The Difference Between a Master and a Novice is Not What You Think - Lessons Learned from Dean Mitchell
There is something that separates a novice and a master artist.
Of course there is, you say. They know how to use their materials and their skills are impeccable.
That is definitely a difference… but it’s not the difference that actually matters.
After talking with dozens and dozens of artists over my career and through the podcast, I’ve noticed that mastery has much less to do with paints, pigments or even drawing.
It has everything to do with their mindset. And a very particular mindset: They are not afraid to fail.
THE PRECIOUSNESS TRAP
As beginners, we get really worried about failure. That fear boils down to a type of preciousness. We get caught up on this painting under our fingers. We invest all of ourselves into its success.
And if something doesn’t work out, it can be easy to be really let down by it.
This is particularly true when we’re first starting out. We work from a scarcity mindset. And not without reason. Resources are limited. We squirrel away time to paint. We save up money to buy the best (albeit) expensive materials.
As beginners, we get really worried about failure. That fear boils down to a type of preciousness. We get caught up on this painting under our fingers. We invest all of ourselves into its success.
We also just haven’t spent a lot of time so far in our life committed to painting. Any struggle we run into may be 10% of our life as painters.
As a beginner, not knowing what to try next can feel daunting and lonely. We run into problems we just don’t understand how to solve yet.
All of this tightens us down not just in the work we do but thinking about how important that work is.
THE DIFFERENCE
It’s not that advanced painters don’t want their painting to turn out.
Of course they do.
But they don’t have the same expectation that EVERY painting will work. That EVERY drawing will work. That EVERY study will work.
Because no matter your skill level, you never get a 100% guarantee on any of those things. Things won’t work.
For a skilled painter, when a painting doesn’t work, they don't use that as proof that they should never paint again. They use it as INFORMATION. They use it as a lesson on how to improve. They use it as a stepping stone for problem solving so that in the final painting they already know how to make those moves and choices that made them stumble earlier.
FLUIDITY
When you’re beginning, you’re going to create work you love and you’re going to create work you hate.
Listening to Dean Mitchell (Ep. 30) talk about painting, I am in awe at how fluid he is through his mistakes. How they aren’t even really considered mistakes.
Instead, they are just parts of a whole. They are information. They are opportunities to learn something new and be able to have access to new ideas and new skills. They are the road to bolder and more daring work.
“I have no problem starting over if something doesn't work,” says Mitchell in Ep. 30. “Starting over from those mistakes, it gives you confidence. It just does.”
Mistakes are doors Mitchells walks through in order to make the emotional impactful work that he does.
THAT is why he is a master.
And the best thing...it’s a way of thinking that anyone, no matter your skill level, can adopt to get better at painting.
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