Who am I to do this?

Hop on the internet these days and with only a couple of clicks, you can have an amazing assortment of artwork available to you for purchase. As an artist, I at times feel like responding to this by giving up amid the sea of beautiful work. Why should I even try? There are so many other fabulous painters. How can I be "better" or original when it's all been done before? I hear this from sooo many other artists too. 

Isn't it also true that NO ONE else can do something in exactly the same way that you do? 

God's design is that everyone has a unique fingerprint. Even twins! (of which I am one!) Two babies, coming from the same biological parents, and even SHARING A WOMB, will be completely and uniquely their own person. Why? 

Because they were each needed to bring their unique and individual gifts to this world.

So bring God's design back to art. If you placed a vase of flowers in front of 12 people and asked them to paint the still life, it would result in 12 DIFFERENT paintings. While they all painted the same scene, each would individually select shades of color, mood, perspective etc. Each painting then would be unique. 

Now display those 12 paintings in a ballroom of 200 people and ask them if they prefer any of those paintings over the others. Of course they will. Some nuance of color, or contrast, or design will cause them to gravitate to one painting over the others. And soon each of those 12 paintings will have a group of people admiring it. 

The same is true with art on the internet. We might tend to believe that anything we paint or draw has been captured before and perhaps even in a very similar way. But God is there in the details, yes?

NO ONE has ever painted a subject exactly the way I have. Have flowers been painted ad nauseam over time? Of course! But has anyone painted them with the same colors and brushstrokes on the exact same paper and with the brushes that leave those scrubby marks that mine do??? Hard no. 

I'm perhaps writing this to myself as a pep talk but I also want other emerging artists to take heed. If you have a yearning in your heart to create, it is your gift to the world to do so. Because no one ever has, or will in the future, bring to life the same images that you will. Isn't that in itself magical?

Share the gifts you were given as only you can. That is heavenly work. 

So the next time I question "who am I to do this?" I will remember this message. I hope you do too. 

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If you'd like to begin watercolor painting but you're not sure what supplies you need, click this link and I'll share my favorites with you! And when you're ready, you can join me on Skillshare to paint! 

Until next time-happy painting!