If you don’t see yourself as an artist, it’s very hard to be one. 

It’s always going to feel like you’re pretending, and fake it till you make it doesn’t work for all of us.

The thing is, feeling like you’re pretending – that you’re playing at being an artist – opens a crack for the imposter syndrome demon to squeeze in.

It starts telling you you’re a fraud, that people will find out you don’t really know what you’re doing, and you’re being arrogant and presumptuous to think you can dare to call yourself an artist.

Is it any wonder you’re struggling in the studio?

• I don’t know enough
• I don’t have a degree in art
• I don’t know colour theory
• It’s not my full time job
• I just dabble on the weekends
• I’m not always inspired

 Day One 

Hello artist friend

We’re going to start nice and easy!

Today’s task is to go and be with your work today.

Pull up your Pondering Chair, sit on the floor, gather your work around you.

Sit with it.

Look at it.

BE with it.  

It’s ok to love your work. It’s more than ok – it’s natural and essential that you love it. And of course you do, it came through you!

Let yourself enjoy the bits you really love; let yourself sink into the joy you feel about them, whether it’s a zingy butterflies feeling or a deep peace, or anything in between.

See how it’s all an expression of you. It came through you.

Even if it was created for a class, or shows evidence of an artist who inspires you. You still made it. It still has you in it.

And the more you make, the more ‘you’ will come through.

You can trust that.

If taking credit feels hard, remember there is also the invisible element – creative source, or whatever you like to call it – that you channelled while you made the work.  

It’s always a collaboration. It’s not all ‘on you’.  

You’re the vessel. You have skills {and will always be developing those}, and you have access to the source from which all creations come.

There’s nothing special about that; it’s just how it works. You don’t need to be religious or consider yourself spiritual for that to be true.

See that it’s not just you – and what you’re afraid is your limited capacity – that makes you an artist.

Optional Extra:

Share a piece of your art that you love on Instagram, using the #callyourselfanartist challenge. Tell us why you love it, how it makes you feel, anything you like about it. Let it stand as ‘proof’ that you are an artist. 

Tara

PS. This is a great exercise to do any time you’re getting a lot of input from the self doubt demon!

 Day Two 

Today you’re going to put your investigator’s hat on. {Pipe optional.} 🕵️‍♀️

You’re going to look for and write down all the evidence you have that you are in fact an artist.

The brain likes proof, so let’s give it some!

Start listing it in your notebook. Include the tiniest details, whatever comes to you. 

Maybe you have:

•  lovely comments you’ve received about what you make
•  art supplies
•  a space where you create, however small
•  a website with your art on it
•  a social media account {or two}
•  some kind of qualification {and if you don’t, never mind – nor do I! – still an artist!}
•  a phone full of inspiration photos
•  multiple art books about different techniques
•  access to courses you’ve bought

And you definitely have all the art you’ve already made!

Got paintings lying around in various states of completion? That’s evidence! 🔍 

Maybe you’ve sold one piece of work, or several, or many! Maybe you have a show or two under your belt.

When you think you’re done, see if you can add three more. Ask loved ones who you know think of you as an artist.

You can do it!

Tara

PS. Your brain is going to try to justify or argue against any evidence you come up with. That’s why it’s important to write it down, so you have it in black and white.

The arguing is just the habit of a brain trying to keep you safe by not letting you acknowledge to the world that you’re an artist.

It’s trying to protect you from things you’re afraid of, like criticism, or being in the spotlight.

We don’t demonise the brain – it’s actually just doing what we told it to do, even if that was unintentional – but it’s good to give it new things to chew on that reflect where you want to go, not only ruminating on where you’ve been.

Our brains need directing, otherwise they’ll just run amok.

Every day you participate in this challenge, you’re giving your brain new directions. Keep going – it’s going to need more than one or two tries!

You’re doing brilliantly! I’ll see you tomorrow for Day 3.😊

 Day Three 

For today’s task, we’re going to flip your focus and redefine your terms.

If you struggle with calling yourself an artist, I can pretty much guarantee it’s because your definition of it comes from outside ‘rules’.

