Criticism and creativity

Yes, I have decided to continue with writing this blog. I went through a long period of not having much desire to create any paintings due to an unfortunate meeting. I will not go into too many details except to say that the biggest lesson I learned from this meeting is that if you want to be authentic in your art you cannot let anyone else's opinion of you affect your work. You just keep doing what you are doing. I put too much weight on the expertise and influence of this individual and then when this individual criticized my work it was more devastating than I thought it would be. I did not touch art for months. Yes, criticism is healthy but there is criticism that promotes expanding your creativity and criticism that stifles it. To a certain degree it is your choice how you will let the criticism influence you but sometimes the criticism is meant to stifle. It happens, I am not pollyanna about this, people can be nasty and jealous. I am happy to report that I am still painting and selling my work. Here is my latest, still untitled, happy creating!