New Way to Handle Fear
My picture book, “Phobe and phearnik! Fight BIG Fears,” is a story about a way for children (and adults!) to deal with fear and anxiety. Compared to how fear presents in other children’s books, my book introduces a new and, may I be so bold to say – revolutionary – way to handle fear.
As an artist, I suffer from what’s called “blank canvas syndrome.” It’s like “fear of the blank page” that some writers experience or stage fright that actors might encounter.
Artists + Fear
We fearful artists have the expertise to do our jobs. At least we have enough to produce a piece of (art) work. But fear holds us back from tackling the canvas, page or stage. While experiencing this, I feared the outcome. Would my picture come out as I envisioned it? I feared my work would be judged by others negatively. When the artist accepts the outcome of their work, they more readily dismiss negative judgements. They then see it as a mismatch between the art and viewer.
Building Confidence
Having these fears mainly shows a lack of confidence. Confidence comes from artists doing a large amount of work. With this comes the faith that the outcome won’t be so bad. Granted, not all art outcomes are accepted, even by the confident artist. Doing scores of work – making lots of paintings – might become garbage. I wonder how many artists out there have a fear of wasting materials like me?! I am a child of parents who grew up during the depression. People like us don’t waste things! We eat everything on our plates! We use and reuse things repeatedly and rarely buy new! Cheap artists like me want the work to come out the way we wanted it to the first time. Or else we’re wasting materials! Yes, sad but true.
Studying Fear
For years, I “studied” what I could do about my fear of the blank canvas. I read books like “Art and Fear”, “Affirmations for Artists” and “The Artist’s Way” and kept them for reference. But none of these helped me break through my fears until I read Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Big Magic: Creative living beyond fear.”
Take Fear with You
In the book, Gilbert offers a new way for artists to deal with/confront their fears in a now, well-known vignette titled, “The Road Trip.” In it, Gilbert suggests artists accept and acknowledge their fears instead of trying to ignore it or get over it or, somehow, get rid of it. She uses the metaphor of taking a road trip as a lesson in acknowledging fear. On the trip, you bring your fear with you but it must sit in the backseat and it doesn’t get to control anything. It doesn’t get to drive and it definitely doesn’t get to control the radio!
Revolutionary Strategy
This idea of acknowledging fear but not letting it take control was, for me, revolutionary. It makes so much sense. Fear is one of our most powerful emotions. It’s part of us. It cannot be willed away. It’s always there but we can learn to control it. And, as a mental/social and emotional health educator, I know that’s a skill. Having an understanding about a health topic and learning the skills is how we are healthy.
Picture Book Explains Strategy
In “Phobe and phearnik! Fight BIG Fears,” I’ve created a picture book using Gilbert’s idea. I take it one step further. I help kids and adults learn the skill of acknowledging fear. In addition, I want them to not let it take control of the things they want to try or need to do. It’s worked for me and I bet it can work for you too!
How about you? Are you an artist that has experienced fear of the blank canvas or page? Or maybe even fear of wasting material!? Or maybe you are someone who would like to of make art but is afraid of what people would say about it ? I would love to hear about it in the “Leave a Reply/Comment”.
And, if you’d like to be one of the first to get a copy of the “Phobe and phearnik! Fight BIG Fears,” picture book, click on the picture to place your pre-order! After your info, type “Pre-order” in the box!
5 thoughts on “Art, Artists, Anxiety and Overcoming Fear of the Blank Canvas”