Are You Frustrated with Your Art?

Do you ever feel bored or frustrated with your art?Do you feel like there is more inside you, but you don't know how to access it?Do you wish you could talk more confidently about the work you make?If any of this sounds as though I'm reading your mind, it's because I've been in the exact same place.A few years ago I was making work that was well-received - sometimes sold - but I just wasn't fulfilled. Deep down I knew the work wasn't really mine. Deep down I knew that I was emulating other artists because I didn't know what else to do.Perhaps you recognize the feeling ... you see a picture on Instagram or Pinterest. You love it, so you start researching the artist. You notice their brushstrokes, maybe you pick up on a colour they like to use ... the next thing you know, you're in your studio trying something similar. Only where burnt sienna sings in their work, it just looks dull and muddy in yours.And even when you do pull it off, and make a painting that works, you have this niggling knowledge, underneath it all, that the work isn't really your own. So you show it and may be you sell it, but without true joy. And all the while, you worry that you are an imposter - that you're not really talented because this work isn't coming from deep within you.In my experience, a lot of problems with talking about our work and selling our work stem from this issue - the fact that we are not truly confident that the work is authentic and that it is coming from a deep and truthful place within.The good news is that this is all perfectly normal. Almost every successful artist has been where you are now. (Go to to the Van Gogh in Britain exhibition at Tate Britain and you will see that even Van Gogh spent years struggling to find his own style, copying everyone else in the process).So how do you fix it?You have to dig deep. You have to get in touch with who you are and what you love. I don't mean just in art - I mean in every day life. When do you feel joyful? What lifts your spirits? What do you like to look at? Where do you most like to be? What interior decor do you like? What kind of music do you love?When you know the answers to these questions (and as many more as you can think of) start to go deeper... ask yourself 'why?' Why do you love the way stone looks and feels? What is it about that stone? Why do you like to be outside in wide open spaces - what is it that resonates for you?Also think about what you're interested in philosophically... what do you tend to think about a lot? For me it's emotion and calm. As someone who feels things very deeply, I have to manage my emotional reactions, so while my internal state might be turmoil, on the outside I can appear calm. I am interested in that dichotomy and like to bring it into my work.My journeyI got started on all this when I came across Nicholas Wilton online. He's an abstract artist based on California and he teaches free and paid online workshops. (I took both). Nick takes his students through a process just like the one I described. You come to understand yourself - but he also helps you to understand how you can manipulate paint and design and colour and value contrasts to strengthen your work and make it uniquely yours.Through his 12-week CVP program, I found myself as an artist. I found the colours I like, I found the style that feels like me, I found the subjects that interest me .... I found my voice.There is a saying "“When the student is ready the teacher will appear.” This rings so true for me. Sometimes I wish I had found my teacher sooner ... but then I'm sure I wouldn't have been ready.I can now honestly say that my work feels 100% like me and I am proud of it. These works-in-progress might or might not be to your taste - but they are mine and I love them. That satisfaction with your own work brings a great sense of calm and confidence that I don't think you can get any other way.PS: Nick teaches a free workshop once every year. In 2019, it runs from April 26th to May 3rd. If you are seeing this in time, do yourself a favour and sign up. It costs nothing and it might just set you on a journey like mine.You can sign up here (and as an extra bonus, you can come and join me and my fellow artist Alice Sheridan in a private Facebook group to discuss the workshop and what you are learning).