You Are the Only One Who Can Make Your Work!

"I'm colour blind you see."One of the artists in my Facebook group mentioned this while asking how I choose my colours.Immediately I thought of Richard Snowdon, a local artist whose work I love (and own). Richard sadly died a few years ago and his website has been taken down, but his work was a riot of unusual colours. The reason? He was severely colour-blind.But he didn't let that fact hamper him. Every summer when he opened his studio to visitors, we would go along and fend our way through the hordes of other people looking at his work. His wife would be there, sticking red dots on pieces, or taking sold paintings down to replace with new ones. He told me once that he earned enough from painting to give up farming (his day job).People loved Richard's work precisely because of his weird and wonderful colours. And they loved his story - a colour blind, self-taught artist who farmed all day and painted every evening. When you visited his studio, you'd have to step carefully through the muddy farm-yard, and you could buy a painting and some fresh asparagus or strawberries.Richard didn't pretend to be anything other than who he was and people loved him for it.But many of us don't have his outlook or confidence. We believe 'real' artists are whatever we are not. We see our idiosyncracies as flaws to be managed, rather than unique traits to be celebrated and amplified.That's all rubbish. Whatever you are is perfect. If you are colour blind, that's perfect for the kind of art you'll be making. If you can't draw, that's perfect because you won't need to for the kind of art you'll be making. If you have no arms, that's perfect for the toe painting you'll become famous for.The things that make you unique are the things that will make your art unique. That might be character traits, physical ailments, or life experiences ... but whatever those things are, accept them, cherish them, thank them ... they are the key to the great art ONLY YOU are capable of making.