The Gap

What do you think most artists consider the number one obstacle to their success? The following is a response from a survey we ran that’s typical of a lot of responses.

I want so much to paint. I love painting. It makes me feel alive; I feel myself become someone else like I am part of that painting. I think what is holding me back is I seem to think I’m not able to do it…maybe I have too high an expectation of myself…

What has happened to us that we no longer believe in our own greatness? Was it our parents who had it ripped out of them? Is it the media that convinces us that we are powerless? Is it our government that encourages dependency? Is it society that tells us, “That’s just how it is?”

How many times, in the middle of a painting, do you want to wipe off the canvas and begin again? You are convinced that your painting looks dreadful and you feel you have no other option.

In many of Bill’s videos he proclaims, “You are the greatest artist ever lived. You are next to God. You are the almighty creator.” Yet, we hesitate, we doubt!

Doubts

Whenever I begin to doubt myself, I like to watch this short video inspired by an Ira Glass interview. Glass talks about “The Gap” – the difference between what we think we can do and what we create. Glass says the answer is to push through “The Gap” by creating a large body of work.

John Hartman was Bill’s television producer for many of his videos. In a live interview with Bill, John asks him a question a lot of us have. “What,” he asks Bill, “is the number one thing that beginning artists can do to be successful?”

Bill’s response is simple and straight to the point. “Paint a lot,” he said. Bill was telling us to close “The Gap!”

It’s impossible to know how many paintings Bill created. It had to be a lot considering he started painting as a teenager. Bill must have had the same doubts, we all have, at the beginning of his career. Bill, though, believed in himself and pushed through “The Gap”.

Napoleon Hill tells us in his book Think and Grow Rich, “What the mind of man can conceive, it can achieve!” The fact that you know that “The Gap” exists means you have the ability to close it. You just need to “paint a lot!”

Perfect practice

“Practice makes perfect” is a common saying. That’s not quite accurate! The correct saying should be: “Perfect practice makes perfect!” It’s not enough just to paint with no direction. You need guidance and encouragement. That’s where we think we can help.

We recently launched our Bronze Membership at AlexanderArt.com. Members have unprecedented access to our huge library of resources. Hundreds of videos of Bill and other master artists. Every one of these artists is also a master teacher. It is rare to find a great artist who is also a great teacher.

Close your gap

Are you ready to close your “gap”? Are you ready to take that almighty brush into your almighty hand and attack that almighty canvas? Are you ready to paint because it “makes you feel alive?”

Bill understood the feeling that art gave his students. That is why he encouraged us with, “You are the greatest artist that ever lived.” That is why he proclaimed, “You are next to God.” And that is what he meant when he declared, “You are the “almighty creator”.