Art is not like the Super Bowl, where there are clear winners and losers. Itâs not necessary to be the most adept, brilliant, or incisive painter for your work to profoundly influence others.
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| Deer in snow, by Carol L. Douglas |
âYou can’t be somebody else,â I heard my husband tell a young person. âYou can just be the best you can be, and not worry about everyone else.â He was talking about music, but his advice is just as applicable to painting.
I will sometimes ask students whom they most admire among artists, but the answersâwhile fascinatingâseem to have little to do with where they end up as painters. Iâve fed myself on a solid diet of masters from the northern European Renaissance to the 21st century, and I donât see much continuity between these influences and my own painting. I love them, but I canât paint like them.
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| Downdraft snow, by Carol L. Douglas |
That doesnât mean I donât sometimes fall into the pernicious trap of comparing myself to others. As much as Iâd like it to be otherwise, Iâll occasionally succumb to the green-eyed monster of jealousy. Itâs very difficult to watch someone else do something easily that youâre struggling with, or sail into honors and accolades that elude you.
That can be especially difficult for women artists, who labor under a system that is, in fact, more sexist (in terms of dollars) than society as a whole. So, sisters, cut yourselves some slack.
After teaching for so many years, I know that early success doesnât always equate to winning the race. Students start at different levels of competence. Some take to painting faster than others. Sometimes these good students are trapped by their facility, because they cannot let go of their cheap tricks to plow through the hard work of learning good technique. At that point, âtalentâ becomes a trap.
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| Snowsquall, by Carol L. Douglas |
Conversely, there will be students who, for some reason, donât get it right away, but who, with diligence and effort, will end up painting very well indeed.
At the Art Students League of New York, students are crowded into fairly small rooms. It is impossible to avoid seeing othersâ canvases as you work on your own. A fellow student had a sign in his paintbox that read, âDonât copy.â It was very good advice, but equally helpful would have been one that read, âDonât compare.â
So how does the artist develop self-confidence based in their own abilities? âPassion plus competence equals self-confidence,â I readthis week. Itâs a neat, economical explanation.
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| Toys in snow, by Carol L. Douglas |
It doesnât mean you have to wait until youâre completely competent to be happy. Instead, it gives you a roadmap to get to a point of self-confidence. Yes, painting is sometimes very frustrating, but thatâs just a sign that you need to work on your skills in that area.
Art is not like the Super Bowl, where there are clear winners and losers. Itâs not necessary to be the most adept, brilliant, or incisive painter for your work to profoundly influence others. But you canât use the crowdâs applause to tell you if youâre on the right path. You simply have to work from your own gut. And thatâs perhaps the hardest lesson in painting.