Being an Artist/Thinking like an Artist

  For ten years, i worked in my mother in law's art and craft shop.  One of my jobs was teaching classes, including decorative painting.
  Most of my students were better than me from day one, and continued to improve throughout the six week series.  Most probably never picked up the brush again.
  Then there was "Susan."
  Like so many others, she was better than me from day one. Unlike so many others, she not only continued painting, but quickly established a successful painting business, selling her work to friends and at craft fairs.
  For years, one of her pieces decorated my dentist's office.
  But then Susan came to a piece she just couldn't get right.

The Next Lesson

  Susan came to another lesson.
  It was the most boring i've ever taught.
  For three hours, i sat beside her and said,  
"Yes, it looks like a mess.  But you're not done yet.  Try this now."
  After three hours, she was thrilled.
  i was a wreck.
  But that lesson ranks in my mind as one of the two most successful art teaching experiences i've had.  More on the other later.

Thinking like an Artist

  It's more thinking than you'd imagine.
  If you're just starting, well duh, you're just starting.  You can improve. 
  If you have a disability, you can work past & through it.
  If the structure isn't right, nothing is right.
  On the other hand, don't let anyone tell you to not do it because you're not good.  To name just one example, Mondrian is considered by many to have been a terrible painter, especially before he found his niche.  (Some don't like his work even after!)  Here are two sites in which you compare, the first written by an art historian, and the second by an art critic.
 If you've been working at it a l-o-n-g time & haven't improved, well, is it still fun?  Don't stop.
  You might try a different style.  There's lots of ways to paint, and they're not all realistic.  i'm studying magic realism, and the work of Eyvind Earle But always acknowledge your own work as your own.
  Sometimes it's more looking than drawing/painting.
"IF YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO LOOK AT A PAINTING, TRY JUST SITTING STILL AND LETTING IT LOOK AT YOU FOR AWHILE."  We don't look at paintings long enough anyway.