Being a creative individual I’ve dabbled in just about anything and everything my hands could get a hold of but lets face it I’m not going to be good at it all.  I’m simply not going to like everything art related either.

Something I can do

When you tell people you are an “artist”, “designer”, “creative” etc. individual they assume you are going to be able to make anything and if you say you can’t they think you’re being modest or selling yourself short.  It’s as if somehow I’m just not utilizing my talents.  Sometimes true but mostly bullshit.  Being an artist isn’t about being a jack of all mediums.  No one is asking Hans Zimmer to rap are they?  So why should I be doing anything less than what I believe in and like to do?  Don’t get me wrong I still push my skills and will give new things a shot but I know when to call it a day and move on.  We all have our definition of what constitutes an artist but not being good at every form of art certainly doesn’t make me or anyone else less of one.

Here is a list of a few things that come to mind that I’m admittedly not good at and/or have no interest in:

• Photography:  *Gasp*  What kind of artist am I if I can’t take a good photo?!?  For whatever reason I never got into photography.  It’s probably the ONLY art class I didn’t take in high school. I think at the time it had to do with not being able to afford a decent camera and all the supplies involved.  After that I guess I just never had the attention span to figure out angles, lighting and whatever else constitutes a good photograph.  Give me a camera and I’ll shoot crap.  I do enjoy looking at them though. Black and white especially.
• Collages:  Mood boards, scrapbooks etc.  I suck.  Can’t put a decent looking one together to save my life.  Creating an aesthetically pleasing Polyvore compilation isn’t going to be my strong suit.
• Repetitive Drawing / Comics:  Despite taking a stab at this a few times I find drawing in this manner isn’t something I particularly care to do.  Coming up with a character and trying to draw them in different scenes etc isn’t something I’ve mastered.
• Realistic painting/painting:  While I do enjoy painting I’ve virtually given up on if for years because I always felt the pressure to create landscapes, portraits and still life which I realized a- I hate doing b- I suck at. This led me to believe I have no talent as a painter whatsoever.  While it’s debatable if I’m much of a painter I do know that not being able to paint the aforementioned isn’t why I may not be a good one.  In the future I hope to focus more on abstract visions and perhaps regain a love for painting.
• Tailoring:  When you tell people you are a fashion designer or have sewing skills people automatically assume you can sew anything!  Like somehow I can take a pair of socks and turn them into pants or mend a giant rip in the middle of a garment.  Maybe there are people who can do this but I’m not one of them.  Can I make some minor alterations? Yes.  Many a pant I have hemmed!  Knowing how to make a garment doesn’t automatically mean one can tailor something already made.  Tailoring is a mastered skill set.  Is this something I could learn, sure but currently not knowing how to properly take in a suit doesn’t make me a bad sewer or designer.

In case you haven’t taken the hint folks, this is my way of telling you that when I say I can’t make a porcelain sculpture of your moms deceased parakeet from a grainy Facebook picture it’s not because I’m being lazy.