Sunday, February 23, 2014

Doubt

How often does doubt come for a visit?
Doubt came in today and has not yet left. Ok, ok, so we are talking about a matter of an hour or so. Maybe it's just the contrast: I've been riding pretty high lately on some of my recent (so-called) successes in the printmaking area. I conjured up some older images of my work on Google today and it gave me pause-what was I thinking?
And, worse than that, where am I going? I've no great plans to head off in a new direction (at least with my sculpture)…
This makes me wonder all the more if success is definable as those with the greatest degree of self-assuredness and bravado, aka the biggest cojones. Today, EVERYONE's work looks better than mine: deeper, smarter, cooler, etc.
Is this necessity-a "dues-paying" required by all artists? Like living in a garret and starving (of course, I've done both!). Or is this why everyone else's' work is crap-or so we jealous folks see it-to bolster our own crummy work?
I'll try and pass this off as a mood and not such a good one at that.

It's a good thing-I'm going for a hike- no art working for me today.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Doubt has been a monkey on my back lately, and has made me feel a bit paralyzed at times. I think doubt is like falling into a ditch, you struggle a bit, but get back out and dust yourself off, none the worst for the fall. It does jog you out of your comfort zone though.....which maybe isn't such a bad thing in the long run. Hang in there!