Setting sail on your own course

I can’t draw. I can’t draw for toffee. At least, that’s what I used to tell myself. It’s also what one especially brutal and dissatisfied school art tutor once trumpeted as he viewed my attempt to render a delightful coastal landscape view onto my tatty school art pad. Way to build confidence, Mr. Beardy-Dwarf!

Occasionally, “I can’t draw – I’m a frustrated artist” would be a declaration I’d utter by way of explanation when people asked “Why are you a photographer?”. However, over time, with patience and practice, I came to see that I could, indeed, draw. I’m no Degas or Rembrandt, but then who is, apart from Degas and Rembrandt? It’s unlikely that any art gallery owners are currently making room on their gallery walls in order to hang my scruffy sketches but here’s the thing, I can draw.

Like any artistic endeavour, perseverance and dedication will prove fruitful. Eventually! Ever heard the expression “1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”? Persistence is the key to so many things that we seek to achieve – the creation of meaningful art is no exception.

But here’s an even more crucial consideration for those of us who seek to express ourselves creatively, there are no ways to quantify the success, or otherwise, of your art. It’s your art. Our opinions of what you present to the world are simply that: opinions. Opinions are subjective. We can’t suggest that one opinion is more valid than another, not when it comes to art appreciation, but we can be confident that if you ask one hundred people whether they like your art, you’re likely to hear one hundred and fifty different responses. It doesn’t matter if the world and his wife tell you that your artistic endeavours are poorly conceived and shabbily construed, what matters is whether you think the time and effort you spent creating your art was worthwhile.

The same is true in life, I’m constantly hearing what “normal” people find acceptable but I will fight for my right to be “abnormal” until the end of my days. Indeed, I take great reassurance in being considered “different” and “abnormal” is a badge that I wear with pride. Who wants to be “normal” anyway? How predictable. How dull.

Sadly, it’s human nature to seek reassurance and the positive affirmations of our peers. Consequently, our artistic efforts are often skewed as we try to predict what will look “right” to others. We try to create work that will be acceptable. We don’t shoot what we love. We process our digital photographs using other photographers’ presets. We present images to the world that are copies of what others have already created. We visit the same locations and we plagiarise in an attempt to bask in the reflected glow of what others have achieved. We publish pictures that are not actually our images, they’re poor imitations of what other photographers have previously made. We discard our ability to create, we trash our originality and we copy instead. We don’t follow our own path, we are tempted by the apparent ease of success to be gained from following others. Can that really lead to anything other than disappointment?

I recently went in search of some instructional drawing material to help push me a little further up my personal artistic learning curve. Fortunately, instead of leaving the bookstore with yet another “How to draw” treatise, I found a “Why to draw” book. Here’s a brief extract from the opening chapter.

“Drawing has always been the basic form of an artist’s aesthetic response (the expression of thoughts and feelings in their purest and, therefore, most effective sense). All to often, however, artists interfere with that natural response and become concerned with outside considerations, especially the desire to achieve. This misdirected path usually leads to compromise, imitation and contrivance and, ironically, actually prevents true artistic achievement.

Satisfaction in any art form doesn’t come from achieving perfection, since perfection doesn’t exist in art. Satisfaction can be found instead in the experience of aspiring to an internal form of perfection that’s measured in “fun” and not some external measure.”  - Drawing from Within (Nick Meglin).

So, here’s my advice, push your little creativity boat from the shore with confidence and conviction and set-sail, safe in the knowledge that your eventual destination will be a glorious land of laughter and light, inhabited by “abnormal” people like you who seek not to satisfy the demands and expectations of others but who are, instead, resolute in their belief that the form of expression they choose is unquestionably valid and honest.

You can’t please all the people all the time, so you might as well please yourself.

Posted on Saturday, February 12th, 2011 at 4:00 am. Filed under: Blog, My work, Photography Tags: creativity, lensbaby RSS 2.0 feed.