Success or Failure

Will this be a success or will this fall flat on its face? Any artist will have thought these things when creating art. To fail,to admit defeat is something certainly not unique to artists or creatives it’s something everyone would have experienced in their lives at one point or other. But I have learn‘t in the relatively short time I have been painting is that failure is part of the process. Criticism is part of the process and to be a successful artist you need to grow a pretty thick skin quickly.

Failure is as big a teacher as success is in fact we as humans have learn‘t more by failure than we ever did from success. Think about your children if you have them, when they learned to walk they didn’t give up every time they fell. They got up and tried again and again. And there you was the proud parent cheering them along all the way. In fact failure in some cases is embraced as part of the learning journey and a vital step along the road to success. Some companies and inventors thrust themselves headlong into something hoping to fail, but to fail quickly and from that learn what will work and drive them on to success.

Think about a time when you have walked around an art gallery or a museum, are you amazed and stunned at every piece or exhibit? Or do somethings speak to you more loudly than others? This is human nature and not everything appeals to everyone. This is a vital lesson to learn for artists and learn quickly. This is because not everyone will like your work but others will love it. There are roughly 7.6 billion people in the world according to google, if 1% of that population like my work that’s a lot of people as a target audience. When I first started painting and for a while afterwards I wanted everyone to love everything I’d done and be amazed, but guess what they weren’t. And when I look back at what I produced then I’m not sure I do either.

But that’s good, failure is good, invite it in have a brew with it learn about it because it’ll help you grow. Failure as an artist for me is an idea or something I have wanted to portray to the world that hasn’t gone quite right or in some cases disastrously wrong. But each and every time I’ve learnt something new from it. That’s not time wasted at all. In fact there are two paintings that immediately spring to mind one a landscape. It’s a military scene and shows the insertion into Kosovo in 1999 of NATO troops by helicopter. This was a personal piece to me as I was there I was serving in the army I was there and experienced it. I felt the painting was nowhere near as good as I’d hoped and I was disappointed in it and I left it in the corner of my studio unloved. The second is aportrait that I painted last year. This was a portrait of Dannii Minogue that I painted along with sky arts portrait artist of the week and if I’m honest I do not believe looks like her at all it looks like a woman but it’s not Dannii Minogue

By who’s standards or what yardstick are we judging this success and failure. I should have a bigger house or I should have a flashier car or more money. I should have achieved this rank or got that job by now. But why? It’s nonsense why am I judging myself against someone else or what they have achieved. Let’s strip it back to the bare bone, why do I paint? Why am I putting myself through a degree in painting? Why share my art with the world?

Well the first question is easy because I love it, I love doing it I love creating them and I love it when it’s finished. It feels me with joy quite simply. The second one is also easy because I want to get better and I want to learn more I have a hunger to learn more. But there’s more to it than that I left school with 3 GCSE’s that’s it and none of them were in art I then joined the military and learned a great number of things including a trade. For me it’s about breaking through that glass ceiling with regards to education and bettering myself for no one else but me. The last question is perhaps not so easy. I share my work because I’m proud of it, even the failures. I share it because I want others to see it I want others to be inspired by it and when I paint commissions for people I want that piece of art unique to them to be special to them and their families.

Which leads me to success, what is it? Well some would say its big houses lots of money and fame. But is that necessarily the case, Banksy is probably the most famous artist of our time but does anyone know who he is? By what standard does he judge success? What about the artists who gladly identify themselves what’s their definition of success? I cannot answer any of those questions I can only speak for myself.

A successful painting or piece of art to me is something that speaks to people one way or another. That may sound wishy washy but that’s it. If I post a picture of a painting on social media and someone I don’t know or outside my circle of friends likes it. Bingo that’s a success. Don’t get me wrong I like the fact friends and family like my work but we’re always slightly bias towards those we know and love where as a stranger doesn’t have to be. If I look at my own work and where it now is I can point to many that I deem successful. I have 4 paintings in the Royal Engineers museum that will be there for generations not always on display but always there in the archives at least and available to see should anyone want to, I have a painting in the officer’s mess in another engineer regiment. Plus a growing number in private houses from California to Germany and of course the UK. So that’s success or what I believe to be. If one of my paintings is on a wall and someone takes a few moments to look at it and they smile I’ve nailed it.

But how to keep there how do I keep motivated and keep it up. Well I think the first thing is mind-set, accept mistakes and failure happen learn from them. I saw a documentary on the Mona Lisa and the narrator stated that Leonardo Da Vinci kept the painting with him up until his death never happy with it always tinkering. The most famous painting in the world he was never quite happy with and never delivered, which may be why Da Vinci once said “Art is never finished just abandoned”. I recently completed a High performance coaching course with an incredibly inspirational bloke by the name of Lee Evans (Mind power solutions look him up)where amongst other things he was great at self-awareness and fostered the drive and motivation to achieve more. In fairness its worth doing the course just for Lee’s dancing.

So what am I trying to say, I am saying that failure is all part of it and you can’t succeed without it I know that every painting or drawing I create is a journey and I learn a little more and if someone somewhere likes it I’ve nailed it.

What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything- Vincent Van Gogh

P.S Remember the painting I mentioned of Kosovo, well just two weeks ago I sent it to Florida to a gentlemen who absolutely loved it and it now sits proudly on his wall.