Are You Playing It Too Safe with Your Art? Why Taking Creative Risks Matters

Are you playing it safe with your art? I noticed that I was doing this the other day. I came into the studio and I wasn't sure what I wanted to create, so I went and I looked through my album of reference photos and I was going through the album looking at all these potential things that I could paint, mostly either pictures of the California landscape around here or pictures of the cityscape here in San Francisco, and I was kind of scrolling through ideas looking for something to make, and there was one idea that I thought, oh, this one looks interesting. It sort of piqued my curiosity and I was thinking about whether or not I wanted to paint it, and I'm looking at the idea and I noticed it was a little bit different from what I usually paint, what I feel like I have more mastery around. The composition was a little bit different, the subject matter was different, and I was thinking to myself, you know, I couldn't really explain what was interesting to me about this picture and why I thought it might be a good reference for a painting, but I was definitely really curious about it. But as I was looking at it more, I started to get this feeling in my stomach and I started to think, you know, I'm not sure if this idea is actually good enough for a painting. I was sitting there looking at the picture, kind of trying to create the painting in my mind and evaluate whether or not it would be worth the time to make the painting. I've noticed this has been coming up a lot more and more in my practice, especially as I start on working on larger and larger pieces. As the paintings take more time to work on, I kind of have been evaluating them more, thinking, is this going to be worth that time, that energy, even the money spent on paint, the money spent on a large canvas? And you might be feeling this too. Maybe you only have an hour a week to work in your studio, to make your art, and you really want to make that hour count. So you might get an idea, and if you feel like you're not really sure if it would pan out, you might do what I did, and that is to play it safe. You say, okay, this idea seems a little bit risky. I'm going to put it off for later. And for now, I'm going to do an idea that feels safer, that feels like it's more in my wheelhouse. So I put that idea aside and I went for an idea that seemed a bit more obvious, that was more similar to work that I'd done before and paintings that I felt like had been successful in the past. You can probably see what's happening here. I got scared of this new idea, and so I retreated into my comfort zone. But as we all know, there is no growth in the comfort zone. The only way that we are going to learn, grow, and improve as artists is by constantly pushing the boundary of our comfort zone and exploring new terrain. But this can be scary because most of us, especially if we're a perfectionist, we don't like to risk failure. We want to know that what we're working on is going to be a sure thing, especially if we're investing a lot of time, energy, or money into the project. And yet, our best, most exciting work often occurs right on the edge or just outside of our comfort zone. This is where we're pushing ourselves, we're building our skills, and we're able to actually create something new. Spending time working on ideas in the comfort zone can feel really nice, but over time it can result in work that feels a bit more stale. It has less life to it. And I feel like where the most life and energy comes from is as we're pushing out of our comfort zone. And the hard truth is, if we're pushing out of our comfort zone, we definitely will fail sometimes. Because the only way to know if an idea is going to be good or not is to make the work. There's no way, like no one can sit down and tell you, yes, if you paint this reference or this idea, it's going to result in a good work of art. No one can predict that because art is made in the process. We have to allow the process to work, to develop, and to sometimes get out of our control to be able to make great work. So now, when I feel inspired to work on an idea, but I'm not sure if it's going to pan out, I try to sit down and remind myself that this is not a bad sign. This is actually a good sign. This uncertainty is a sign that I don't know what's going to happen. And that usually means that we are on the edge of our comfort zone and we're exploring new ground. Remember, the only way to know if an idea is going to pan out or not is by doing the work. So be willing to take that risk. Be willing to fail. Before starting my work, I try to tell myself things like, today, I'm going to follow my curiosity. Today, I'm going to push myself and try something new. And even if I fail, I'm going to learn something. This gives me permission to go outside of my comfort zone, to face my fear, and to take the risk that things might not work out, but it'll still be okay. So if you have an idea that you're curious about, but you feel like it's a little bit risky, I hope this video and my story has given you some motivation to go for it. Take that risk. Whether you succeed or fail, you're going to learn so much from this new project and your creative growth is going to benefit as a result. So those are my thoughts for today. If you like this video, be sure to let me know in the comments below. A huge thank you to my Patreons for supporting this channel and making these videos happen. Thank you so much for watching today and for your attention. I wish you all the inspiration and creativity in your studio practice. I'll see you next time.