Pablo Ferro

I saw this documentary available on Netflix called "Pablo" and decided to check it out. It turned out to be a very interesting documentary about an artist named Pablo Ferro. Odds are you've seen his work without realizing it. He's been producing innovative work for years. He's created opening credit sequences and trailers for tons of movies. If you are a graphic designer or motion graphics designer I especially recommend it. Be forewarned that this is about his life, and there may be some content that could offend (drugs, sex, etc.) if that's of concern to you. That aside, it was a very intriguing documentary on this artist and his life. It contains some cool animation throughout and is narrated by Jeff Bridges. If you have Netflix, check it out!

30 Days of Faces exhibit

 

Don't miss your chance to see my 30 Days of Faces solo exhibit at the Hunterdon Library North Branch. Show ends August 31st. Most works are for sale. Spread the word!

Hunterdon Library North Branch
65 Halstead Street, Clinton, NJ 08809
Hours: Mon 9:00 am-5:00 pm Tues 9:00 am-9:00 pm Wed 9:00 am-9:00 pm Thur 9:00 am-9:00 pm Fri 9:00 am-5:00 pm Sat 9:00 am-5:00 pm Sun CLOSED

Bill Murray Won Me First Place

Last weekend I entered the Hunterdon Library Outdoor Art Show. It was my first time in a show like this, and to be honest I wasn't too sure what to expect. They provided me with a 4 x 8 piece of snow fence to display my work, some for sale, some not and two pieces that I was to enter into the show for judging.

There was so much great work, and a variety too. The judges had a hard time deciding. Ultimately, my "Billiam Murray" took home First Place prize in the Mixed Media category! Hopefully I did Bill proud. ;)

100 Days of iPhone Sketches

This past Friday, June 13th, I completed my 100 Day Project of sketching photos from my Instagram feed on my iphone only. How'd I do it? Simple actually - I used an app called Sketchclub & a stylus to draw with.

It was a fun project that had some interesting by-products. One sketch won me a free t-shirt. I had a few (minor) celebrities respond to the sketches of their photos. But mostly, it was reactions from people I know and know only through online, that kept me coming back again and again. Most people were excited and thrilled to be chosen, so it made for a fun interactive element of harnessing the social in "social media". I ended up with a little over 100 (guess I got a little over zealous and my week out of the country made me loose track a bit). Thanks for all those who played along & encouraged me along the way!

If you'd like to see them in order check them out here!

Special thanks to Elle Luna for the prompting & invite to join her in this 100 Day Project adventure!

2 Weeks. 72 Sketches. 1 unforgettable week in Nicaragua.

I had the privilege of spending a week in Nicaragua with a team of people from my church, working alongside an organization called Living Water International. Our goals were to drill a well to provide clean water for this village, and teach them about hygiene and the love of Jesus.

It was an intense week, both physically & emotionally. We had to move our drill rig and restart the process of drilling a few times, and ultimately it was determined that we would not hit water that week. There was no video of happy people experiencing clean water for the first time. There was no village celebration. It was incredibly difficult to process it all.

Our faith was stretched. We were faithful in all we could do, yet we did not arrive at our desired outcome. Thankfully, LWI is committed to continued efforts to bring clean water to this village. We wait in anticipation for the news.

Before I left for the trip, I had the idea of filling up a Moleskine sketchbook with the things I saw and experienced. While I had to finish things upon my return based on some photos I took - I'm so glad I decided to record these things to cement the experience all the more.

If you're interested in seeing all of the sketches check them out here!

The Best Drawing All Week

If you've been tracking with my art, you know I've been doing a 100 Day Project. I'm at Day 61.

My normal routine is to flick through my Instagram feed & look for an interesting photo that i will then sketch on my iPhone. I've been trying not double up on anyone and so far, so good.

So today, as I flicked through my feed. I came across a photo from @mediapeople (Nathan Davis) of his daughter being prepped for surgery. I met Nathan once a long time ago at a church media conference. We were hanging out in the same crowd for maybe all of a half hour. So I did what any media guy does & followed him on twitter. I don't even know that we talked.

Fast forward to today. Seeing the photo he posted of his little girl Aleah, I knew I had to sketch his photo. As a dad, my heart swelled. As a believer in Jesus, I prayed for her as I sketched.

When I posted it, Nathan immediately responded that he was so encouraged, and as well he showed his daughter & it brought a smile to her face. That is why this is the best thing I've drawn all week. If my art can bring a connection, if i can use it as a gift (small as it is), then i feel like this is the best use of the abilities God has given me.

