Art and Fear

"Fears about artmaking fall into two families: fears about yourself, and fears about your reception by others." I definitely fall into the first category. I'm very critical of my own work, and sometime fear taking risks in art. I'm afraid of destroying my art and usually play it safe. "You Cling ever more tightly to what you already know you can do-- away from risk and exploration, and possibly further from the work of your heart." This quote basically sums up my fear of art. I can officially fall into the second category. I don't fear that people won't like my art, I'm afraid people won't understand what I am trying to say in my art. I usually try to say something through my art, and fear that people won't pick up or understand the message.

"Hovering out there somewhere between cause and effect, between fears about self and fear about others, lie expectations." This is another big problem for me. As I have said before I am a perfectionist. I'm very tough on my work and expect it to be perfect. I stress about the small details. Ill work and rework small details for hours. I should just leave it and be okay with it looking how it does, instead of trying to make it perfect.