That’s why we paint – because the carrot is always juuuuuust out of reach, and the challenge of trying to reach it is so compelling. If you ever get the carrot, it either rots away, turns out to be a bit tasteless, or is soon replaced by a new carrot.
What to do when you don’t love your own art
Sometimes along the artist path, you reach a place where you find you no longer love your own art.
- Maybe it’s because you’re in a transitional phase, moving from one way of making art into something new.
- Or perhaps there’s a lot going on in your personal life that is affecting either your ability to get into a painting mindset, the amount of time you have to devote to it, or both.
- Or you’ve reached the edge of your current skillset and don’t know how to take your work to the next level.
Right now all of those apply to me! Yay!
And I know whatever I’m experiencing in the studio, I’m definitely not the only one.
So this post is for those of us who are a bit stuck, struggling, not enjoying painting, or not liking what’s coming out at the moment.
The first thing I always try to remember is that:
All experience is valid.
If you can really integrate the truth of that, it takes a huge amount of pressure off and makes it much easier to give yourself the leeway and permission you probably need right now.
It’s totally ok to not be making much art.
It’s totally ok to not love what you’re making.
It’s all totally ok, and has absolutely zero bearing on your abilities or worth as an artist .
So beating ourselves up is not, shockingly, the next step.
Remember, making your art is a growth process. That is its nature.
If you don’t tend to it, it – and you – can’t grow.
But remember also that part of that growth process is sometimes about pausing, recalibrating, resting.
All experience is valid, in every phase of the cycle, exactly like the seasons. Not just valid, but an essential contribution to the whole.
And don’t expect to love every phase, every experience, every painting! That way madness lies.
Sometimes it’s about learning something, even if it’s simply that you don’t want to paint that way, or that you actually need to prioritise something else right now.
What can we do?
I’ve been rooting around in my archives as I navigate my current, er, artistic situation, and goodness me I have a lot to say about art!
The upside of that of course is that there’s quite a lot in there, and some of it’s even quite helpful!
So I’ve pulled out a few posts to make getting out of our current predicament easier, and without the need to go trawling through almost a decade’s worth of posts.
See what resonates, and dive in!
Just don’t forget to take some action after reading, whether that’s putting some art time in the calendar, going for a walk, doing a fifteen minute sketch session, or anything that will support you most right now.
Wherever you’re at with your painting right now, if it’s not feeling awesome and you don’t love what you’re creating, you’re not alone, and there are many things you can do to swim through it and into less troubled waters.
It’s unlikely you’ll need ALL of the following, so just pick the one that jumps out and start there.
Hanging Your Painting in Hot or Smoky Areas
There is no worst place than hanging your painting above a mantel, near radiators and heaters, or in bathrooms and kitchens.
Heat can lead to thermal tensions, moisture reductions, and even chemical reactions within paintings that can damage both the paint layer and the support, sometimes even irreversibly.
Excessive heat can damage the support by causing creases, warping, weakening and breaking of the fibers. It can also damage the paint layer by causing cracking, losses and in worse circumstances it can cause paint bubbling or blistering.
Even specially made frames can’t guarantee that the heat from a fireplace, or other heat sources, won’t affect the painting. These damaging effects from a fireplace also apply to radiators, heating vents, stoves, and other heat sources.
The smoke and soot created from heat sources will lead to a buildup on the surface of the painting that will need to be removed, or else the colors and details of the painting will be severely obstructed.
Exposing Paintings to Sunlight and Direct Lighting
When a painting or drawing is continually exposed to sunlight, the colors and details of the artwork can fade and the varnish can begin to discolor much more quickly. Some paints can start chalking if exposed to UV light for too long, while the binders and varnishes can embrittle and crack. Indeed, severe sunlight damage can be irreversible.
Art owners who notice their painting or drawing is receiving direct sunlight should move the artwork to another area immediately. For homes with a large amount of natural light, special frames with glass that protects from UV rays can be used. However, they may not block out all the harmful rays, so finding the area least affected by natural light and hanging the artwork there is strongly suggested.
Also, make sure your painting is brightened by indirect lighting or ceiling-mounted spotlights, rather than lights that attach to the top of the frame and hang over the picture.
