make me an authentic artist. It wasn't until recently, when a forced confinement made me go back to my easel. And in a moment of despair, say 'to heck with it, I am going to paint whatever I want and it will make me happy!' This new ideology was driven further home when my sister invited me to take an art class with her. It was the epiphany that I finally needed to make my work authentically and uniquely me. I threw the imaginary 'art rule book' out the door and I picked up my brush, changed my medium (I went from oil to acrylic) for the convenience and simplicity of it, used only the four primary colors and started painting happy!
My sister and I live many miles apart, but that does not keep us from painting together. She will visit here or me there or we will once a week get online and meet virtually and paint together. We make special time to pick up our paint brushes and play. Sometimes we pick the same animal to paint just to see the differences in our style, other times, we work on commissioned works or another animal we just wanted to paint and compare our work and encourage each other along. The main thing is that we do not take each other too seriously and remind each other to lighten up and enjoy the creative journey.
So if there is one rule of art it would be...wait for it...here it comes...THERE ARE NO RULES!!! Woo hoo!!!!! And the sooner you can let go of the idea of what you 'think' it should look like and let it be what it 'wants' to look like, the more quickly you will find your unique style and be a 'real artist'!! Have fun! Create and let go of any preconceived ideas and just ART HAPPY!!!
Creatively Yours,
Annette
