What I have learnt from running art classes

Recently I was asked how many art classes I run. I totalled them up and this year it will be approximately 120 classes. I also attend classes weekly, sometimes if I can fit it in I will attend an extra class during the week.
Being up the front and running a class is very different than being a participant, that's for sure.

What I have learnt running the classes is everyone has their way of processing the reference they are replicating. Every person has their own style. You can have a room filled with ten people, all doing the same reference photo, yet, there are ten different interpretations. A part of the reason to factor in is experience. Art classes have a range of people with varying degrees of creating art. The main factor, I believe is our interpretation of the piece. There is no right or wrong, there is no good or bad. There is no perfect piece, there is no dreadful piece. 

When I sit as a student in an art class, I love the ability to learn from the teacher, experiment, practice and enjoy the process. Sometimes, my work at a class I would prefer to throw in the bin, yet I keep it to learn from it. I enjoy finding happy little accidents, solving problems and developing my skills for future work. I don't define myself by the work I produce in an art class.

I do see from time to time, a person wanting to replicate the reference photo exactly, like a photocopy. They admonish themselves for not doing it correctly or right. Occasionally, there are silent tears and bright red faces as the person tries their hardest to find perfectionism in art. Emotions come to the surface of "I'm not good enough", "my art needs to be perfect", and "everyone else is better than me". Negative self-talk that serves no purpose and is definitely no good.

Take Vincent van Gogh, one of the world's most renowned painters, yet he is synonymous with the term 'a tortured artist'. He died at the early age of 37 and sold only one painting. In ten years he produced almost 900 paintings and around 1100 works on paper.

Sadly, Vincent didn't get to see how some of his works are the most expensive in the world, his art style laid the foundation for future artists and he was one of the most influential artists in the history of art.

So, my biggest takeaway and advice if I may...... enjoy the class, learn the process, develop skills, use what you learn for future work and don't define your ability by what is done on the day. You do you, comparison kills creativity and joy.

What are your thoughts on comparison and self-talk? Share your thoughts and leave a comment below.

---