On Mediocrity

Anna is an artist I befriended in our Story Development Class with Louie del Carmen. She's a lovely person who makes beautiful, and certainly un-mediocre, art. Here's a sample!

Anyway, I was looking at her tumblr the other day and came across this very inspiring post. She begins with a quote from another artist:

zeonhime:

the worst feeling about trying to draw is being a mediocre artist. You realize you’re not terrible and family and friends who can’t draw at all tell you all the time how amazing you are, but you, as the artist, have seen what amazing really is and you realize that it isn’t you.

Anna then chimes in: "Can I take a moment here just to say my thoughts? Because I see this sentiment a lot on my dash and I really just need to address it."

She goes on to say, "I would like to think most people realize that anything you post, no matter how accomplished or unaccomplished it is, is just a piece of a larger framework that is steadily growing. That framework is the skill you’re amassing and the knowledge you are pursuing. You are a person that’s fighting the good fight, the fight to become better than you are.

I reserve mediocre for a person that has given up the good fight. In my books, mediocre isn’t in the work itself. No work is mediocre... Mediocre is in the attitude of resignation. When you settle for less than your own expectations.

And it’s confusing. Because often you are settling for less each time you make work. Sometimes it feels as though you will never live up to your own expectations. Everything you do is in some sense a failure. But as long as you pick up your pencil again, you will never be the one who simply stops."

That's only a fraction of the truly inspiring post she wrote. Read the rest on her tumblr (and check out her art too, it's really beautiful!

Happy Friday friends, have a wonderful weekend!

© Gina Florio 2014