Punishing Yourself Doesn’t Make You A Better Artist. Here’s What Does -

Savvy Painter Podcast with Antrese Wood

A lot of artists think that if they are not hard on themselves, they won't improve their work. I have a different approach. One that doesn’t leave you feeling like crap. In this episode, I give you some tools that will help you progress faster with your art and have fun while you do it.

When you are not where you want to be with your art, there is a tendency to get a little harsh with yourself. You think punishing yourself will make you work harder. But that just makes you miserable in your studio. In this episode, I tell you what works 1,000 times better - and creates a space for you to have fun in the studio again (while getting your work done).

Our art must come from a place of love.

A love for the art and a love for the artist who makes it. This philosophy goes beyond positive thinking.

There is a misconception that simply having positive thoughts fixes everything. But that doesn’t work. Because when people think “just be optimistic” is the solution, they ignore, push down, or gloss over what seems negative.

Unfortunately, that just makes the “problems” bigger - they don’t just disappear.

When things don’t go as planned

Often, when we don’t get the outcome we want, a lot of artists find ways to punish themselves.

The more obvious ways we do that is to blame ourselves, get hyper critical, or berate our own work. It doesn’t make the work better, it just makes us feel bad.

We also punish ourselves in more subtle ways - like withholding joy, withholding playfulness, or withholding love from ourselves. A non-action is harder to detect than an action, so these punishments show up much more often but they are just as damaging because they take all the fun out of the thing we love to do the most.

Trust your inner voice.

When you trust your inner voice, you can be patient and kind with yourself. You can accept all the parts of you (even the ones that aren’t so nice). And when you do that, you can let go of perfectionism and so much of the self judgement. You know, the parts of you that looove to tell you you’re doing it wrong?

In this episode, I share what’s actually happening when these things show up and I give you some alternate tools to get what you want while having your own back.

Resources Mentioned on this episode

• The Savvy Painter Growth Studio
• The Savvy Painter Community
• Episode 253 - Creating From a Place of Love in 2022

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