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Writer's pictureSarah Molyneux

The artist's facepalm: A beginner artist heads-up

Updated: Jun 19, 2023


I know there are many, many aspiring and beginner artists out there and I will always and forever be willing to dish out the support and encouragement that we should all have access to...


... but...


...there are a few teeny tiny things I would like to make you aware of.


As artists we tend to get a little lost in what we're doing. We can lose track of time, lose our train of thought or just jump to a whole other set of rails mid painting and head in a completely different direction. Hey, those little sparks of inspiration don't give a damn if you're already knees deep in something else, they want out! Anyway, back to what I was originally saying.

Now there are a number of "faux pas" which the artist will at some point have to deal with in life and I felt the need to pre warn my flourishing fellow creatives. You may well be lucky enough to not ever find yourself in the midst of this incomplete list of mishaps but for the majority of us, it is almost a weekly if not daily occurrence and I for one, am a dab hand at the first eight.


So, be prepared to one day find yourself...


- Mistaking your liquid beverage for paint water.


- Mistaking your paint water for your liquid beverage.


- Leaving the house with paint on your face, arms, legs, clothes, hair, eyeballs... it has happened.


- Certain in your belief that your brand spanking new top will survive that quick five minute dabble with the acrylics.


- Quickly regretting your certainty in the aforementioned belief.


- Discovering new smudges of pencil or charcoal around your house. Tip: Check the side of your hand!


- Splashing out on some fancy new paintbrushes then perhaps using them once, if at all, before going straight back to that good old trusty paintbrush that has seen far better days but always knows exactly what you expect from it.


- Finding a hair or ten stuck in your painting and then proceeding to make an utter mess of it by trying to "carefully and expertly" remove it.


- Being proud of a painting until someone points out that a small part of it resembles genitalia. You will never unsee it and will always wonder if anyone else sees the same.


- And if you own a pet, don't be surprised to find little paw prints in unexpected places, including on your almost/recently finished artwork.


So there. Now you know. There will be mess, there will be annoyances and there will absolutely be happy accidents and that is all part of the fun.


Stay creative

Sarah x

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