Thoughts From Marsha

I started this blog post on Feb. 16, 2019 and I don't know why it was never finished or posted. I have decided to make a commitment to create a blog post once per week if possible here on FASO. I have been writing for close to two years on a site called "Medium" and calling them articles. They are really blog posts in my mind. I did this to learn to write better. I think I have learned quite a bit, but it is time to just write what I am passionate about, or think will help my friends and my art students.

I am posting the "blog post" and if I have written something similar since this "draft," I hope it helps to read these thoughts one more time!

Now ... The blog post as it was written ... maybe with a bit of editing!

When you know you need some advice, or some input from a trusted source, make sure you know how to receive that input. You must remember they are going to put that advice in the context of their own learning, their own mistakes or successes. This is good stuff you need to hear, but at the same time, you must pick and choose what items in that feedback are "you!" The feedback should be given with positive reinforcement and not negative. If it starts sounding negative, then maybe stop the person and ask them to rephrase it with a positive spin on it and see how that sounds. It will help the person giving you that feedback as well as yourself.

This is the same as accepting your friends with their little idiosyncrasies.  We all have them! And my friends with their little idiosyncrasies are positive and forward thinking people. I actually love theirs because it makes them different from me. I love the quirkiness of my friends! They are the kind of people I want to surround myself with. They are always striving to learn more, or be more positive. This pushes me to be positive and to learn more myself. Remember,  be part of a positive community if you can. I know I think I said "positive" ... what five times in these two last paragraphs!

Is there such a thing as too much feedback?

I believe there is! So be cautious and be aware of receiving too much feedback. It needs to be done with a questioning type of attitude to learn what you were really trying to do.

I was part of a group of artists, five of us, that were not allowed to say what we would do. The person asking for help was told to tell us where they saw things they liked, or needed work, what they were trying to achieve, etc. We then asked questions to get them to voice their own thoughts to our questions. This usually led them to see where any changes might be made, and to answer their own questions.

Some advice is given with an attitude of “I know what is best for your to do.” Remember if you listen too much, your going to be producing things that are not really you and may be more scattered over a multitude of ideas. Maybe they will be disjointed, or maybe they will begin to look like another artist. On the most basic level, you must learn to trust your gut... not someone else’s! Take the stuff that resonates immediately with you.

Be sure to “Do you!” This means be the best you! Do the best representation of what you think it should be. If it is not what you envisioned, then sit back and talk it out with yourself. I was told by my mentor, I am painting too much. I was told I should be sitting on the stool in my studio and evaluating more than I am actually painting. It takes a lot of practice to actually make oneself do this. While sitting, evaluate what you were trying to accomplish. Make a list of the good points you wanted to achieve. Make a list of the parts that are not making the cut. Don’t use generalities. Be specific!

Up to today you have studied hard. Many times it is about repeating all you are learning or copying from those that have learned before you. This is a valid way to learn... by copying. But there comes a time when you need to teach yourself to think for yourself. Try something a little outside the proverbial “box.” Don’t get stuck copying others and repeating what has already been done. Create something this world hasn’t seen before. Doing something you haven’t done before and having fun at it, that is success!

Success can breed success... but sometimes we need to forget our past successes. Stay grounded and work hard. Strive to make the next one, and the next one, a different kind of success. Start fresh each time. Be sure to change something... even if you are doing a series based on something that is the “same.”

What little thing can take you down a different fork in the road? Maybe your idea was to create a series, but it didn’t happen. Serendipity can happen while trying to do something similar.

My favorite idea is to go with the flow. Let yourself see where it will lead you.

Addition to the original blog post:

The painting I have shown above is one from quite a few years ago. It was an experiment and it kept evolving to another idea, and then another idea. I was letting the flow happen. A friend visited me with when it was sitting on my easel. She loved it and bought it just the way it was at that moment. And ... I was very happy with it at that point, so it went out the door with her!