Mixed Media Art: Celebrate Small Wins!

Celebrating small wins means being able to let go! It means being willing to accept things as they are and being more forgiving of yourself.  If you have a negative attitude then it will become harder for you to accept the small victories that you have achieved with your art.  You will also be less willing to let go of past mistakes, which leads us to our next point!

Why should I let go?  

Letting go of past mistakes is important because it helps you progress as an artist. If you are carrying around all of those mistakes from the past, then they will weigh down on current projects and future ones as well.  Not only that but if you continue to beat yourself up about mistakes instead of celebrating them, then it can lead to mental health issues such as depression or anxiety disorders.

When should I let go?

You should celebrate small wins with your Art as soon as possible to ensure the best results!  If you do so, then you will feel more relaxed and less of a failure during the project. You will then be able to reflect on past mistakes and use them in order to improve for future projects instead of dwelling on past failures.

One thing I find annoying about the so-called “modern culture” of today is this idea of instant gratification.  We claim we do not have enough time in our day yet we spend so much time mindlessly scrolling through social media feeds on our smartphones instead of just living life.  And what passes as “good enough” these days?  Everything seems to be average.  Let’s compare two different scenarios:

1- A high school student spends months studying for the final exam of his/her class, pausing only for breaks and meals, then sits down to take the test. The grades are averaged out and that is what the student receives as their mark.

2- A high school student takes one midterm test halfway through the semester and gets an 80%. At study hall between classes, this same kid watches YouTube videos all period long every chance they get because “I need an 80% to pass!”. The second midterm comes up and this kid whips out his or her phone immediately after finishing it (before even checking their answers) runs down the hallway flailing their arms in the air hollering out “I’M FREE!!!!” because they got an 85% on the test. For this student, an 80% is not good enough if it just means average.  It has to be at least 85%.

This is kind of how I feel these days about my art!  When I started out I was aiming for 100%, that perfect shot where everything falls into place and you get exactly what you envisioned in your head.  The trouble with trying to make something perfect the first time around is there are always going to be mistakes or things that don’t turn out exactly right.

So now instead of laboring over every little detail, which never seems complete by itself, I’m working on getting good enough for what I want to do.  I’m celebrating the small wins with my art!

Even if it is just a little better than you did last time, or trying something new that worked out at least 5% better than your previous attempt, it’s still progress and reminds you why you are doing this in the first place.  You don’t have to get discouraged by all of these ideas floating around about how everything has to be perfect immediately or people won’t care/notice/buy etc. because that is simply not true!  Your fans want YOU to keep growing and refining your craft so they can continue to enjoy what you’re making instead of being disappointed when someone else comes along who does it better.

The thing is though, that person probably worked just as hard or even harder than you did to get where they are.  Their quality of work may be better, but you can’t compare yourself with others because nobody is in the same boat as you.  The only way to do this is to keep practising your art and finding new ways to make it better until one day you look back at an old piece of work and think, “Wow, I was terrible!”

But that’s okay because somebody out there will appreciate even your worst stuff and you just have to focus on them instead of the people who only think things are good enough if they’re perfect.

So stop pining after these unrealistic standards and celebrate the small wins with your art! Find something, anything, about what you made today that is better than it was yesterday and pat yourself on the back for making it through another day.

Then get up tomorrow and do it all over again until one day you look in the mirror and see an artist staring back at you instead of a person who hasn’t gotten anywhere yet;  You’ll be surprised by how far you’ve come in such short time when you focus on the journey instead of the destination.