It’s likely a combination of any or all of the following

• history {especially if you identify as a woman}
• the prevailing culture
• what ‘everyone else’ thinks or does
• what your family and friends think
• what that tutor at uni said
• what people are doing on Instagram

…and so on.

The fears that come up tend to be things like, ‘what will they think?’, ‘what will they say?’, ‘will they like it?’. 

Artist friend, it’s time to discover what you think.😊 

I know this can feel hard, especially if you haven’t given it a lot of thought before, or given validity to your own opinion.

Go gently with yourself, and just start investigating what feels True for you about being an artist. Check for resonance in your body as a guide.

For example, instead of, ‘an artist has to have a degree’, try out ‘an artist is someone who expresses themselves through art’.

Instead of, ‘an artist is only an artist if they sell their work’, try out, ‘an artist is an artist whatever they do with what they create. The creating is what makes them an artist’.  

Test out the thoughts, see if they need tweaking to feel more in alignment with what feels true inside you, irrespective of what ‘they’ might say.

Keep coming back to these and tweaking and adding more as they come to you.

Try this:

Draw two columns on a page in your notebook.

At the top of the left column write: What they say. At the top of the right column write: What feels true to me.

Likely you’ll fill up the left side quickly! That’s fine. Just see what you can put as an alternative to each one in the right column.

It can be something very vague at first. Just get your toe in the door of seeing this differently.

If it helps, think about how there are many different kinds of artist, just as there are many different kinds of lawyer, or different kinds of doctor, or different kinds of parent.

For bonus points, consider these questions:

🎨 What’s YOUR version of being an artist?

🎨 What old rules or stories are you still living by?

🎨 What’s the story you tell about yourself and do you like it?

🎨 What does being an artist look like on YOUR terms? {Because if it doesn’t work for you, you won’t get to be an artist.}

Woohoo! You’re doing so well!

Tara

PS. If it feels like your newly created definitions don’t hold as much weight as thoughts like ‘artists have to sell their work to be considered artists’ {which, by the way, is a very common thought and entirely untrue!} – just notice that and keep refocusing onto your truths. 

You absolutely can continue to use the limiting definitions you’ve been using all this time, but since none of them are actually facts that could be unequivocally proven in court with no exceptions, and all they’ve done is hold you back or exclude you, think about whether that serves you.

{Hint: It doesn’t! And your opinion is as valid as anyone else’s, especially when it comes to your own passion or life’s work!}

PPS. If I can get away with calling myself a creative encourager as part of my job description – which I completely made up and isn’t a ‘real job’ – you can absolutely call yourself an artist!

 Day Four 

A HUGE part of being an artist that I don’t see talked about much, is self trust.

My experience of being an artist changed significantly when I realised I could trust myself to know when a painting is finished, or to decide that my work was ready to submit to galleries.

I spent a long time wanting validation from teachers, and it wasn’t until I let that go that things started really changing for me.

I believe this is a process, although the shift itself can happen in a moment, as it did for me.

It was essentially the culmination of a process of learning to see myself differently, and more truthfully.

Everything we’re doing in this challenge supports that process and shift, but don’t worry if it takes longer than a week to really feel it!

It’s a practice too, which means it’s something we actively participate in, not something we wait to be bestowed upon us.

So, on the topic of self trust, here are some questions to ponder in your notebook today. They’re repeated in different ways so you can find a way in:

• What has always been true for me?
• What can I rely on myself for that supports me in my life as an artist? What can I come back to in myself for reassurance, no matter what’s going on?
• What is it about who I am that I can trust? What qualities do I have?
• What can I rely on myself to be?

Here’s what I would write, if you need an example:

•  I can trust that the art will always come back, even if it goes away for periods, because it has time and time again and I know in my bones that it will. It’s who I am.
  
•  I can trust my artist self to always be there, even if I feel I can’t access it.
  
•  I know that I’ve always been and always will be curious, open minded, enthusiastic, willing, experimental and persistent. I know some days that won’t feel true, but I also know that that doesn’t mean it isn’t.
  
•  I can trust myself to have my own back.
  
•  I can trust myself to ask for help when I need it.
  
•  I can trust myself to ask myself difficult questions and allow the answers to arise in me.
  