Hanging in Areas with High Humidity
When a painting faces prolonged humidity, it can suffer a wide range of damage. Some canvas could shrink, while the frame could expand, putting considerable strain on your painting. This would lead to cracks, delamination, warping, and rippling in the paint and the canvas. For paintings on wooden panels, this cracking and warping can be much worse. This damage can be irreversible.
While it can be difficult to control the humidity, there are a few ways to make sure that a painting doesn’t fall victim to a humid home. The best way to avoid humidity is to place paintings in dry rooms with minimal moisture in the air. This means that paintings should never be placed in a bathroom, near a kitchen sink, or in sunrooms or patios. For those who live in humid parts of the world, such as Florida, running a humidifier in the room where paintings are kept can drastically reduce the effects of moisture in the air on a painting.
In addition, mold and mildew can have a devastating effect on your painting. With paintings on canvas microorganisms generally begin attacking the reverse side and then they penetrate every layer.
Protect your paintings by keeping them in an area that is below 60% relative humidity and making sure there are no drastic fluctuations in temperature and humidity levels.
Love it or hate it – which perception can help you improve your art faster?
Not everything is black and white. Hating your art isn’t always bad, and loving your art isn’t always ideal. Both have pros and cons and I want you to acknowledge all of the shades of grey in between both.
Why loving you art is important and how it can slow you down
Loving your art is essential! It’s the key to feeling motivated to draw and continue working hard to improve your skills. If you enjoy what you create, it fuels you to continue doing so. It makes you feel fulfilled, rewarded.
It makes it very easy to share your art with others. To feel proud of it and accept people’s compliments on your art. Growing a community of people who also enjoy your art and support you isn’t hard anymore.
However… Loving your art can make you blind to its flaws.
- “It doesn’t matter if the anatomy isn’t correct, I love it still” – (I’m guilty as charged of this)
- “People who say I’m always drawing the same thing over and over again are just jealous”
- “If people enjoy what I’m doing and my current skills, I don’t need to work hard to improve them anymore”
Loving your art can make you complacent. I can’t stress enough how dangerous that is. I always say that being an artist is like walking a neverending path, you don’t have to run through it. But you can’t stop either. When you become complacent, it’s like halting in the middle of the road and refusing to continue walking. You’re not leaving the road, but you’re not moving forward either.
Back when I was a beginner artist, I used to look up to many artists. I admired their work and their skills. 10 years later… They haven’t improved at all. They are still creating the same works with the same level of detail as 10 years before. What happened? Their audiences loved their art no matter what, and they stopped pursuing improvement. They felt content with their art and it froze in time.
Why hating your art is dangerous and how it can fuel your improvement
Hating your art can have terrible consequences in your path as an artist. Not only because feeling defeated whenever you finish another piece that you also dislike burdens your spirit. But because it will fuel a constant desire to grow and improve, in an attempt to reach a level where you can love your art.
Wait a minute, isn’t it good that it fuels your will to improve…?
Yes and no… Because the reasons why you don’t love your art rarely have anything to do with your art or your skills. They often stem from deeper thoughts and feelings of unworthiness that reflect on our perception about our art.
So… You work harder than ever to reach the next level. Thinking it will finally let you love your art. But you still don’t. So, you aim for the next level. But it doesn’t fulfill you either.
So you quit art.
I mean, what’s the point? Why continue doing something that takes so much effort and gives me no rewards? I still hate everything I create. I might as well not create anything at all.
Hating your art may have short term benefits, such as fueling your will to improve. But…
It will burn you out.
And, not in a “I’m going to take 2 months off art” way. But in a permanent way. You’re not walking down the path of the artist. You’re not halted. You’ve stepped away from the road, aiming for a better destination.
That’s the true danger of hating your art. Letting your thoughts push you away from your creative nature and force you to quit art.
Why do you hate your art and how can you learn to love it instead?
Million dollar question, am I right?
The answer to this question depends on each individual case. There’s no one-size-fits-all. But there are a few explanations that may help you understand where this dislike for your art comes from. Once you understand that, you’ll be able to find a way to overcome it and grow to love your art.
