Doubt will be your companion on your creative journey

Self-doubt can stem from the introduction of "IF".​

I don't know ​IF...

• ​I don't know if I'm any good as an artist.

• I don't know if my work is good or not.

• I don't know if I can figure this out. (For example, how to foreshorten a leg or how to make your composition more interesting.)

• I don't know if I can execute my vision for this piece.
  

What IF...?

• What if I make a mistake?

• What if I ruin it?

• What if no one likes what I create?

• What if I lose the freshness in this piece if I rework it?

​
​​”IF”​ introduces uncertainty and focuses our minds on what we can't know for sure. 

We can't know for certain what other people with think.

We can't know what the future holds. (Covid, anyone?)

We can't know with certainty what will happen when we fire our piece in the kiln. Or dye a piece of fabric. Or paint with a palette knife instead of a paintbrush.

Doubt will be your companion on your creative journey.

Instead of focusing on what you don't know or what might happen, focus on what you can know and what you can do:

• What I would like to resolve on this piece is...​

• What I have decided to do next on this piece is...​

• If I "ruin" it, I will use it as an opportunity to learn something that will help my creativity moving forward.

And doubt can come along for your journey. It just won’t be plotting the course.

Image by Unsplash: @jacksharp_photography