I don't know if you are the praying type, but if you are, would you pray for Aleah right now? She's been on a long road with surgeries to recover from a spinal cord injury from three years ago. If you're on Intagram, share some love on Nathan's account - @mediapeople

Sometimes the internet & social media just seem to rob you of time and amounts to nothing good. That's why I love when things like this happen to connect people. Why not join in & encourage these parents and their daughter? I triple-dog-dare you.

When Art Collides in Central Park

Last Friday I was sketching in Central Park. I like to go there every so often and just walk around, people watch, take some photos and recently, sketch. As I sat down in what is referred to the Mall section, I found myself sitting across from two musicians playing some songs for passers-by.

I decided it would be a great time to pull out the old sketchbook. Typically, I try to sketch people in public in as stealthy a way as possible as to not draw attention (no pun intended).

When I finished my sketch, I was ready to put my book away, but suddenly felt prompted to go over to the street musicians, throw a tip in their open case & share my art with them as they had been sharing their art with me.

What followed was a cool moment - I got to meet Sol Liebeskind & Agustin Uriburu. Sol was excited about my quick sketch so she snapped a photo to share on Instagram. It was a great little moment that wouldn't have happened had i closed my book and walked by (like you're trained to do growing up in NY). Glad I stepped out of the shadows.

Check out some of Sol's music.

30 Days of Selfies

I know it's common for artists to do self-portraits, but to be honest I have only done a few in my life until now. I'm not someone who has to look in a mirror whenever i'm near one. So this exercise was my most difficult yet as far as sticking with the subject matter. I struggled with thinking about how I could represent myself in more ways than just head on. There were times when I wanted to abandon this project, but I pressed on knowing that the only way to grow sometimes is to push.

Overall, there are a few that I'm pleased with. The rest were playing and tinkering. I did expand beyond my usual watercolors as of late, so that felt fun. Well, off to think up my next project.

Want to see the individual pieces? Check them out here.

Learning from Jim Henson

I grew up on Jim Henson's work - Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, and Fraggle Rock (to name a few). He was a master at creating magical realities. Unfortunately, as a kid you don't recognize the work and genius. You just enter it and enjoy it. With the release of the new Muppets Most Wanted movie, a whole new generation is getting to experience his brilliant work, long after his untimely passing in 1990.

I recently found myself checking out from my library, the audiobook of his biography "Jim Henson: The Biography" by Brian Jay Jones. While I had admired his work for years, and the part it played in my childhood, to be honest I knew very little about the man behind it. It was great to hear of his humble beginnings, and drive to succeed at his dream. I'm only on chapter three, but I'm finding his story inspiring and refreshing.

Especially noteworthy to me was a description of how he learned by experimenting and playing to problem solve. This often led him to breakthroughs that were unusual, because he wasn't trapped by traditional thinking or training. He often didn't know any better, and this freedom was the exact thing that he needed to try new things. Case in point - he decided instead of creating an immersive physical theater for his puppets, that he would wed his love of television and consider the monitor his puppets theater and world. Everything had to look good and operate with Television viewing in mind. This was not how his predecessors worked. It was revolutionary thinking for his time.

I suppose that in the past I never really thought to look into his story because I wasn't really interested in puppets. But there's so much more to his life and story. If you're looking for an inspirational book, from a guy who followed his dreams and passions - check this one out! You just might find some influential thoughts to your own dreams and creative process!

Do they like my Art?

"Don't think about making art. Just Get it done. let everyone else decide whether it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they're deciding, make even more art."

Andy Warhol

Art vs Marketing

Always tension between the two.

If opportunity hasn't knocked, start going door to door.

What do you do if you feel like you're doing everything you possibly can to advance in your art and yet there seems a lack of opportunity? You try and try and yet it's like there's no traction. Where is that "lucky break"?

You have two choices:

1. Complain about the lack of opportunity and become jealous of those around you who seem to be succeeding with such ease. I could so do what they're doing, you think. But you're not. To be honest, you're barely doing what YOU are doing. It's not luck. It's hard work on what is before you right now, no matter how small or big.

2. Make opportunities. Yeah I know. I hear the push back. The truth is though, if you are HUNGRY enough you can take advantage of opportunities all around you. They just aren't those sexy opportunities that thrust you into the public eye with accolades and acclaim. And let's be honest. If we're going to bust our butt, we want it to count for something BIG right?

