{"id":19277,"date":"2016-05-26T14:00:52","date_gmt":"2016-05-26T14:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/?p=7338"},"modified":"2021-04-27T16:26:18","modified_gmt":"2021-04-27T15:26:18","slug":"deal-artwork-rejection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/deal-artwork-rejection\/","title":{"rendered":"How to deal with artwork “rejection”"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\"Chelsea20132\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

For 6 years, this 3rd week in May meant one thing to me.<\/strong><\/p>\n

CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was a a huge privilege to be there.<\/h6>\n
\u2028But it was also an emotional roller coaster!<\/h6>\n
Imagine painting for a whole year to have enough paintings to exhibit…<\/h6>\n
paying the HUGE sum of money to exhibit…<\/h6>\n
loading up the car to BRIM full (will it all fit?!) and traveling to\u00a0hang\u00a0the paintings in the crowded\u00a0central London location:<\/h6>\n

\"Chelsea2013SetUp\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Before starting a full 7 days of manning your stand, selling your artwork.<\/h6>\n
Oh, and also imagine that most of your annual income would come from there.<\/h6>\n

PRESSURE!<\/h2>\n

So imagine how great you\u2019d feel when you sold a painting.<\/h6>\n
Huge relief and gratitude.<\/h6>\n
And, in reality<\/em> this did happen plenty of the time for me.<\/h6>\n
But the thing is, Chelsea Flower Show has 165,000 visitors.<\/h6>\n
I had maybe 200 customers if you include greetings cards and prints.<\/h6>\n

So, that\u2019s 164,800 people who rejected my artwork and therefore ME.<\/h2>\n

Or at least that\u2019s what my mind, at my low points, would say.<\/h2>\n

And, whilst many people said kind and lovely things about my artwork, I experienced quite a few people state, in my earshot, that it \u2018wasn\u2019t for them\u2019\u2026 or worse.<\/p>\n

Now of course they are entitled to their option – and of course, rationally, I know not everyone can like everything<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

And 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>\n

I was crazy to have given up my sensible career to pursue painting<\/strong><\/p>\n

I should jack it in and become a primary school teacher*<\/strong><\/p>\n

This 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>\n

If 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>\n

haven\u2019t (yet) put your artwork out there because you\u2019re too scared of a negative reaction<\/strong><\/p>\n

or worse…haven\u2019t yet picked up your brush because you\u2019re so\u00a0scared of a negative reaction!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Remember: 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>\n
Please share them in the comments below.<\/h6>\n
Happy 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":"\nHow to deal with artwork "rejection" - Nature Studio<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW! It was a a huge privilege to be there, but it was also a roller coaster! How to deal with art rejection!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/deal-artwork-rejection\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to deal with artwork "rejection" - Nature Studio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW! It was a a huge privilege to be there, but it was also a roller coaster! How to deal with art rejection!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/deal-artwork-rejection\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nature Studio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AnnaMasonArt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-26T14:00:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-27T15:26:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Chelsea2013SetUp.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"525\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anna Mason\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AnnaMasonArt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AnnaMasonArt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anna Mason\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/deal-artwork-rejection\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/deal-artwork-rejection\/\",\"name\":\"How to deal with artwork \\\"rejection\\\" - Nature Studio\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/deal-artwork-rejection\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/deal-artwork-rejection\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Chelsea2013SetUp.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-26T14:00:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-27T15:26:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/99bb20730e0487929443aaff082a3601\"},\"description\":\"CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW! It was a a huge privilege to be there, but it was also a roller coaster! How to deal with art rejection!\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/deal-artwork-rejection\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/deal-artwork-rejection\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Chelsea2013SetUp.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Chelsea2013SetUp.jpg\",\"width\":700,\"height\":525},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/\",\"name\":\"Nature Studio\",\"description\":\"Online Art School & Community from Anna Mason & friends\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/99bb20730e0487929443aaff082a3601\",\"name\":\"Anna Mason\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dd28661c025c0f5a7cd2679c9270b4ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dd28661c025c0f5a7cd2679c9270b4ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Anna Mason\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to deal with artwork \"rejection\" - Nature Studio","description":"CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW! It was a a huge privilege to be there, but it was also a roller coaster! How to deal with art rejection!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/deal-artwork-rejection\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to deal with artwork \"rejection\" - Nature Studio","og_description":"CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW! It was a a huge privilege to be there, but it was also a roller coaster! How to deal with art rejection!","og_url":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/deal-artwork-rejection\/","og_site_name":"Nature Studio","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AnnaMasonArt","article_published_time":"2016-05-26T14:00:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-04-27T15:26:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":700,"height":525,"url":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Chelsea2013SetUp.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Anna Mason","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AnnaMasonArt","twitter_site":"@AnnaMasonArt","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Anna Mason","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/deal-artwork-rejection\/","url":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/deal-artwork-rejection\/","name":"How to deal with artwork \"rejection\" - Nature Studio","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/deal-artwork-rejection\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/deal-artwork-rejection\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Chelsea2013SetUp.jpg","datePublished":"2016-05-26T14:00:52+00:00","dateModified":"2021-04-27T15:26:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/99bb20730e0487929443aaff082a3601"},"description":"CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW! It was a a huge privilege to be there, but it was also a roller coaster! How to deal with art rejection!","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/deal-artwork-rejection\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/deal-artwork-rejection\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Chelsea2013SetUp.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Chelsea2013SetUp.jpg","width":700,"height":525},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/","name":"Nature Studio","description":"Online Art School & Community from Anna Mason & friends","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/99bb20730e0487929443aaff082a3601","name":"Anna Mason","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dd28661c025c0f5a7cd2679c9270b4ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dd28661c025c0f5a7cd2679c9270b4ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Anna Mason"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19277"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.naturestudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}