Low self-esteem
First of all, must-have disclosure: I am no psychologist or therapist. I’m just a fellow artist, so take this with a grain of salt.
I’ve met a lot of artists who disliked their own art and would always refuse my (or anyone’s) praise because they thought I was lying. Most of them had one thing in common, very low self-esteem. This negative perception didn’t just affect their art but other parts of their lives as well.
Having low self-esteem can make it incredibly hard to appreciate yourself or anything you create. Or accept that other people DO enjoy your artwork and love you for who you are.
Don’t be afraid to visit a therapist or psychologist to find ways to increase your self-esteem. If you can’t do that, there are many informational books and resources online that you can try!
Assuming the worst of people
This probably goes hand in hand with having low self-esteem. Sometimes when you expose yourself, the things you love or your very own creations to others, you feel vulnerable. This feeling makes you think that the person on the other end is out to get you. That they will react in a negative way. Reject you. Mock you.
You look at yourself and your content through their eyes and you can’t comprehend how they would like it. Even if you appreciated it before, after seeing it through someone else’s eyes, you no longer do. Your feelings become tainted by this and even if the other person 100% geniunely loves your content, you don’t believe them and you lose your love for it as well.
Allowing yourself to believe people have negative thoughts towards your art reflects onto your own perception. It permeates into your mind and convinces you that there’s no way anyone could ever like you or your art.
But it’s just that. A twisted perception you’ve created out of fear and vulnerability.
Strive to stop these negative thought patterns and stop thinking the worst of people. It will allow you to feel more confident in yourself, your art and to accept their geniune praise with ease.
Comparing yourself to others & setting unachievable goals
If you have a habit of comparing yourself to others, especially those who are better than you, you’ll have a hard time loving your art.
Comparing yourself to others is a way to fuel your will to improve. But, if done frequently it can have the opposite effect. It can make you feel worthless.
It’s kind of funny, actually. Even though we often undervalue ourselves, we also believe we can do the impossible and we often set unachievable goals. We’re sure we can become incredible artists overnight. Or that we’ll get 1 million Instagram followers in a month. Or that we’ll master perspective and anatomy in a weekend.
Fool-proof recipe for failure and disappointment:
- Undervaluing yourself: you feel bad because somehow someone who has been an artist for less time than you is already better than you.
- Overestimating yourself: you decide to become better than them in an impossibly short amount of time.
- Result: your self-esteem gets slammed, you lose your will to continue practising and you feel like a complete and utter failure.
Rather than comparing yourself to others. Compare yourself to where you were when you started. Look how far you’ve come. Acknowledge your efforts and your successes.
Focus on how far you’ve come, not how much further you have to go.
Set goals that are realistic and you can actually achieve, and you’ll improve by leaps and bounds without feeling unmotivated, or damaging your self-esteem.
A step in the right direction will take you further than a leap in the wrong one!
Reprogram your mind to let go of past events that are conditioning your current behaviors
I recently listened to an episode in Melyssa Griffin’s podcast where her guest talked about how things you hear when you’re young can have lasting effects in your life.
“Everything in our lives has been indoctrinated and then that becomes our identity. We learn what the world is and is not by the age of 8. The analytic side of the brain doesn’t really develop until about the age of 8. You have become who you are by the age of 8. “
Then he shared a story from when he was a child and his teacher handed him his math test with a D+ on it and she said “Jimmy, you’re not good at math”. And, although he grew up and gratuated top of his class with straight As in all subjects, he always struggled with math. It became his identity and he learned that from an authority figure when he was young and couldn’t analyze and reject that statement.
He said: “Every roadblock you have in your business is the result of a subconscious hidden belief”
I found this episode to be enlightening and it is entirely possible that your negative feelings towards your art are the result of something you were told as a child. Even if you can’t remember.
Jim goes on to explain how you can reprogram your brain and identity through repetition and by behaving like you think you would if you had already achieved your goal. I definitely recommend you listen to Melyssa’s podcast episode with Jim Fortin, it will help you overcome the beliefs that are restraining you from becoming who you want to be.
