“A lot of what we recognize as natural born talent is simply an interest sparked at a young age that isn’t lost.”
Bishop O’Connell, The Myth of Natural Born Talent
Subtract the thoughts about it being too late for you now; rather ask yourself what you can do to keep your spark of interest aflame and boost it.
Add all the motivational quotes you’ve ever heard about drawing with the spontaneity of a child. It boils down to eliminating all the second-guessing, erasing and redoing. You start and keep going. You care more about the doing than the outcome.
Take a look at A Year of Drawing by the younger of Austin Kleon’s children, and note his words in the last paragraph: “…at this point … drawing for him still has nothing to do with the results. He does not care what you do with his drawings after he’s done making them.”
(Edited to add: oops, make this a Sunday Motivator as I set it to publish a day early!)
Read next: Paint with a Beginner’s Mind
Marion are you on the Julian calendar on Skye? It’s still Sunday here. I can see how experimenting and letting go of the outcome can increase the joy of painting but how does that square with the desire to improve continually and do your best work? Does one just have to trust that experimenting will lead to better results in time?
Eddie
Some of us experience time differently ? (Put wrong date on the blogpost when I saved it!)
The short answer to your second question is “yes”. It’s a very good question though, so I am now writing thoughts down to give you a longer answer.
For my longer answer, see my blog:
Art FAQ: Will It Lead to Better Results?