Truer Than True

Who would have thought as an adult, I'd still be learning from Dr. Sues? Certainly not I. I came across this quote either yesterday or early today, but it resonated with me. It is funny when you are in your own little world of making art and artful journaling and creating just for the soul ( yes soul) purpose of creating you think to yourself ...my work isn't all that bad. I have had to teach myself to be sloppy, after a degree in Graphic Design where everything must be perfect and the client is always right and you are not allowed to show any type of personal style in your work or give your opinion on colors and fonts...it is sort of shoved down your throat and it becomes a learned behavior. That is what ultimately led me to creating art trading cards, and then becoming addicted to collage work and eventually art journaling...I had to re-learn how to self express because that was in some ways taken from me..or just tucked away for a bit. So I started with the art trading cards and they were personal, and meaningful and no kidding..a few made me cry when I was done with them and people would say "I will give you three for that ONE" and I would say " NO WAY!" I could not part with them.

Anyways...looking around at some of my favorite mixed media artist and friends I have here and other places on the web where I draw inspiration from and network with like minded people...it is easy to start self analyzing and thinking " My work sucks compared..." and that is because are..our own worst critics. And you get to a place where you no longer care what others think of your work..it is who you are. And no one...is quite like you. Even if you are inspired through others work or you learn something from another artist..you are still an original. You can browse through my pages here and see that my work is influences by those I admire...for instance Teesha Moore! She is brilliant to me and her collage sheets are like no one else's but the very second you look at it you can say...that was made with a Teesha Moore collage sheet! She is so amazingly talented in my opinion and I could read her journals until the sun goes down...so many people inspire me but I am Me..and an original. I still look at other peoples work and say to myself.."Wow I wish I was that talented" or "why can't my work be that compelling?" My sister and I do that thing we did when we were all kids and we colored with our sibling or best friend and you show each other what you colored and say "You color better than me" and cop an attitude lol 

And so...the point here is that this quote by Dr. Sues was a great reminder to me to not worry about my work not being good enough or worthy for anyone else...to be me and do what comes natural to me.