Girl, do your thing? Let’s talk about something that every one of us has problems with.. Negative comments. We all get them, right? Here’s the scenario: You pour your heart and soul into a piece. You clean, repair, dream, envision. You work so hard to bring your vision to fruition. Then, you swallow your fear, lower your defenses, and share your piece to the public! It’s HARD to put yourself out there! Vulnerable to say the least! With every ‘ohhh’ and ‘ahhh’, and with every ‘amazing!’ and ‘beautiful!’, your confidence swells and you start to feel pretty darn good about your work. Then out of nowhere, you get ‘ugly’, or ‘wow, interesting’, or ‘not my style’. You may have gotten dozens of the good compliments, but along comes one, just ONE negative comment and BAM! Confidence – gone. Sound familiar? Yeah? Well, you’re not alone my friend… read on.
Now you may be saying, ‘I don’t paint furniture! How does this pertain to me??’ My answer? You do something. Artistic or not, you’ve put yourself out there. And you were either lifted up, or torn down. Again, no matter your passion, you’re in the right place because – You.Are.Not.Alone. Your worth is not defined by people you don’t even know. Also, your worth is not defined by people you DO know. Your worth is defined by you. Period.
This is a picture of ‘The Dream’ by Picasso. He created it in 1932 to depict his mistress. Definitely not MY style. But it’s famous! And you know what? It was LAUGHED at and rejected by everyone at the time. It went on to become one of Picasso’s most highly valued works. Had Picasso listened to those rejectors, we might not have some of his other amazing works!
Other artists who followed their ARTISTIC VISION, even when it was rejected by the masses include: Walt Disney, Ed Sheeran, Van Gogh, Monet, and the list goes on and on.. ever hear of any of them? In fact, before Disneyland, Walt Disney was actually FIRED from a job because his boss said he lacked creativity! Can you imagine? Can you imagine a world without princesses, Mickey, or the ‘Magic Kingdom’? I can’t.
I’m writing about this today, because I feel like what we do is an art. And each and every one of you have an artistic vision. You may notice that when someone asks ‘what color should I paint this?’ I don’t answer those very often. This is because my artistic vision is not YOUR artistic vision. You may also notice that when someone posts a finished piece, or one that is almost finished, I NEVER critique what they’re doing with it. I respect their artistic vision, and will help when I can, as long as it doesn’t interfere with that. Believe me, sometimes I see pieces that I just don’t like. I see things that I’d have probably done differently. I NEVER, EVER mention it. It’s not my place.
It seems to me that people have forgotten that there are other real people on the other side of the ‘information superhighway’. Making disparaging comments, just for the sake of doing so, helps no one. As a matter of fact, it can really hurt. So I DO ask that you all respect everyone’s artistic vision. If you wouldn’t walk up to a stranger, face to face, and give THAT opinion, then don’t do it online. Don’t be THAT person. It may not be the same as your artistic vision, but that’s ok.
If someone does comment something unkind. Look past it. It says a whole lot more about them, than it does about your work. I guess what I’m trying to say is simply this: Girl, do your thing!
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I beat my self up enough, don’t need anyone else. I learend to say out loud to my computer…Who gives a rats… what you think. Most times I believe it’s those who just don’t know how to get out of there own world. Thanks for the great read.
You’re so right! Why tear down when you can lift up? ❤️❤️
I needed this! It would hurt my feelings so much. But I have learned that not everyone will like what I do. And not everybody was raised on the saying “if you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything sat all.” I try to let it roll off now and concentrate on the people who believe in me.
It’s really hard to do that, so I commend you! We just have to be ourselves, in whatever we do! <3