The Rabbit the Creator Art Blog

People often ask me how to stop being afraid of making a mistake while painting.

So I wanted to dive a little into this fear with you. What are we actually afraid of?

We live with these notions of good or bad work. We want nothing more than to produce a good painting but don’t feel in control. And this makes us fear making a bad painting.

But what if you got rid of the habit of labeling your work? What if you could adopt an exploring mindset instead?

How to do that? The key is you stop expecting your painting to go straight to a gallery or a trash bin. Most works don’t. Think about your work not as an end but as a stage on your creative journey. What you should do is to wonder, to be curious about where the work (with all the mistakes) will take you. Some of the “mistakes” may make you discover new things!

Remember – you are on a journey of discovery. Every new work means advancing on this journey. And as such, with every new artwork, you win cause you are expressing yourself and learning. The only way of losing is by waiting and not doing the work;)

And I am not saying you shouldn’t think about your work. I am just saying – don’t judge it, or at least don’t judge it too early in the process. What works for me is that I like to put some time between creating and looking at the work and thinking about it.

If you are a beginner, I have one more suggestion. For a while, when you analyze your work, you should concentrate only on the things you like about it. Don’t spend energy thinking about things you don’t like (you can always get back to them later – in a few months). This piece of advice is pure gold. It will do wonders for you.

Making mistakes = discovering