“Worry not that no one knows of you; seek to be worth knowing.” -Confucius
If you haven’t already noticed, I’ve been slowly working on my blog design and structure, making it more neat and consistent. I really had to change up things because February rolled around and I still had a Xmas hat on owlie! I know there’s still a lot to do and much that could be optimized and improved on. However, I’ve learned that everything is a work in progress and that’s okay.
I’m one of those who holds back a lot of sharing for fear of imperfection…for fear of judgement I suppose. At least I was one of those people before. I’m getting better at just sharing now because it’s fun, it’s social (and human!) and often quite helpful in the end. In the past I think I was worrying too much that no one cared, no one would notice my work and all those negative thoughts that runs through an artist’s mind. I was struck by the Confucius quote you see above because all this time I’ve been concentrating on the wrong thing. Instead of worrying and fearing…about future stuff that I can’t predict anyway…I really just need to live my life to the fullest and open myself up – being the best I can be. Hey, wait…so I just have to be me?! That’s easy! 
Naturally, when you are worth knowing the people will come and the discussions will start and hopefully friendships will form. A bit like finding one’s style, I guess it’s something that comes when the time is right and there’s no sense fretting about. Anyway, that’s been on my mind this week as I work away…I hope it provides some food for thought. Have a great weekend!
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To receive this super cute motivational poster as a printable PDF, 
12 Comments
Linda,
Thanks for stopping by Blueskies!! I liked your post. You surpise me that you are one to hold back! But I do understand the negative art-thoughts!!
have a good day! Lynn
Thanks for stopping by Lynn! I guess I edit a lot when it comes to blogging and what I share online…which is probably a good thing, because stream of consciousness probably isn’t something to share with the public! However, I am getting better at sharing more…still so much my fellow blog readers don’t know about me.
I have sure been doing a lot of thinking along those lines these past few weeks as I have been working on Kathryn Antyr’s Vision Journaling Workshop….
I was very hesitant to post my affirmation cards and vision board for the first lesson, but now I am glad I did! As I am getting ready to post about the second lesson, I am starting to feel some of those old “what will people think about it?” “is it good enough?” type thoughts. But I will post it!!! Maybe eventually I will not have any? so many? of these kinds of thoughts…….
I need to just keep on going and it will all be ok in the end!
Glad you are sharing your thoughts on this. And your work!
Hi Pam! I suppose it’s something we are all faced with at some point in our lives. You are right we just have to keep going! Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts as well…I really appreciate it!
Hi Linda, your blog keeps getting better and better!
Oh, Lori, so nice of you to say that!
Couldn’t agree with you more … as a budding artist as well as a human beings, we’re fear of judgment. And most of the time, we’re our own harsh judges. Hence I try to practice below whenever I find myself trying to be the “perfectionist”.
- Never never never give up
- Do what you can, where you are with what you have
- There is nothing that cannot happen today
I’ve posted the above in my blog last year, you could check it out here.
http://hybridj.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-fundamentals_24.html
Thanks a bunch for the link, those are definitely wise words!
Re How to void streaking
I’ve got below from Rowena (http://warriorgirl.blogspot.com/) who left it as comment to my post (The Hoarder). And if I’ve got more tips, will let you know.
“From Rowena:
How to keep streaks from happening? I think if you wet the entire field that you want to have colored, and then keep a very saturated brush, working quickly, go back and forth over the field with your brush, overlapping paint slightly.
Oh yeah, and keep your paper tilted so the excess water can run down instead of pooling. Use a squeezed dry brush to pick up the pooling water at the end, but make sure to touch the pool very lightly, so you don’t remove color from the paper.
This is what you do for watercolor, anyway, and I’m assuming it would work for any very liquid transparent medium that dries quickly.”
Great tips! I was wondering how folks create the smoothness…I will have to try with watercolor sometime.
Dear Linda
You are such a supportive friend, thank you for your continuous wonderful comments on my blog, they mean a lot to me.
I love the new layout on your blog it’s very pretty. Looking forward to seeing and hearing from you more here.
Love
Niki
xxx
Hi Niki – Good to hear from you and I’m so glad to be able to see your work and share my thoughts. All my best to you! Thanks for stopping by!