Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking

I received this book today and slammed through it within a handful of hours (would have been much less, but I was sneaking pages in while at work whenever i could- That Good!). Part 1 is where it's at; it's the reassuring pat on the shoulder, it's the fist bump of solidarity, it's the comforting, knowing nod. If you create, you struggle. You struggle with yourself, you struggle with others, you struggle with your art. This book was so eye opening in such a way that reminded me, personally, to be kinder to myself, to trust my process, and to embrace my process FULLY. There is so much anxiety in non-professional art communities and we are SO DANG CONNECTED to each other. This is great! But it also means that we are all faced with insta-results of the process and not seeing the process itself. We are having to endure a barrage of final pieces (or pieces that exceed our own skill/tools/experience) from artists we admire and CLOSELY follow, and it's daily. The idea that we might not be good enough because we can't art that fast/well/etc, or that our art doesn't matter because we don't receive the traffic on pieces we are proud of. I am constantly battling myself on the internet, trying to brand my work and myself while also trying to figure out where the heck I fit in in such a huge web of amazing artists. Stop reading my review and get this book! I promise you it's so worth it.

So many take aways: gather fellow writers or painters and exchange work and commentary and encouragement, write to achieve your very best possible work––regardless of what reception it has, produce regularly and in large quantities, which helps guarantee that your best work will emerge.

This book is a must read for anyone with a strong sense of creativity!

I read ART & FEAR in one sitting; I could not resist the gentle wisdom contained on almost every page. (My trusty highlighter was nearly emptied as I found much text that I wanted to reread and remember.)To any artist "stuck" in creative quicksand (whether it be fear, self-doubt, perfectionism -- whatever), the writers reach out a long and sturdy tree limb for you to grasp to pull yourself free and back onto solid ground. They don't just leave you standing there either, but provide you with the tools you'll need to find your own way home.One of the many quotes from ART & FEAR that I like is: "To make art is to sing with the human voice. To do this you must first learn that the only voice you need is the voice you already have."Other things I will say about ART & FEAR is that it is VERY thought provoking, thorough, insightful, and challenging with a few flourishes of humor. The information presented will apply to artists of all persuasions.I will very likely read ART & FEAR again and again and will probably find new gems with each read (either previously overlooked or not yet understood).Once read, you will want to lend ART & FEAR to your artist friends. I suggest you keep your copy and either recommend that they get their own, or, order one for them as a gift they will appreciate many times over.Finally, because I feel that I have received much from reading ART & FEAR, I send a heartfelt "thank you" to the authors, David Bayles & Ted Orland. I very much appreciate the authors' wish to share what they have learned (and especially for bringing their wish to fruition) with anyone that is interested and that they managed to provide me, someone quite unknown to them, with a real sense of being seen and understood (without ever feeling condescended to). Quite a gift!ART & FEAR is a book you will wish you'd known about before but you will be glad you managed to discover now. "When the student is ready the teacher will come."

As a serious painter, I own many books on art in general and the craft of painting in particular. They have been variously useful and sometimes even inspirational, but Art & Fear is worth more to me, than all the rest of my books put together. This book doesn't tell you how to paint or write or compose music or dance. Nor does it trot out the works of other painters, writers, composers, or dancers to serve as inspiration. Instead, it tells me and you and all other aspiring artists how to keep on working at what we love most. What a gem!

This book revealed to me I was not the only one having the thoughts of doubt and frustration in dealing with my talent and drive. I can look at my work as a process now and not an end result. I copy quotes from this book and paste them in my work space to remind me what it is I'm trying to accomplish. Everyone will get something different out of this text - it has a very universal message for anyone who is creative. My painting instructor recommends this book regularly and all that read it have the most positive responses to the insights and the pearls of wisdom. With my strongest recommendation I encourage ALL Artists to read this!

Art & Fear is an easy book to rave about, but it is a particularly difficult book to write about. The authors have chosen their words so well, that it seems as if there ARE no other words with which to talk about this subject or this book. I'll try anyway, fully knowing that whatever I might say surely will not please me as much as what I have read in their pages. And this is part of the message of Art & Fear, one of the lessons to be learned - just do it and learn from it. Art & Fear is an unpretentious little paperback, written by two lifelong friends who have been artists, as well as other things, for most of their lives. Both of them have their feet firmly rooted in the real world that we all live in (however high their ideas and ideals might fly), and both of them have keen insights into what enables individuals to produce good art and to continue to produce good art, and what stumbling blocks stop many individuals. These insights are of value to artists in any medium whatsoever, and are in fact likely to be of significant value to many individuals who don't think of themselves as artists at all. One doesn't need to be an artist to be struggling with goals that seem beyond your reach and a lack of appreciation from others; it's just a little more pervasive in the artmaking world. Reading this book is like sitting down with the authors for a long and lively conversation. You'll learn something of them, and something of yourself, and good things are sure to come from it. I've actually found it too good to keep to myself - I'm on my 6th copy now, as I keep giving them away to friends!