Making art for yourself
Hi, friends!
Every Friday for the last several, I've shared quotes on my blog. These are quotes I've had tacked to the bulletin board in my study for the past few months or years. Most are about showing up to do work; some are about determination, or some detailed bit of process advice.
I keep all sorts of things tacked to that bulletin board. Sharing space with the quotes, among many other things, are:
- A checklist Squish drew up, a few years ago, of activities we had to do on a perfect day together
- Many drawings by Squish
- Many cards from Felicia and Squish
- A pipe-cleaner doll Squish made once
- My late grandfather's membership card to the Southwest Football Officials' Association
- A program from my other late grandfather's memorial
- My late childhood best friend's YMCA-league baseball card
- My American Pencil Collectors Society membership card
- A letter from a reader or two
In the middle of all of that, I have this printout of rules I found online once. I don't remember now how I came across it, but I've since tracked down its origin. It's part of The Artist's Survival Kit created in 2010 by artist Keri Smith.
It's been widely shared, so there's a good chance you've seen it before, too. And if you're an artist, there's an even better chance you've collided with some of these rules in your work.
Here's the list:
How to Feel Miserable as an Artist
- Constantly compare yourself to other artists.
- Talk to your family about what you do and expect them to cheer you on.
- Base the success of your entire career on one project.
- Stick with what you know.
- Undervalue your expertise.
- Let money dictate what you do.
- Bow to societal pressures.
- Only do work that your family would love.
- Do whatever the client/customer/gallery owner/patron/investor asks.
- Set unachievable/overwhelming goals. To be accomplished by tomorrow.
(Here's the PDF that includes this list, if you'd like to print and tack it up yourself.)
Gosh, each item on this list could inspire hours and hours of conversation. I've definitely run into most of them myself. The first one alone is huge, and isn't a trait reserved for the young or inexperienced. I can't tell you how many already-successful authors I've met who live in that stew of comparison daily. I catch myself doing it more than I'd like, too.
All of them can be distilled, I think, to Do what you want to do. They're a reminder that your voice, your perspective, is unique, even when your situation is perfectly ordinary. Nobody sees the world quite the way you do, and that means what you feel, what you say, what you write, has value.
One of the notes on my bulletin board is a reminder I wrote to myself:
No one will care about this work as much as you, therefore you will have to do it yourself. (A reminder not to seek validation.)
A couple of years ago, when, faced with the prospect of rewriting a novel from the ground up, I turned sullen and grumpy, my daughter reminded me:
You don't have to be famous if you don't want to. It's fun writing books.
That quote's on my board, too.
Throw those two reminders in the pot with Jane Smiley's observation that Nobody asked you to write that novel, stir it up with a healthy dash of Do what you want to do, and you've got yourself the recipe for doing the art that will sustain and interest you, not to the market, to your family, to your enemy, your crush, your high school teacher, your college professor, the boss, the annoying coworker, the person who stole your parking space, the other artist who has achieved all the success you thought you were owed.
There's room in the world for all of the art, so make yours the way only you can.
✏️Until next time,
Jg
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