The Motivation of Art: Painting a Positive Self-Portrait

More about the book

This book provides motivation for art students by dispelling the myths surrounding art and art education using examples from history's most successful and influential artists. I wrote this book specifically for artists and art students, so aspiring artists of all ages will rethink social definitions about art and art education. Sustained motivation requires artists to confront and replace misconceptions and misinformation with life lessons from history's most accomplished artists. The masters teach by example how they remained motivated through racism, poverty, war, illness, and personal hardships, with each one overcoming their own individual struggles. Being a better artist will require practicing their time-honored disciplines and routines. The first step is to recognize the pop-culture influences, pseudosciences, and misleading stereotypes that demotivate rather than inspire, and replace them with positive work habits and disciplines. Motivation leads to work, that leads to improvement, and artistic growth builds confidence, and success and confidence leads to ongoing motivation. This is the self-perpetuating cycle of Art Motivating Art.