Before I had this website I was a hidden artist. One who did a bit every now and again. When I had painted or drawn something that I liked I was afraid to start another in case it wasn’t as good as what I had previously done. I was petrified by the white blank canvas and so I would disappear again into my fear and avoidance of my talent.
I was always jealous of people who said things like ‘I have to draw everyday …’ They were the real artists and I was just a pretender. Then one day I saw a Ted talk about creating a habit. According to Matt Cutt it takes 30 days to create a habit and so I decided to draw something every day for 30 days and join the exalted ones as a proper artist. This coincided with my having to have surgery on my right hand half way through the 30 days. I didn’t let myself off the hook. I decided to draw with my left hand until my right hand was back in action. Even if I’d forget I’d do a quick doodle before bed. In fact, one of the fast drawings I did is one of my favourite of the 30 days. I posted my attempts online in a blog and then posted the blog on Facebook and Instagram so that I had a motivation each day to complete my task.
Real artists had studios and I didn’t have a studio. I would always say that I would convert the shed which was never going to happen. Then I realized that I had a room where we dumped all our stuff and just closed the door. It’s amazing how a room can just disappear out of consciousness. I pulled it apart and put it back together as a studio. Now I practically live in there. I have my breakfast now sitting looking at what I did the day before.
This led me to getting back into painting and so a habit was formed. I wasn’t everyday but now I had a studio it was more likely. I found a lovely market near me that had a craft area. I asked if there was a stall available and I was given a date for my first day of my market stall. I put together a few dog portraits and any other paintings I had that were still in my studio. I began getting commissions from this small beginning.
The series of events that I like calling following the arrows led me to being on Sky portrait artist. Now I’m out in the public arena getting stuck in.
I put in a little effort regularly and it has paid off. The thoughts of walking to China is way too far, I would never get there but if a walked a few steps every day I would be getting closer as each day went by. It was never going to happen without that small effort and that little effort has translated into my practice being much further down the road that it was. There’s power in the little and often system.