What I have found is that you might have to redefine your idea of what great opportunities look like.

If opportunity hasn't knocked, start going door to door.

Are you doing work you love? (If not - then get to it. Stop waiting for someone to ask or invite you to do it).

Ok. I'll use myself as an example. Would I like to have my art valued, hung in galleries and sold for a lot of dough, and soak in all that goes along with being a "successful" professional artist? Sure. But I'm not waiting for someone to come knocking. I keep taking the right next step. TODAY (That's my mantra, as you know well if you frequent my blog).

Practically here's what that looks like:

- I committed to a drawing or painting a day for an entire year. April 4th will be an entire year. I have held to that. And even done more some days. Did I do this because some one asked me to? No. I did it to kick to the curb the lie I believed for too long that I because I couldn't draw in a photo realistic style my art was no good. This experience is more valuable than your could possibly imagine.

- I have taken advantage of FREE (and cheap) opportunities. Visit the Sketch book project. Sign up to not only do a sketchbook but every so often they have other projects to join in on. Most recently it was The "Dreadful" Project and it was free to enter. Sign up for a class at a local art center. Take a class from Craftsy.com

- A fellow artist i follow on Instagram decided to do a #100dayproject and asked who might want to join in. (see my previous post) So for the past 21 days I've posted an iPhone sketch of someone else's photo in my Instagram feed. This has been great because I get to keep myself sketching and benefit from brightening up someone's day when I tag them in my post. They often are flattered & think it's way cool. And I even won a t-shirt from one post :)

- A few weeks ago I joined up with the NYC Urban Sketchers group. These are people who just love to draw. They meet up every Saturday in NYC and sketch in various places. Urban Sketchers have groups meeting world-wide. And it's F-R-double-E except when there's an admission to a place they are sketching (like the Central Park Zoo, which was $12 admission).

- Make things for other people. Give your art away. Give some to friends and family. Surprise someone with a handwritten letter and draw on the envelope. You'd be surprised how this could make someone's day. I did a watercolor painting of my daughter as a surprise for her 11th birthday. Your art is a gift, and while you need to make money if this is a career, there are also times when you need to gift it.

- Use social media to share your art. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google Plus, Pinterest - you never know who might be exposed to your art, like it or even share it. It's todays networking. And if you're an introvert, this is great news as you don't have to have the personality of a mayor to connect.

- Look for local venues to display your work. In april, I will have one piece in a show at a local library. In August, I'll have my first solo show at another library. While it's not a SOHO gallery in NYC, it's getting your work out there that counts!

I don't say all this to brag. On the contrary, I say it to show that everyone has opportunity. Sometimes you just have to get creative, or change your perspective. And before you tell me it's easy for me because I'm a "creative professional" - all that I mentioned above has nothing to do with my full-time graphic design job. This is extra.

So, still think there's no opportunity? Get to creating...

There Are No Shortcuts

The other day I tweeted out "Taking a Shortcut cuts short your opportunity to become who you need to be on the journey." This statement came to me after reflecting on a biblical account in 1 Samuel 24 where David had the opportunity to kill his enemy, King Saul, who had been pursuing him. But David chose to forgo the easy path. The obvious path, and what some people (especially those around him) would have said was the RIGHT path. David knew better. It wasn't the path to becoming who he needed to be. What does this have to do with creating your ART?

Following that, I came across this nugget from James Victore:

Do the work. The process is everything. If you cheat it, you compromise your transformation and come out unchanged - a knucklehead. And if you don't like doing the work the first time, you're gonna hate doing it again. Do the work.

Do the work. Become who you need to be, in the process. Without it, your Art, like your character, will be hollow.

My Cousin Vinny and The ART of Spinning Wheels

There's a scene from the 1992 movie "My Cousin Vinny" (younger generations - you can google it) where the main characters get their car stuck in the red clay-mud of Alabama. Being from New York and out of their element (to say the least), they seem to be the only ones who aren't aware of this hazard but have to find things out the hard way. But It does becomes useful information for them later in the movie.

"...anyone who’s been stuck in the mud in Alabama knows, you step on the gas, one tire spins, the other tire does nothing." - Mona Lisa Vito, My Cousin Vinny

Ever feel like your Art is stuck in the mud? And no matter how hard you struggle to release it, your wheels just spin? It's tough when you feel like your the Art you're creating lacks traction.

