The Seventh thing that I learned again in 2022 -- Believe in yourself

The Promise
acrylic on canvas
36 x 48 inches
Barbara Muir © 2009

If you're reading this blog and you don't paint, you might think
that the job is a party. Painting in a studio with other artists -- yes --
even if you have to be quiet while the model is posing, that is like
a party.

Painting from a model on your own in your own studio -- quite 
joyous if all is going well -- terrifying if it isn't.  I've never showed
models or clients my work until I think it's finished.  

But working alone from reference when the model is gone can be
quite agonizing. I haven't had a model since 2019, but I am thinking
about how to do it safely again.

So I was surprised and happy to find out by reading my blog, that this
portrait that hangs in my studio, which is a work I'm proud of, and that
I admire -- took forever to complete and made me feel inadequate.  Why
does that make me happy? Maybe that's the wrong word.  The point is that
it confirms the idea of not giving up, and of believing in yourself.

That is something I learn over and over.  If I get scared, and think I
can't complete something, I need to rely on knowing that I overcame
that fear in the past, and the result is more than satisfactory.

So please if you are making art, or auditioning to act, or singing,
or making movies, or taking photographs, or dancing, or doing anything
creative -- believe in yourself, and you can do it.

Have a loving your life day.