If you want your art to have a connection with people, then you must know yourself. To connect with others you must first connect with yourself. Who are you as a person? What is inside of you that you are pulled to express?  What fear is holding you back? I recently heard a quote that really spoke to me. I am going to take artistic license here and rephrase it a bit, …drawing and painting are a skill, what you do with this skill to express yourself is art.

What would happen if you allowed yourself to be vulnerable in your art? What would happen if you exposed the underbelly of your soul in your work? What would happen if you were honest and truthful with expressing yourself?

If you are expressing yourself from your own unique being then you remove that part of your ego that says I wish I could paint like so and so, or I’m not good enough.  You are the only one who can create like you. You are in competition with no one except to do the best that you can do on any given day. No one is better at being you than you. But first you have to do the work and introduce you to yourself.

The rewards are huge. No longer will you be comparing your work to others. Your work is a direct expression of who you are. No one else can be who you are. Your only goal is to be the best at being you. When you open up to express your truths something amazing happens. Your work starts to connect with people on a deeper level.  You open others up to connecting to their truths. We are unique and we are similar. If you want your work to be alive and not just draw people in but come out and get them, then go inside and know yourself,  and create from the uniqueness of your being.

It is easy to create pain out of pain; the trick is to create beauty out of pain.