Let's be Honest ...

If you belong to my artist community or if you have taken my courses or if you have read this newsletter for any length of time, you know that I talk A LOT about doing what you love and ignoring what others think.

I talk about it all the time because I know how important it is. I've been at this a while now and I know that when artists express themselves honestly, amazing things happen.

In fact I'm driven by the belief that each and every person has the ability to make compelling, exciting, personal art. It's why I show up every single Sunday with this newsletter. I write it when I'm sick. I write it when I'm having a bad week. I write it when I feel uninspired, I write it every single week no matter what because I feel compelled to bring creativity into the world.

I write it because I know that you have amazing art inside you.

And I write it because I know that you need someone to show up for you. I know you need someone to believe in you.

And I do!

I KNOW that you have great things inside you - things that may or may not be accessible right now, but things that are there nonetheless.

I know this because over the years I have led free classes for tens of thousands of people and I have seen them blossom and grow and transform right in front of my eyes. It's magical.

And yet ...

And yet, while I know the truth of what I say, I sometimes forget it.

Specifically, I forget it when it comes to my own art.

But I have just been reminded of how right I am (!) and I want to share it with you because it might help you to trust yourself.

A little background....

For a few years now, my art has been inspired by the landscape, but recently, life events have caused me to turn inwards. My upcoming exhibition at the "Inspired By" gallery in Danby features over 40 paintings that are about the landscape but that are also much more personal than anything I've made before. (If you are interested in these paintings, watch out for an email at 6pm UK time on May 27th).

They are about my personal experiences and feelings but they are still rooted in the landscape. Now that they are completed. I am free to explore new avenues and I am interested in leaving landscape behind.

My new work is much more personal - it's about self-expression in the same way my courses are about self-expression. It's about honesty and openness and taking up space and not making ourselves smaller just to make other people happy. It's about living our truth, whatever that is.

To that end, I decided to work in a new way. I decided to think less and edit less. I decided to let raw things just live on the paper or panel without immediately smoothing them out. As part of this new exploration, I began to make a journal painting.

My original idea was to start a new piece of paper every month and just create whatever I wanted, adding a little bit each day and calling it done on the last day of the month.

But we are only halfway through the month and I LOVE my journal painting. It feels like me. It feels emotional and raw and most of all it feels honest.

But it's so loose and organic and natural that I assumed no-one else would feel as I did about it. I knew I loved it but I thought I was an audience of one.

I wasn't worried about that - I've been at this long enough not to care what anyone else thinks - but I was pretty confident that I would be alone in my love for this painting.

How wrong could I be?!

I am part of a small group of artists that meet every week to discuss our work, and I shared this piece. I explained how it came about and that I would be adding to it all month and that I knew it wasn't 'art.'

But something amazing happened. Every person in our small group responded positively. Every single one loved the painting. Everyone asked me not to make any more changes.

"Start another one," they said, "this is gorgeous as it is."

I was floored!

I've made many paintings when I was aiming for "gorgeous." I've mixed subtle colours and balanced compositions and employed well-known principles of art-making and I've made beautiful things. But those took time and effort and conscious control.

This piece poured out of me with none of that. I didn't think. I didn't balance. I didn't compose. I simple made honest marks each day.

And doing that was easy. It was relaxed. It felt good. It felt like talking to an old friend where you never have to watch your words. It felt like putting on comfy sweats or getting into a warm bath. It felt like me being me.

In fact, it felt like all the things I teach. (Sometimes the teacher needs to learn from herself!)

I know this is true for you. I know your authentic expression is raw and powerful and beautiful. I needed to be reminded that the same applies to me.

Now you may not love my journal painting. It might not be to your taste and that is OK. No-one makes art that everyone loves - but all we need to do is to make art that sparks passion and enthusiasm in some people. Our people. That's enough.

And to do that, all we have to do is make the marks that come MOST easily. We don't need fancy tricks or special skills. We just need to show up honestly, authentically, and without artifice.

We can all do that.

Now it's important to say that your honest work will look nothing like mine. It might be beautifully detailed. It might be delicate and ethereal. It might be political. It might be comical. It might be abstract or hyper-realistic. It might be colourful or it might be monochrome.

Whatever it is it will be YOU. And whatever it is, we need it in our world.

So PLEASE don't worry what anyone else will think about your work - you will be wrong anyway! Just be as honest as you can be and the rest will fall into place.

I promise :)