So, I was just looking at Katherine's post and thinking about how it's pretty awesome how supportive we all are, but my brain switched over to thinking about how in my life just about everyone is super supportive and how they either like or LOVE everything that I paint. As wonderful as that is for my ego, I don't think it's great for my self-development as an artist.
I don't honestly think everything I paint is amazing. Sure, sometimes people don't say anything, which is, in itself, it form of criticism, but it's not really helpful. Do they not like the colors, the style? Does it give them a bad emotion or remind them of something negative? These are all things that people don't talk about - at least not to my face.
My problem is that I am not sure I want people on my facebook fan page to be too critical. Having supportive fans is partly what keeps me painting. But if I posted some images here, would you all be super honest and tell me what you think? Hard core honest?
Any thoughts?
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Julia you read my mind exactly!
ReplyDeleteWhen I started this I was thinking that I needed to keep hearing from all of you because I know you can honestly give me an opinion about my art. I especially felt this way because I know from past experience that we have a strong enough relationship to be able to freely give criticism with no hard feelings. Plus, I already know some your biases, so I can know what weight I might give such advice ; )
I can always ask my mom about my art if I want a few good compliments!
I also agree that we need both types of support, an honest opinion as well as unconditional encouragement, to keep going since artists tend to be hardest on themselves and it is tough work!
If you're all up for it, I'd be happy for blog posts to always include both. Like any good critique, find the strengths of the piece and what could be improved. Otherwise it's not a critique, right? If we planned on including both postive/negative in most every post I think we could easily still be encouraging and help each artist keep improving.
What do y'all say to that?