not everyone can like everything<\/strong>.<\/p>\nAnd of course they only said it in front of me because they didn\u2019t realise that it was me who had painted them\u2026<\/p>\n
But still\u2026<\/p>\n
It felt so demoralising.<\/p>\n
And I had some time to ruminate as the show is open 8am to 8pm every day. And until about midday very few people were buying artwork – they were checking out the gardens.<\/p>\n
And in those hours I often felt rejected. Low.<\/p>\n
It seems so silly looking back.<\/p>\n
But then our artwork is so personal.<\/h2>\n It\u2019s hard not to get over-identified with it.<\/p>\n
And it felt so raw to be there in front of thousands of people with it.<\/p>\n
With literally nowhere to hide.<\/p>\n
During those quiet hours my oh-so-unhelpful mind told me:<\/p>\n
I\u00a0should loosen up my style and paint something different<\/strong><\/p>\nI was crazy to have given up my sensible career to pursue painting<\/strong><\/p>\nI should jack it in and become a primary school teacher*<\/strong><\/p>\nThis experience was so powerful because as soon as I had a sale and felt \u2018great\u2019 I could see with clarity that this self-talk was not founded in reality.<\/p>\n
And not to be listened to.<\/p>\n
As usual, it was the self-talk, rather than the actual situation, which caused the stess-out.<\/p>\n
How did I turn this around? I made myself focus on this one truth:<\/p>\n
You must\u00a0paint your paintings only for YOU.<\/h2>\nIf you do that, if you have FUN doing that, then you’re the winner whatever anyone else thinks.<\/h2>\n And of course, when you truly feel this way the sales seem to roll in anyway!<\/p>\n
Keeping self-talk in check is vital to sharing your artwork – and to generally not just staying locked in your bedroom 24\/7!<\/p>\n
So when I saw this inspiring TED talk by Psychologist Guy Winch about the importance of what he calls \u2018emotional hygiene\u2019 it really resonated.<\/p>\n
And I\u2019m sharing it for those of you who have:<\/p>\n
been wounded by a friend or relative telling you that your artwork was \u2018not for them\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\nhaven\u2019t (yet) put your artwork out there because you\u2019re too scared of a negative reaction<\/strong><\/p>\nor worse…haven\u2019t yet picked up your brush because you\u2019re so\u00a0scared of a negative reaction!<\/strong><\/p>\nRemember: you don\u2019t have to believe everything you think!<\/h2>\n Let\u2019s work on developing more compassionate self-talk so we can be brave and put our artwork out there![\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ columns_type=”default” section=”” full_screen=”” vertical_centering=”” background=”” bg_color_info=”” img=”” parallax_bg_width=”110″ parallax_reverse=”” video=””][vc_column text_color=”” animate=”” animate_delay=””][vc_video link=”http:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/guy_winch_the_case_for_emotional_hygiene” ratio=”16-9″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ columns_type=”default” section=”” full_screen=”” vertical_centering=”” background=”” bg_color_info=”” img=”” parallax_bg_width=”110″ parallax_reverse=”” video=””][vc_column text_color=”” animate=”” animate_delay=””][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n
I\u2019d love to hear of your own experiences – real or imagined – of artwork rejection – and how you turned your thinking around if you managed to!<\/h6>\nPlease share them in the comments below.<\/h6>\nHappy painting!<\/h6>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”274663″ img_size=”full” img_link_new_tab=””][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n
* I have huge admiration for primary school teachers. At a low point with my art, I did some days of teacher-shadowing at a primary school and realised it was WAY TOO demanding\u00a0for me and totally NOT the solution my mind had been telling me it was!<\/p>\n
[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n
[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] For 6 years, this 3rd week in May meant one thing to me. CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW It was a a huge privilege to be there. \u2028But it was also an emotional roller coaster! Imagine painting for a whole year to have enough paintings to exhibit… paying the HUGE sum of money to exhibit… loading…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
How to deal with artwork "rejection" - Nature Studio<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n