I was having a conversation with myself today about the age old question: Is this painting any good? or Do I like this painting? Sometimes when I hear other artists ask this question the answer comes through to me loud and clear, that’s not the point. The purpose of a painting for the painter is not to be good or liked. At least not to me right now and I think it’s true for a lot of artists and these questions are really just a distraction that we get ourselves tangled up in.
So I’m no longer going to ask myself these things. Instead of is it any good I’m going to ask does it serve it’s purpose? The Purpose is does it move me forward, is it closer to what I want to express, is it more honest? If you put a brainstorm of words, instead of color, down on paper you wouldn’t ask yourself: is it good? You’d ask how does it help me, does it spark an idea, can I see a path to solving a problem I’m wrestling with? Painting is just a different type of brainstorm.
If the painting isn’t serving this big Purpose of honesty and expression, is it serving a functional purpose? Did I learn something about paint, or brushwork, or color, etc? Am I working out how I like to paint the side and which varnish I prefer? Isn’t this enough? I think it is for now. One day all these basic questions may be answered and I’ll have much bigger problems to solve. But today, these little things are progress.
I think good is an external judgement that has nothing to do with my journey as an artist. Also it’s none of my business. I’m not an art judge or critic, I’m a creator. I don’t think art critic and artist are the same people with the same goals or even values. Me and the judge of art are on different paths, this includes customers and professional critics. I’ll leave them to their work if they ever happen upon one of my paintings. I don’t think external judgement is ever fully satisfying for a creator anyway because it cannot answer an internal question.
This saves a lot of unnecessary brain energy I think. I don’t need to judge other artist’s work as good or bad or compare myself or try to figure out the difference. The work will become good when it is true. So I’ll just keep working towards that truth.
Because I need a pic for the post, here’s a tree that’s not at all worried about being good.
The idea of a piece simply being what it is without labels is beautiful. I love the perspective that it's okay if the piece is just a stepping stone to solving or discovering something further down the line. Great article, Shannon!
I really like your tree. And I totally agree, “Is it good” isn’t the right question. Also often people look at my work and say, quite sweetly, “it’s so good,” but i know if I follow up with, “Would you hang it on your wall?” The answer will be no, LOL.