Finding Inspiration in a Student's Review of One of My Classes

In a recent review of one of my classes, a student wrote:

“She encouraged me to step out and paint for me instead of for approval.”

I keep thinking about those words.

I think about what creating for approval has meant for me throughout my life.

I think about how wanting approval and finding it lacking is what stopped me creating as a child.

I think about how when I started making art again as an adult, others’ approval helped me to keep going. And in some ways held me back.

I think about how approval on social media encouraged and energized me before eventually stifling and distracting me.

My student’s words also got me thinking about whys.

• Why create?

• Why share (or not share)?

• Why make what we make?

• Why teach?

• Why run a business?

In her first Art Brand Confab, Betsy Cordes* asked “If you had to make a choice between making money from your art or having a lifelong love affair with your art, which would you choose?”

I think the difference between those two choices is the difference between creating for approval and creating for yourself.

I know nothing is quite as black and white as this. And Betsy isn’t saying artists can’t love their work and also make a living from what they do. But her question gets at the heart of why we do what we do, whether we’re making art or doing something else.

If what we do is based only on what others think, is it really worth doing?

If we follow another’s lead or someone else’s rules or are focused on “the right” way, is the path we’re traveling truly ours?

It’s good to ask these questions not just of our creativity but with everything we do. Why do we do what we do?

I want people to love my art but more than that, I want to love my art — the whole process, from growing the plant to deciding to paint it to mixing colors to sketching the composition to sitting for hours studying and observing and painting.

Going back to my student, the class they reviewed is Beyond Beginner: Tips and Tricks to Level Up Your Watercolors**. Only in the very last few minutes do I talk about creating for yourself, more specifically about the importance of keeping some of what you do private. Practice will help us develop as artists. It’s essential for growth. We need time and space free from the pressure of having something to show for our efforts.

So many of us, myself included, have been trained to think of what we do, first in terms of how we can share it. Only in the last few years have I been stepping back and rethinking that position.

I am not, by any means, saying don’t share what you create. And I’m not saying that getting approval is a bad thing — creativity brings joy, to the maker and to the consumer. But…

It’s essential that we please ourselves first.

And it’s important that we keep some of what we do just for ourselves. It’s how we grow. It’s how we figure out who we are and what meaning we want to bring to the world.

For me, two of the most beautiful ways I do this are in my journals and my sketchbooks. Journals and sketchbooks can be our private, sweet, creative hideouts.

When I asked you, dear readers, what you’d like to see me share, a number of you mentioned wanting day-in-the-life type posts***. Although I’m not sure I have a typical day, I strive to begin work in my studio each day with scribbles in my journal and in a sketchbook. To be honest, doing both doesn’t always happen, but it’s rare I miss a day in my journal.

Sometimes ideas I begin thinking about in my journal end up as part of a blog post or an article or in the pages of the book I’m writing, but usually not. Nearly all of what ends up on the pages of my journals is just for me.

In my sketchbooks I often work out ideas for paintings or other projects, but I also experiment and play and warm up and create out of curiosity and just for the JOY of it. I don’t share most of my sketchbook pages. And it makes them so much sweeter to me.

Freedom comes in the choice to do something just for YOU. Your way, without worrying about what anyone else thinks.

I’m so grateful for all I learn from my students. From their creativity and the experiences they share with me. From their questions. And this week, from a simple statement in one review.

Maybe this week you’ll spend some time thinking about why you do what you do, too. Is it for approval or is it for yourself?

*Betsy Cordes runs February 13 Creative, a business supporting artists with their creative businesses. One of the services she provides is an Art Brand Strategy Session which I would highly recommend. She also founded the Art Brand Alliance, a professional organization with an active, private online space for business conversations, accountability and learning.

**This class is on Skillshare. I now have 26 classes on Skillshare and there are tens of thousands of other classes from teachers around the world on everything from painting to cooking to writing to sewing… You can try it free for a month.

***I’m working on it. Last year I shared one week in my art business if you’re curious until then.