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paintingkenilworth

Exhibiting my soul - how to help the confidence-crippled artist


I suppose this blog is essentially about overcoming lack of confidence. Not everyone is absolutely convinced that they have God's gift in whatever they do - those that do are pretty insufferable in my experience. A little self-awareness and humility is no bad thing. For many people, including myself, there is at best a self-consciousness and, at worst, a crippling fear of failure.


Many people who do draw and paint feel very nervous about showing their work to other people. It is one thing to create art for yourself at your kitchen table; something else to put it on display for public comment and criticism. Friends and family will always be kind and tell you that what you do is amazing and know you well enough to appreciate the effort even if the end result isn't that great. They may also just be comparing with their own capabilities and that can be a low bar. Although I am talking about art I think the same applies to most creative activities - playing music or acting must be the same. With sport there are results to tell you how well you and your team performed but even then you can be a superstar goalkeeper who still concedes a hatful of goals because of a leaky defence or a golfer who could do so much better if only they had that new driver.


I find that drawing and painting is so personal that it is part of me. If you criticise my art you are effectively criticising my talent, my judgement and my taste. But I do want to get better at it and so I want my art to be seen.


Clearly there is an ego thing going on - I'd love it if people liked the images they saw - even better if they struck a chord in a deeper way. But there are other reasons too. I want to create better work and so the magic feedback goes beyond "I really like that one" and tells me what exactly hit the right notes. I love to hear which colours people like, the parts of the painting that strike them as interesting and well-executed but I also want to hear which parts don't read correctly or even spoil the effect. This kind of thing is best delivered by strangers.


I also have a quite unsentimental thing about my paintings. They should be on display rather than just stacked in a folio in my study


When I was a teenager I was "good at art". I knew I was good because there were examinations to prove it - O-level and A-level assessment showed that I could draw and paint a pomegranate to an acceptable standard. I was good enough that gave me a dilemma - was there a career doing something I enjoy or earn money doing something I may not enjoy so much. I chickened out. I didn't wait for the judgement of strangers. I felt that I didn't have the creative spark to go beyond pomegranates and so the creative space I left gave Damien Hurst his big break.


Thirty five years later I returned to the same place. No examiner to share my work with but all the time in the world to create new material. Thank goodness for social media. My first public display of work could be slightly anonymous. One Friday afternoon I decided to share this painting on

Kenilworth Vibes - our local "gossip" Facebook group. It's a painting of Lower Ladye's Hills across the Odibourne Allotments. I walk past this scene regularly and I thought it was a good place to start - with an audience who would know the scene and feel some sympathy with 'local boy sharing his work'. The feedback was fantastic - the deserted image of one of the few activities allowed during the Covid lockdown struck a chord with a lot of people. I had comments from people who lived in the houses, had allotments on the site, walked past regularly... It couldn't have gone better really and Facebook is a great way to engage.


Facebook was also the basis for my second public showing - a challenge was set to paint images all based on the same photograph of Kenilworth Castle. Around 20 local artists picked up the challenge and talented local artist Nicky Bagga then curated an exhibition in a vacant shop window on Warwick Road in Kenilworth. I was away - and several shop window exhibitions, a stall at Art In The Park, Art Market at Abbey End and an exhibition in Kenilworth Castle I am over it. I am happy to show my work and confident that the feedback I get won't hurt too much. Kenilworth is a fabulously supportive town for artists and I would recommend that any 'private artists' who want to take it a step further get in touch with Kenilworth Artists and join the fun. I've met new people and participated at a level I couldn't have imagined. If you are a visitor to an exhibition or see work online please give feedback and, even better, take a moment to think about what you really like or don't like about the work - the artist will really appreciate it.


Thanks to the wonderful Nicola and Richard at The Modern Kitchen I currently have some paintings on display there. They do great coffee!

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