Here are three observations from my own time spent while spinning wheels:

First, allow yourself the grace to be who you are, where you are. Don't be ashamed or embarrassed because you've compared yourself to where other's are. Or because you feel like you've lost time and now it's too late to close the gap of where you "should be."

Second, remember that today you are better than you were yesterday, and if you keep at it, tomorrow you will be better than today. It's a JOURNEY. It's always a moving target, so try to enjoy the journey and process, not just looking to attain a goal.

Third, set yourself up for success. Make small goals, then keep adding to them. You gotta crawl before you run. We know this in other areas of our lives, yet somehow in our art, we convince ourselves it's frivolous to exert that much energy challenging ourselves. Energy is going to go somewhere. You mind as well channel into something that will help you in your art.

No one is going to care about your Art if you don't. Prioritize for it. Work hard. Keep going. Surround yourself with encouragers. Up your intake so you have something to output.

What's one thing you can do TODAY to get yourself out of the mud? No excuses. Go do it! Then tomorrow, do it again, and add to it. Get a taste for momentum!

The Fear of Art

Sportaldislexicartaphobia is the fear of paintings and other forms of visual art. While most of us will never suffer from this particular phobia, we do in fact suffer from another kind of fear of art. The fear that blocks the creation of art.

I have had conversations with other artists at times and realize that we're all battling some kind of fear. Sometimes that fear gets the best of us and squashes our art (and our desire to create) all together.

Here are just a few that I have seen and/or experienced myself:

Fear of a Blank Canvas

(What if they not only hate me, but hate what I create?)

Fear of Change / Risk

(Doing something new or different seems just too difficult)

Fear of a Blank Canvas

(What if I have nothing to say? What if I'm not inspired by anything and can't find my Muse?)

Fear of Failure

(What if I can't hack it? And crash and burn publicly? What if what I create sucks? What if it sucks and I don't realize it? )

Fear of Success

(What if I succeed and am trapped in having to keep producing the same kind of art that made me successful in the first place?)

Fear of Authenticity

(I can't really show who I am in my work. It's easier to copy others. Hey, I might not even know who I really am, let alone be able to express that in my Art. I'm too lazy to do the work inside to figure out who I am, what I have to say, and what my style and voice as an artist is.)

Just like in other areas of our lives, we might never know exactly what hangs in the balance if we don't push past our fears. Notice most of the questions around our fear start with "What if...". That means it could be true, but also could not be true. And yet we invest so much emotional energy in the worst case scenario.

There's no one time fix all, rather a battle we have to keep showing up for. But when we do engage the fight, we can take ground and find new freedoms and reap the rewards of battle. Our ART can get a new breath and depth.

The thing is, it takes courage. And consistency. And a community of people around you. It's HARD work. Only you can do it. And no one will make you. Not even this blog post.

So, what fear do you need to face that has been holding back your art?

Not wanting to take that art class for fear of looking silly? Afraid to put your art up for sale because you think no one (except maybe family and friends) might buy and value it? Avoiding sharing your work with others because it's not good enough (you're playing the comparison game) or you feel like it's not your "best work" (perfectionism, anyone?)? Think you're too old to get back to your art, like that ship sailed a long time ago (If you ain't dead, you ain't too old!)?

Maybe today is the day you show up for the fight. You know what it feels like on the loosing side. Don't you think it's worth a shot to see what victory tastes like?

Go get 'em.

 {Photo Credit}

Sketching with the NYC Urban Sketchers

If you've been traveling with me on this journey for any length of time, you know that I'm constantly looking for ways to "up the ante" so to speak. This past weekend I took yet another step. I joined the NYC Urban Sketchers group at the Central Park Zoo. I found out about the group through a post from someone else on Facebook. To be honest, I wasn't really sure what to expect. I had been emailing the group leader Mark during the week but aside from that I was flying solo and blind.

My experience left me so glad I did indeed join them. It was a small group this time around (about 5-6 of us). It's pretty open, as you just show up and join in. Sometimes there are a lot of people, sometimes few.

