“Look at your work and it tells you how it is when you hold back or when you embrace. When you are lazy, your art is lazy; when you hold back, it holds back; when you hesitate, it stands there staring, hands in its pockets. But when you commit, it comes on like blazes.” by david bayles author of the book Art and Fear

by Melissa from google image

I have always found it difficult to know when to stop working on a piece of art.  I want to add more and do more.  At some point I decided I would have to go with a gut feeling when everything clicked and seemed to say "I AM DONE".  That seems to work for me, but there are times I still will ponder to add or take away...if I am not sure, I take a break and come back to it later.  But the commitment is essential, is facing and overcoming self doubt and fear of failure.  Art is a process, one must move through the learning steps and flow of ideas...if an idea changes or moves to another that is not a failure, it is merely a part of the artistic process that tells you where to go next.  Some people stop and doubt themselves at that point...quit, sure they are a failure or not a real artist and walk away. If you go to a gallery or art show you will see artists of all kinds and all levels of talent and skill.  And some people will show their work at any level, and I have come to admire that...it is because they have faith that they will grow, they will change, and their art will reach higher levels.  They are committed.  I have seen many a talented artist decide not to show, because in their mind, their work is not good enough...they are just not realizing it is a step of self destruction and self doubt.  The seeking of perfectionism is one of the most destructive of self sabotaging inner critics.  To seek perfection is to set yourself up for sure failure and paralysis.  It to set up the impossible to insure failure, then you can say to yourself.....see I am not an artist, or see I do not have enough talent...it is pure self destruction.

photo by elizabeth gordon teacher of the arts

It is like jumping off a high diving board in a ice cold pool...you just close your eyes and do it!  And amazingly you survive, and the diving board wasn't as high as you thought, and the pool wasn't so cold.  I wish you all the courage to not seek perfection, to accept yourself where you are in your journey and take that jump.  I can guarantee you will survive and you will grow as an artist and a person. That guarantee comes from 37 years of being an art teacher and watching people grow and a life time as an artist and having to learn to trust the process.

The Difference of Art and Craft

Wonderful craftsmen throwing a pot  photo by elizabeth gordon

One of my pots that I sculpted and fired raku style

A craftsmen of excellence in the Asheville area

a high relief sculpture pot with varied texture and raku

two photo's of high relief collage using a craft

taking a pottery beyond craft

These two photos show an ink printing process developed by my teacher Kathy and myself.  In my mind this is taking pottery beyond craft.  The image is my Mother in her twenties and her love of biology

Here I am learning the art of glass fusion, but once again treating it like collage.
I have other ideas about how to bring glass fusion in to my fine art

Craftsmen showing the skill of trimming a pot

One of  my experimental and creative raku sculpture 

Here I am working with printing on alternative surfaces

As a fine artist I struggle to explain the difference between craft and fine art, especially, when I am taking craft classes and surrounded by craftsmen.  What I realized is craftsmen can perfect their craft, they can be creative in shape or form, create a new glaze, or fuse glass a little differently, or weave a basket with a new skill....but there is where it ends...the vision to take it beyond to another level that is the insight of the creative fine artist.  This quote by Bayles says it far better than I can.  I study crafts, take classes, but the end is always to take it back to my own art and expand it or deconstruct it to something else.

“The difference between art and craft lies not in the tools you hold in your hands, but in the mental set that guides them. For the artisan, craft is an end in itself. For you, the artist, craft is the vehicle for expressing your vision. Craft is the visible edge of art.” from David Bayles Art and Fear

Art and Fear/Readings from the book Continued

This reading I truly love because it gave me insight in to working with my art in a way I had not perceived before.  It was stunning how much sense it made and I had never thought of it! Your art is a self journal of your life and experience...one piece does not end, cut off from the next piece...it makes sense it is a journey...one learns and takes the next step, even it is unconscious.

google image

 “What you need to know about the next piece is contained in the last piece. The place to learn about your materials is in the last use of your materials. The place to learn about your execution is in your execution Put simply, your work is your guide: a complete, comprehensive, limitless reference book on your work.”

More on Art and Fear
The more I read of Bayle's work the more I want to share with you.  It rings so true and insightful.  I hope you will find as helpful as I have.  It is funny, I think that book sits at home on a shelf somewhere, but I had to come North hundreds of miles in the mountains to rediscover a book I had shelved away.  There is the saying when the student is ready, the teacher appears....it seems so.
Through the years attending outdoor shows and gallery shows I have seen artists cling to what has been successful those insuring they could not grow or move on.  Art is a flow...I suppose all life and learning is such...we must ride the waves like a surfer on the crest of a wave as we hit the top then it subsides and we must get ready to ride the next wave.  The section below is a quote from the book Art and Fear.

from google image

 “To require perfection is to invite paralysis. The pattern is predictable: as you see error in what you have done, you steer your work toward what you imagine you can do perfectly. You cling ever more tightly to what you already know you can do – away from risk and exploration, and possibly further from the work of your heart. You find reasons to procrastinate, since tonot work is to not make mistakes.”

“Artmaking involves skills that can be learned. . . In large measure becoming an artist consists of learning to accept yourself, which makes your work personal, and in following your own voice, which makes your work distinctive. . . Even talent is rarely distinguishable, over the long run, from perseverance and lots of hard work.” David Bayles, Art and Fear

This is a wonderful book by David Bayles.  I highly recommend it to artists and aspiring artist for we all must come to terms with ourselves in the making of art.  It is an expression of our being, of our experiences and our perceptions.  It is the confidence which we put in ourselves that allows us to express our intent clearly...we must believe in and trust our ideas and the ability to communicate them in our own way.  

Elizabeth Gordon at Dali Museum with Surrealistic Found Object Sculpture
photo by Ann Suggs