Hanna’s Art Blog 4: It Doesn’t Have to Be Great Art!

I’ve been ruminating again about how I could share my art with the world. It goes in circles: Great ideas of steps to take, excitement, then discouragement and realizing that this won’t work. I also looked at what my motivation is: Do I just want recognition? Be seen? No, it’s not that! It is my heart’s desire to share my art with others! My art is my gift to the world! And yet, in thinking about the “how”, I often hit this by now familiar impasse where I come to realize that for one reason or another, the usual ways won’t work for me, the introvert who is not wanting to market herself, is not socially connected, not networking, and is not connected with the art world, famous artists, or art collectors. I am not a well-known artist, and I don’t even make art that fits the current trends or expectations of the art world. Even though I believe in my art I may even not make art that will ever be seen as “great” by the art world!

There are  artists I resonate with or who work in similar ways as I do: My all-time hero Cy Twombly, Joan Mitchell, Alice Neel, Kandinsky, Vincent van Gogh, to name just a few. In my last art blog I wrote about how some of them became famous. All of them, I notice, had some connection to the art world. They were either connected with other famous artists and galleries through art school or through being in the right place at the right time, or they were socially open and connected and thus easily “discovered”. None of these situations are true for me! Often I believe that my path seems impossible without solid marketing! And yet, I just as often am clear that this kind of effort would not fit for me. If the art world wants to discover me great! I’m not going to chase after it or cater to it! So, I have to find my own path to sharing my art with the world. But how? This is the conundrum that I am writing about to see if there is a creative way out of this impasse.

What I have come to is this: There are people out there who love and want my art! The feeling I get when a friend requests a piece of my art and loves it, enjoys it, is happy with it, is a feeling of utter joy and bliss. It’s as good or even better than painting itself, because somehow my act of painting it has become more meaningful by completing the circle! I intend to recall this feeling every time I get discouraged or neurotic about how to sell or share my art, and let that be the guiding compass for how, if, or when to proceed with my desire to share my art.

But careful! I tried painting while telling myself that “someone out there will love and want this painting!” This didn’t work at all. It made me feel self-conscious and destroyed my creative flow! So, I will keep them separate. Nurture the feeling that I have when someone enjoys to have my art. And, keep painting without thinking about anything else. Just being present and following the creative process. Ultimately, art business or not, I need to keep making art. It doesn’t have to be great art, just making it is what matters! Creating a painting is a mysterious process. It does something to my brain. And the Creative Mystery does something to my painting! All I need to do is show up, be receptive, trust, follow the flow, dare, and have fun with it all! It’s a gift of energy, of aliveness, and of love! I think I will write more in another blog about this wondrous creative process.