A word to the discouraged

We all do it – criticize our selves, our art work, our efforts. We compare what we have done to what we see others have done. This is normal, expected.

But what should the Artistic Mother, with precious little time to waste, do next?

Well here are some ideas that I have used:

1) Give yourself a mental pep talk:

- Read page 15 of my book (yep, I have to remind myself to follow the principles in the book, this stuff doesn’t always come naturally!)

- Remember you are not alone (why not talk to another artist friend, online or in real life)

- Resolve to not give in to self-criticism, if you give up now you will never progress

2) Do something

If you have made a collage or a background paper and you are discouraged there are a number of things to do:

- set what you have done aside for a week, don’t look at it. Do something else. Read some poetry, take some photos, do another craft that you are comfortable with. When you get out your art work after a while you may very well see it is not as bad as you first thought!

- try again, you may need some practice to get it right. You have to start somewhere and keep going. Put away what you have done and try it again.

- Make something SMALL

For Example:
STEP 1
Take what you have made and cut it up, tear it up, set these pieces aside!

STEP 2
Now get out some images – say something tried and true like a piece of old book paper and a butterfly image (this is a great source), a piece of ribbon and Rub on sentiment (rubber stamp word will do, or even printed words).



STEP 3
Choose one of the torn/cut up pieces of the 'failed' work, layer it over a piece of old book paper, glue on the butterfly and ribbon piece. Add the words.



STEP 4
Get out a piece of cardstock, fold it over, glue the ‘image’ to the card.



STEP 5
now is the important part:
Write a note of permission to yourself! it doesn’t have to be beautiful.