Artist/Critic

The past few days I have been attempting to do portrait pieces using the medium of charcoal and pencil. I have enjoyed this new place of work and have opened myself up to self-evaluation of what is acceptable to myself and if it is “good enough” to allow others to see my work. As an artist, I feel many conflicts swirling around this thought process. When I am alone creating, I am in a different world, a world full of wonder and excitement of being in this creative realm. I am focused on the piece and nothing can pull me away from this beautiful experience. I will work tirelessly for hours and those hours fly by quickly. I am complete in those blocks of time and I know deep within that this is part of me and I embrace the course of my life without regret or self-evaluation if this is what I should be doing. Then all of a sudden I am finished with the creating and then the logical part of me looks to see the flaws. In the past, the critic in me would be disappointed in the outcome. This time I stood back and saw with a critical eye where I needed to improve on parts of the work. I made a decision to take my work and show two other artists that I trust. They were able to give me pointers and instead of feeling closed off, I was open to their help. I don’t know if other artists feel as I do about this process of creating and I only speak of my own experience but I believe that it’s the conflict of the artist and critic and the battle going on inside that makes this important to the process…both are needed to balance the finished product. One flows from the emotional, creative side and the other flows from the logical part of the brain to complete the work that will stand strong with both sides coming together as one. To see and embrace the artist and critic is a balancing act and in time when the two are accepted within, I believe that is when the work becomes the art.