a place where I share my thoughts, my life, and my pictures

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Worst Critic


I realize, that being the artist means that I'm bringing an idea to reality. While bringing that idea to fruition, I get to see all of it's mishaps along the way. Now I'm not sure if that is what makes 'handmade' so special or not. Just as humans are not perfect, our work isn't going to be entirely perfect.

Today I worked on these smoky quartz earrings for 2.5 hours. Seems silly, with them being so much smaller than my other pieces, but actually I'm finding the smaller, the more difficult. Earrings are especially more difficult because they are replicas of each other. Meaning you can look at one and compare it to the other. They couldn't possibly be exactly alike!

I'm not sure if I'm being my own worst critic or not, but these beautiful earrings will not being going on sale in the shop. I see way too many flaws. I guess that's what I'm wondering... is this criticism pride or justified? I wonder how other artists get over this hurdle. More practice, or less critical?

2 comments:

Michelle said...

I don't know the answer but just wanted to let you know that I also struggle with this. Chris tells me I'm my own worst critic and that I'm too hard on myself but if my name is going to be on it then I want it to be near perfection. Sometimes it gets the best of us. I don't know anything about making jewelry but I think those earrings are awesome... if that helps...

Kelly Reece said...

Your empathy means a lot...

Maybe it's not such a bad thing that we have high expectations of ourselves. The thought of a yuck look on the face of a buyer makes me vomit in my mouth a little. So I'll hold back until I feel proud of my pieces. As I'm sure you do with your photography.