Featured Artist 
AdamHughes
I am beginning to see an alarming trend, lately. I can think of at least three artists off the top of my head who are losing or have lost hope in their artistic ability. And there are more that I've not encountered or have slipped my mind at this moment. What's worse is that these artists are not drama queens looking for attention or praise or pity. These are real, skilled, and even quite successful artists who have suddenly or gradually lost hope. They are not giving up on art, for no artist can stop drawing without slowly dying from the inside out. They are giving up on their dreams!
I understand this mentality very well. Artists are notorious for being moody. They are so notorious that it is a cliché that beginning artists sometimes feel they have to mimic. Though I hate falling into this cliché, I also have moments when I want to delete my entire DA gallery, burn all my traditional art, and hiss at anyone who tells me that it's just PMS. (Trust me! It's not! That was last week!) Times are hard. I know. I feel like I've been spinning my wheels in a mud hole for the past five or six years. Believe me when I say that I know this moodiness very very well!
BUT!!!
You simply cannot let it end there! Many famous and successful artists have lived with the same moodiness and did not let it kill their dreams. One of my favourite quotes is from Norman Rockwell:
"No picture ever really satisfies me. If you become satisfied with your work, you are through! I dream that every picture I start is going to be a wonderful one. In my mind it has infinite possibilities, but as I go on painting and am forced to face realities, the dream begins to fade, and I realize that it is going to be just another picture."
How poignant! How true! And yet he is one of America's greatest painters.
Your moodiness is not foreign or unique to you. It is, unfortunately, your curse for daring to become an artist. You must overcome it. It is your enemy fighting against your dreams. How dare you give in to it!
I understand that sometimes artists suffer burnout and artist's blocks. These are a horrible things that make the moodiness even stronger. But, they (and the moodiness) are temporary! Taking a break from professional art, from hobby art, from looking at art--these are all acceptable. However, you must do so with the understanding and the hope that, sooner or later, you will return and you will return with a vengance!
Here are a few more of my favourite quotes. I read them often and sometimes repeat them like a mantra. Feel free to adopt them.
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realise how close they were to success when they gave up.” –Thomas Edison
“It’s not what you look at that matters; it’s what you see.” –Henry David Thoreau
“Very few writers/artists/creators are born into success. It’s about talent and opportunity and you CAN manipulate both to work for you.” –Nate Cosby
“Always seek out the seed of triumph in every adversity.” –Og Mandino
“Never, never, never give up.” –Winston Churchill
“That some achieve great success is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.” –Abraham Lincoln
“There is no failure except in no longer trying.” –Elbert Hubbard
“We can throw stones, complain about them, stumble on them, climb over them, or build with them.” –William Arthur Ward
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.” –Robert Louis Stevenson
“If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.” –Jim Rohn
“If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it, even if I may not have it at the beginning.” –Mahatma Ghandi
“Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing.” –Harriet Braiker
“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” –Henry Ford
“When a goal matters enough to a person, that person will find a way to accompish what at first seemed impossible.” –Nido Qubein
“When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals; adjust the action steps.” –Confucious
And the best for last:
“The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place…and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done. Now, if you know what you worth, go out and get what you worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t what you wanna because of him or her or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you! You’re better than that!” –Rocky Balboa
~D~