As we made our way around the zoo, we'd stop every so often and sketch whatever we saw. But this day ended up being more than 3 hours of sketching. Some great surprises were:

• We got to interact with people visiting the zoo. Children would come up and peer over to our sketchbooks. Parents would point us out and say "see that, They're drawing. Isn't that cool?" It was a great reminder that we all start out loving to color and draw, but most "outgrow" it unfortunately. It was like having a magical connection with the kids. So great!
• There's nothing like drawing from life - what you see in front of you. Even the most challenging, like when the animals would constantly be on the move!
• I got to meet 4 or 5 new people from all walks of life and parts of NY (and NJ) who all love to draw. You can't underestimate the importance of being with with like-minded people, especially for artists who usually are creating in isolation.
• A few of us went to a local pub following our sketch time, where we shared our sketches from the day, as well as pulled out some of our supplies and let each other try them out. We shared techniques and observations. Although I had just met these guys that day, I felt a bond by the time the day was over.

I think about what I would have missed out on had I let myself listen to the introvert side of me. Sometimes you just have to go for it. Experience something new. And depending on how you are wired, that may be a no brainer or it might seem completely impossible. But as I've been saying for some time now - just take the the right next step for you - where you are and who you are!

If you're local to NY and want to join in the Urban Sketching fun (no need to be a professional artist - most are people who just love to draw!) they meet up every Saturday! Go sign up to receive info. Even if you make it once, I think you'll find it well worth your time.

Oh yeah - and I was asked to do a guest blog post on the Urban Sketcher site. Check it out!

Kick Your Creativity in the Pants

Everyone finds themselves stuck in a rut at some point. Getting out can seem difficult if not impossible. (Where did I put that motivation?) When it comes to creativity, it's easy to fall back on the same ol', and to stop growing, pushing, reaching, risking...

So here's a suggestion. Join me on a journey over the next 100 days. March 6th through June13th.

I was looking through my Instagram feed and happened upon a post by Elle Luna (@elleluna on Instagram) where she was throwing down the challenge to do a #100dayproject. She's even set up a website for it. What is it? Simply put - One thing. Every Day. 100 times.

It could be five minutes a day. Everyone has five minutes to invest. Keep it simple. Small. Light. Portable.  To be honest, I hesitated because I have already committed to doing a drawing or painting for a year (finishing up in April). Did I really want to commit to another goal? Yes. Why? To keep pushing just a little further than where I am now. But I am keeping it light. I'm doing a black continuos line drawing on my iPhone each day based on a photo that shows up in my Instagram feed each day. (So be warned that if I follow you on Instagram, you're fair game). A quick drawing. The challenge for me comes in the size.

Want more ideas? Check out this and this.

This isn't just for artists either. Do anything for 100 days. Send an encouraging email to someone different each day. Take a photo. Get creative in your thinking and approach.

The reason why you haven't moved forward is because you keep doing the same things. The same ways. You can't expect different results when everything is the same (definition of insanity I believe). A small step is better than no step. And you can join a community of others on this journey as well. So...

Who's with me?

And if you have Instagram be sure to hashtag your daily progress with #100dayproject

And spread the word.

LET'S DO THIS!

Creating Summer Troopers

Let's face it, here in the Northeast, we're all beyond sick of snow this winter. So besides complaining on Facebook, I found a little inspiration to follow hoping it leads to sunny days soon. I was perusing my Facebook stream and came across the following photo from the Star Wars page I follow (don't judge). As soon as I saw it, my mind saw the image I needed to create.

The following was my process on creating "Summer Troopers" as a digital art file on my iPad.

First I downloaded the Trooper photo from Facebook to my photo camera roll on my iPad.

Then using an app called "Sketchclub" I created a new document and placed the photo on the first layer. After rotating and scaling, I changed the opacity to somewhere around 50%.

The I went hunting for the additional images I needed to use as source for the umbrella and man's legs/swim trunks. Once I found those I imported them on separate layers, scaled them, cropped out all the excess of the image and change the opacity to 50% as well.

Starting with the Trooper layer, I selected a new layer where my black line art would live. Once I hid the umbrella & swim trunks layers - I was ready to trace over the troopers with a black fountain pen setting.

I did the same process for each the umbrella layer & the swim trunks layer until my black line drawing was complete. Then I selected another layer where i added flat colors for the ground and the sky. I placed this layer underneath the line art. I then created another layer on top of the flat color to add a few shadow spots and set the layer to "Darken" mode and decreased the opacity to taste. The only portions left to color were the umbrella and swim trunks, so I created another layer directly under the line art and applied the color with a brush tool.

