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It took awhile for me to really SEE the difference!
I still love those "stubby" horses, and so do a lot of people. But I can't keep making them that way.
So I made a new big horse, in a green shade of faux soapstone. I love how it looks!
Of course, there are lots of tricks to "seeing" our work in a different way, one that can help us more easily see the errors in composition, lighting, color choices, etc. We can not only take a quick photo, we can hold it up to a mirror, or view it upside down. I once asked former Fine Art Views author-and-artist Lori Woodward to look at a large wall hanging I'd made. Something was 'off' but I couldn't see it. She saw it instantly! (Fortunately it was an easy fix!) Thank you, Lori!
And just like we can improve how we really "see" our art, we can improve how we see ourselves. And not just ourselves, but how we view our art, how we can encourage others to "see" it, and how we "see" ourselves in the world.
This is crucial to extending our online marketing, too.
I remember the first workshop I ever took on marketing and self-promotion, at a polymer clay guild in Keene, NH. A member's spouse was in marketing, and his presentation was mind-blowing!
The first question he asked was, "What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think about selling?"
Most of the responses were eye-opening. "It's like a used car salesman's pitch!" "You gotta twist people's arms to get them to buy something!" "First you bait the hook and then they bite and you reel them in!"
I couldn't stand it any longer. I said, "First I make something, with all my skills, and time. Then I show it to someone else, and tell my story. Then they take their hard-earned money that they earned with their skills, and time, and we trade."
Needless to say, I got an A! (Figuratively speaking.)
Many people today still hesitate to self-promote, especially if we weren't raised to put ourselves out there. Posting on social media can feel like "bragging". Asking a good price for our work can feel "pretentious". Even calling ourselves a "real artist" can feel presumptuous. But we are simply people who are just like everybody else. We have things we really care about, we choose a creative path we really love, we make stuff that makes us happy, and we do our best work.
The next step is simply sharing our work with the world. Sharing with images (if our work is visual), or words (if our work is a poem, or story), or recordings (if our work is musical, or verbal), or videos (if our work involves movement, such as dance, or acting, etc.)
If nothing happens, that doesn't mean our work is no good. It can simply mean we haven't found our audience--yet!
And getting it out into the world is a huge part of that process. From email newsletters, to tiny short films on Instagram, to sharing our latest artwork (or column!) on Facebook, and Twitter, etc. is how people get to see it.
The beauty of social media is, you don't have to wait for a publisher to choose your work, or a gallery to represent you, or a record producer to record your music, or a studio to hire you as an actor. In fact, the chances of any of these typical 'markers of success' may improve simply from our own efforts to show the world what we do.
So maybe we can learn to see ourselves better, too.
We can choose to see ourselves as a human who has chosen visual work as their favorite format. A human who has chosen oils, or acrylics, or colored pencil, or clay, or bronze, or fiber, or any of the thousands of "media" that are creative paths.
We can choose to see ourselves, and our art, as worthy. As 'good enough', right now, and 'even better' down the road.
As a dear friend said years ago, when I said how embarrassed I was by my earlier work, "Did people love what you made then?" (Um, yes.) "Did they buy it?" (Yeah?) "Then there will be people who will still love them, too." (Thank you, Ruth P.!)
We get to choose. We can accept, and respect, every step of our creative journey. Or, like I did this week, we can update, rotate, recreate, refresh, or even set aside the work that doesn't reflect our best.
There's no right-or-wrong there. Just what we want to do.
That's the insight I gained today, by looking at my life's work from a different perspective. Looking backwards (like a mirror) at where I started, where I've been, where I am.
And forward, to where I'm going next.
Do you have artwork you still love, even decades later? Can you still feel the fierce joy it brought you then? Are there pieces you've reworked for the better? Are you open to finding out what you can do better in the months ahead?
And can you find yourself worthy of respect for what you do? So you can share it with the world with pride, and joy? Let me know in the comments!
If this article inspired you today, please pass it on to someone else who might like it, too. And if someone sent this to you today, and you liked it, you can see more advice on art marketing at Fine Art Views, more of my articles on FAV, and subscribe to my email newsletter at my website at LuannUdell.com. | 