I always hesitate to share my own artwork with kids as sometimes it can look bad to do so, in my opinion. Like a show-off with a captive audience. I only do it when it has some merit for their current artwork or process. Kids on the cusps of their own talents are easily intimidated and are fragile little things. It makes me laugh when I show them a particularly poorly done demonstration sketch and they say "Ooooh that's so good! How come you can do that and I can't?" My reply is usually something along the lines of "I'm old and have been doing this for longer than you've been alive. I bet when you are my age you'll do it really well / much better than this!" or "Consider it one of the few benefits of becoming an old lady!"
I always relate the skills I am teaching my students to the developmental state of their brains as I think this is essential in having them understand why their art looks less real than they'd like, and how to make it more observational. They start to expect photographic reality at the middle school level (differing with each student.) The "shame" piece of not having their drawings be photographic is lessened by the awareness that their brain needs to grow to see shadows, forms, and proportions, and will continue to grow until early adulthood (and even longer for some of us!) When they see evidence of growth in their work, it is very rewarding. One student said "Wow! My brain grew today!" after completing a particularly developed drawing of his hand. It was great!
As I get older and encounter restrictions on my physical "doing" of art, I try to step back and see the bigger picture. The artwork I am most proud of making was made many years ago now (2005? 2008? Really?) and I have to work harder and longer to accomplish anything near that level of detail now. As I write this blog this morning my hands are swollen and stiff, with deep skin fissures on five of my ten fingers. Skin is an organ that can be inflamed by RA, and while skin cracks are common to all of us in the winter, the size and depth of these ones, as well as the suddenness with which they appear, is abnormal. I tried to stitch last night but it was impossible to hold a needle and push it through the cloth. A very scary thing for me. So, I went to bed early, treated my skin with the right stuff, and wrote for a while before nodding off. Today might be the same. Will have to wait and see. As I am engaged in a very detailed piece that I am excited about, this waiting doesn't make me too happy. It is like watching my own creative development reverse, a winding down of the creative clock, the opposite of how I was able to produce and create when I was making the artwork I like best. I have to accept the limitations and while I am only 47 in chronological years, the biological age is very different due to almost constant systemic inflammation. At least I have accumulated enough art supplies to most likely get me through the rest of my life at this point!
So, if you are happily creating with ten good fingers and an energetic mind, appreciate where you are in your personally creative journey and stick with it. You never know when your ability to make things from your mind come to life with your hands will change. Treasure it!
What will you make today?