Once my art was complete I saved a JPEG back to my camera roll. Then I opened that Jpeg in an app called Snapseed (a great little photography app!). In Snapseed I adjusted some contrast, saturation (in the "Tune Image" area), added a frame from one of the presets (Frames) that gave it a nice messy edge, and lastly some texture (The Grunge feature - messed around until I got the style & strength I wanted), added some "scratches" for final touches. The reason I added a frame and then the grunge waas so that the grunge effect would show on the frame as well as the image area. Finally, I exported again to my camera roll and Viola - the final digital image of "Summer Troopers"

I hope you enjoyed that quick description of my process. Just remember - have fun, play and remember there's a bunch of tools and methods to help you experiment! Happy creating!

You Can't Make it on Talent Alone

When I was in High School I remember a few kids in my art classes who's work was just stunning. They were so talented and made it seem so easy. It was hard not to be either disheartened or jealous. I remember one day, my Art teacher telling us all that "you couldn't make it on talent alone". At the time I thought that was such a dumb statement.

But the reality of that statement started showing true through my years in art school (2 different ones even). We all started out bright eyed, eager, naive... along the way the crowd was thinned. Some people couldn't hack it, others lost interest. I remember one sad extreme example vividly.

There was a fellow student we'll call "Steve". Steve was so naturally gifted. His work was always praised, and seemed to need little reworking following our critiques. I would have bet he was on the fast track for success. Yet he started to miss some classes here and there. And soon he was absent more than present.  Rumors of alcoholism surfaced. And one day sitting on a bar stool at a local pub, I saw this first hand. He confessed he had no hope. His addiction swallowed him. And Steve disappeared for good one day.

I remember thinking that was such a tragedy. From outward appearances he was this shining star, ultra-talented artist. But his demons got the best of him.

Other Art School dropouts just seemed to be victims of wayward passions, dead-end jobs, financial situations... the normal stuff of life. "You can't make it on talent alone." Now I got it. But what do I do with it?

Keep showing up. Make the best of YOUR situation. Take YOUR experiences and create your art in them, through them, and even in spite of them. Keep learning and growing.

For a long time I didn't. I got sidetracked. Lost. Buried with other responsibilities, false identities, believing lies about myself and my art. But it's never too late.

You can't make it on talent alone: A beacon of hope for those who feel talentless; A tale of warning for those who rely too much on their natural giftedness. Take it as you want. But either way - Just show up. Do the Work. Be yourself. Offer the best you can right now. Keep following the path before you.

I heard Will Smith make a statement on the first episode of the Tonight show with Jimmy Fallon. When Jimmy asked what advice Will gave his kids who are in show business, Will's answer was to make their Art a gift to others. As artists we have the opportunity to make someone smile. To brighten their day even just for a moment. Don't make your craft about pursuing success, but rather a gift to the world around you.

Talent gets you noticed and opens doors. Character and hard work lay the track for your best work, work that impacts your life and  the lives of those around you.

Stop lamenting your lack of talent or opportunity. Give your gift of Art today. Someone in your world needs it.

 {Photo Credit: Louis du Mont}

Confession of Failed Art

This past week I relearned a lesson in not ignoring the "small" stuff. You know, the stuff that you do all the time so you tend to not give it as much attention or care. I set out to do a watercolor painting based on an interesting photo I found on the internet. I took this to my weekly class, as I thought it would be good to have some guidance and support in rendering the extreme shadows (just in case).

My issue became that I just plain rushed the drawing part because I was so concerned about getting the extreme dark and shadows right. I didn't take the proper time to set myself up for success in this project. I rushed and was lazy with LOOKING at my source properly. As a result, when I started painting, things were just "off". No matter how hard I tried to "fix" areas, there was no turing back at this point. I could either commit to finish it as best I could, or scrap it and start over. I didn't have the motivation to start over, and although I wasn't pleased with my results, I pushed myself to finish. When I did, I was missing that satisfied feeling. I felt rather depressed and left myself open to those critical voices that are always looking for an opportunity to tell you that you aren't any good (and here was proof).

But instead of wallowing in my dissatisfaction, I determined to do as I have everyday in the past 10 months - to post it publicly as part of my year of daily drawings/paintings. I reminded myself that tomorrow was another day to create fresh. And I didn't allow myself to "throw the baby out with the bathwater". I asked myself questions: Why did it "fail"? What made it a lesser piece of art? How could I learn from this rather than just feel bad? Sometimes you need those experiences to learn and grow as much as the momentum of doing great work. I know you're wondering what painting I'm referring to, so to satisfy your curiosity look here.

How do you handle your moments of "failure" and dissatisfaction with your creations? Maybe there's a learning opportunity there for you too.