A Case for Play with Sari Shryack
Have you ever fallen into the idea that Serious Art can only be done by Serious People through painting Serious Subject Matter?
If yes, you’re not alone. Each of us has an idea about what counts as Real Work. For others. For ourselves.
But whatever those are, maybe working hard to be serious is actually hurting your development long term as an artist.
Ep. 40 guest Sari Shryack realized that while she had certainly done a lot of Serious Work in college, it was burning her out. She wasn’t interested in it. It didn’t fuel her passion. She realized she needed to bring in a sense of play if she was going to be in it for the long haul.
For Shryack that meant bright colors and playful subjects. It also meant learning to accept that what she wanted from her art was more important than others’ opinions about what made a Serious Artist.
Put it to Practice:
Do you love the subjects of your paintings or are you painting them because you feel like You Should? Do you love the mood and colors you paint with? Or are you following the path that will help you get taken seriously?
And it’s possible that you really do love things that would be categorized as “Serious.” Maybe you love the delicacy of somber colors and the technique of photo realism. That’s 100% great!
But if you find yourself headed towards that BECAUSE you feel like it’s what you SHOULD do to be a real artist, you might be hurting yourself in the long run.
Like Shyrack, you’ll burn out.
It’s OK to be super playful in your work. It’s OK to have vibrant colors and paint whimsical objects because YOU love it.
In fact, when you work this way, not only will you find your style faster, you’ll also improve quicker as well. Because it turns out, when you really love what you’re doing, you paint a whole lot more.