•  I can trust myself to always be creative in many different ways.

 Still with me? Fantastic – all this is planting in seeds in you. You may not see full results in a week, but you can be sure things are shifting in your favour!

Tara

PS. If you find areas where you’d like to trust yourself but don’t feel you do yet, that’s good intel!

Make a note of those, do some writing around them, and try one of my favourite tricks {which we’ll talk about more tomorrow} – write them on a post it note and stick them up where you can see them often!

 Day Five 

You’re doing brilliantly! And today’s task is both simple and quick to do, so let’s take our wins where we can. 😉

Today’s prompt may seem silly or pointless, but trust me on this! It can create real shifts.

Get out some sticky notes or a piece of paper and some blu tak.

Write on your sticky note: ‘This is what an artist looks like’, with an arrow pointing upwards, and stick it under your bathroom mirror.

Twice a day at minimum you’re going to see yourself as an artist.

I know this sounds daft. Try it anyway!

Notice what thoughts come up when you see it, whether you start to see yourself differently or have new thoughts about yourself, and whether it starts to feel more normal after a while.

It’s likely that the first thoughts will be some flavour of what you’ve already been struggling with.

Things like, “Er, no you’re not, and here are all the reasons why.” Or “That’s so presumptious and arrogant.”

That’s fine and to be expected. We’re countering long habits and deep neural pathways here to create new ones, and that takes time and practice.

Revisit the previous days’ tasks if that happens. And do some writing around it in your notebook if you want to.

Keep pointing your brain in the direction of you as an artist – it will catch up eventually! 

Tara

PS. Almost there! If you’re still with me, here’s a special artist high five: 🙌. Keep going! 

 Day Six 

If you’ve been telling yourself you’re not really an artist for a long time, it’s probably worn a nice deep neural pathway in your brain. 🧠

That thought travels along the pathway with ease and speed; often you may not even notice it consciously.

Which is why it might feel difficult to stop believing it, even if you know logically that it’s not true.

This is where a pattern interrupt can be helpful.

This challenge is a type of pattern interrupt – hopefully it’s giving you some new perspectives and new thoughts around this old habit of thinking about yourself.

But you can create any pattern interrupt you like that makes sense and feels sustainable to you.

For example, you can start noticing when you’re about to say you’re not an artist, even if it’s just inside your head, and set up a way to counter it as often as you catch it.

It can feel a bit laborious at first, and you’ll miss tons of opportunities, but that’s why it’s a pattern interrupt – this is a pattern, and it may have gone at least partly unconscious!

You can also use your phone to set up alarms to go off at certain times to remind you! {I do this and it’s a deceptively simple and effective way of redirecting my thoughts!}

The more you see it, the more normal it becomes, until it IS the new pattern.

So keep going, because you are changing things, even if you aren’t seeing evidence yet.

Tara

 Day Seven 

You MADE IT!!! 

The hugest of high fives and congratulations to you! 🙌👩🏼‍🎨 

You’ve just spent a whole week rewiring your brain and challenging your perhaps long held beliefs and assumptions, and that is not a small thing.

Even if it only looks like a ‘little Instagram challenge’ on the surface. 😉

How are you feeling? Had an ahas? Discovering new-found confidence? Told anyone you’re an artist without cringing this week? 😉

Today’s task is to put the word artist in your Instagram bio, or whatever social media platform{s} you use.

If you don’t use social media, put it in your email signature! {I use this for mine.} Heck, why not both?!

You can just put that one word, or you can write a short sentence like ‘I am an artist who makes…..’. And NO apologetic energy ok! This is just a statement of fact.

And while I can’t guarantee it, it’s extremely unlikely that anyone will query you on it.

And if they do, or you have a wobble, get your notebook out and look back at all you wrote and discovered over the past week, all the evidence you have, the definition that feels true to you in your bones, and know that you’re an artist anyway. 

Thank you so much for joining me on this short but meaningful adventure into the truth about you as an artist.  

I appreciate you humouring my sometimes strange suggestions! They are all things I use or have used myself, so I know they work, given time and persistence.

Wishing you creative joy in abundance, artist friend –

Tara