There is a battle that goes on in my mind that at its core is just another manifestation of self doubt.
Should I just go with the vision I have in my head, or should I consider more carefully the end customer and if this is likely to be something they would want to purchase and put on display.
I have some pretty interesting ideas that come to me at different times but on the main what I envisage is often a dark or somewhat depressing scene. For some reason I feel compelled to produce this piece, this painting, this drawing, whatever.
The goal for every artist should be to create work that resonates with them and to do this regularly. The assumption is that this will result in quite a body of work and ideally this work would not be stored away in a shed somewhere but instead out on public display, preferably sold to someone to whom it acutely resonated with.
But this is where my self doubt tends to creep in. Is this something that anybody is going to want to display? Should I be spending my time on something that once finished will just end up being thrown on the pile in the corner of the room because while interesting, is too dark to be hung on someone’s wall.
I think though, here is where the little voice inside your head is sabotaging your career. It is not doing it vindictively, it actually thinks it is helping by protecting you from scenarios where you are uncomfortable and uncertain, but nevertheless, it is not looking at things from the opposing point of view. Chances are, if what you are doing resonates with you, then there will be someone else out there to whom it also resonates, perhaps even more intensely. This is especially true if you allow yourself the full freedom to explore your deepest most thoughts and express them in an unencumbered way, as this honesty will come out in the artwork a thousand fold more evidently than if you truncate your thoughts and feeling to what you ‘think’ people are more likely to be able to digest.
I would rather someone comment that they find a particular image quite depressing than have it instil no emotion on them whatsoever. It is such a powerful thing to be able to drive to the core of someone’s soul and to elicit a powerful emotion, be it sadness, fear, love, joy, regret, loneliness, elation, lust, whatever it may be. This cannot be contrived but can only come from deep within ourselves to begin with.
Be honest with your work and draw inspiration from the heart, not the head. If you have a compelling story to tell, there will be those fortunate enough to hear it.
