Oh, please don't paint over this lovely work of yours. Truly, I think everyone has a bit (or a lot) of artistic insecurity. Your work really is beautiful, though.

i think everyone is their own worst critic. hardly anyone i know displays their own creations in their own home (i still criticize the college i made for griffin last year)....

as for the debate between crafting and art, i consider an original idea to be art whereas a take on someone else's idea to be a craft.

my brain is quite the interesting little world.

oh you made me smile. art school grad too. class of '93. barns were actually "hot" that year. the guy who painted barnes (and farm equipment), got into yale graduate school. i think part of it was that he was a real cute real farm boy and that was his hook. he was good. but i think the novelty was more impressive to the 'establishment' than the work itself. anyway, i think yours are lovely. and the bird perfect. don't paint over it...

The life of a perfectionist perhaps? I think when an artist looks at their own work they see all the could haves, and should haves, and flaws. For the observer though, I think these things, if noticeable at all, speak to the hand of the artist which makes the art more real somehow. I don't know, just my two cents.

Don't paint over it! Its beautiful!

Don't you dare paint over that! I think it looks fabulous. You really are talented. I sure wish I could draw and paint. I took a drawing class in college and the critiques were brutal. I HATED it. I couldn't take another class after that.

Whoa. I just wrote similar words the other day. You bird is beautiful! Don't paint over that. It's really great. ART it is. I get the feelings though.
I think it's a common feeling. I'm all about making functional things and not wanting to pitch them in the trash but things that are just for art's sake, I just can't look at them for long.
You, however, have people willing to pay money for your work and that has to give your confidence a boost, right? My husband said, "Angela you just don't know how to take yourself seriously as an artist." when I told him about these feelings. hmmmm...
I'll shuddup now. Keep on creating. Xxx

so here's the deal-- i was making the quilt and really loving it... but then feeling really guilty for liking it and thinking, "wow, if i like it so much i should definetly give it away. because i'm thinking of the person who would love it so much, blah blah blah"

i don't keep things, but i talked myself into keeping that one. and it's up and i look at it all the time and i'm not sick of it yet. i think some things you have to keep because they'll just become part of your life and you'll be glad that you have something "of this time". or your kids will be. it's important. as real "art" or craft or whatever.

I love your bird! And give yourself a break, chiqua. I have never seen any of your work that I didn't think was lovely.

1. Alicia, the bird painting *is* beautiful.

2. Crafter, artist, pshaw. Art *is* craft, and craft *is* art. Everything I've seen of yours has been beautiful -- and art.

3. I know you're not looking for strokes; I am just being honest.

4. I totally agree with you about all that self-conscious conceptual stuff.

xo

I love this post. I feel the same way after completing a project...I rarely LOVE anything I make, but that's ok...I think the perfectionist side in all of us pushes us to experiment + test out new ideas. I love the bird...don't re-do it. =) And barns...I love barns.

I think we are our own worst critics. I understand. I have been looking at all the imperfections of the baby quilt I have made for my mini-swap buddy. Worried she wont like it. Although I thoroughly enjoyed making it. I think it is called being a perfectionist. The painting is lovely. I wish I could paint like that. I can pretty much just do stick people!

Dont paint over it... I agree with Laura...we are our own worst critic... if we nurtured ourselves half as much as we nurture others... we would be... well I dont know what we would be... I have never been there... because I am too busy self-critiquing !

do not paint over that bird...it's beautiful!

i often feel the same way you do about the things i make.

I wish I could help you more, but I am my worst critic too. I have dreamt of going to art school, but those critiques scare me so much!
I think your bird is beautiful and you are talented and inspiring, but I don't know how to say it so you feel it too.

Thank you for speaking out about this. I share so many of the same feelings. It's funny, sometimes, if I put something I've made away for a year or so, and then look at it, I see it so differently, and I usually like it then. Even though I was not keen on it when I made it. So weird hey? I think it's far more common that we realized!
You are so good to share your thoughts about this!

That painting is so lovely. So many of us feel the same shakiness about our own work, I don't know if I'll ever get over that.

No strokes, but really, that is a very nice bird. Don't you paint over it!

I used to feel more like this, but after many discussions with my husband we've agreed that total satisfaction with your art/craft/whatever can be the death of creativity. A healthy amount of dissatisfaction keeps you striving and growing. Now, you just need to get the dissatisfaction to that HEALTHY level. You have too much. :)

Well, luckily I don't have any notions of myself as an artist at all so I don't have to disavow them. Ha! But I get what you are saying. I've only made one thing that I've kept for myself and since then have been paralyzed to try again. What I want to know is how to encourage our kids to have confidence (but not cockiness) in themselves and the things they make. How and when does that inner critic come on so strong!

The bird painting looks incredible from here -- I love the muted colors and the circle print snow flakes -- makes it look like you are seeing it through a foggy window of a warm kitchen.

I'm no artiste, but I've had some of the same feelings. Sometimes the process of creating feels more rewarding than looking at the finished product, at least for me. Once I decide it's finished, I see all the flaws that much more. (And I achieved this degree of neuroticism without even attending art school ... amazing, isn't it? :P )

My best advice is to try to ignore that cricizing voice in your head. Listen instead to your friends, who all think you're amazingly talented.

I like your bird.

Just found your site via Shim + Sons and I love it!-- The bird is beautiful just as it is. I'm sure your trading partner will be THRILLED!

I love that bird painting. It's fab. Don't go painting over it!

oh, i think it's LOVELY!! great angle, colors, etc. i think it's really nice. :)

Put the paintbrush down and step away from the canvas. Let it sit for awhile.

This is a very timely topic for me. I tend to rip out and rework, endlessly. For my lastest go around with the heart quilt project I just abandoned and moved on to the next version. A weird approach for me. It took some getting used to. I took what I liked from one and just changed it on the next iteration. It's interesting to see all the pieces in a line. Something tangible to reflect on. Much more satisfying than re-working something that's not working and will never work.

I simply adore that bird painting. Can I have it?? ; )

I used to be the same way about my work until I found photography and then it was like I finally found what worked for me. Something I did that I actually liked. But I think it's because I don't have to create the image in the photograph, I only frame it as I see it. I take the beauty and distill it. See, it's almost cheating that way isn't it?
Needless to say, you've got me thinking...

Your inability to like your own work is probably from a lack of self confidence and poor self esteem caused by your mother's poor parenting practices, or something like that.

Very funny, mom!

(That anonymous comment just above- that's my mom. She thinks she's pretty funny.)