Every professional artist deals with competition. We compete for students, acceptance into juried shows, for awards and prizes, for gallery representation, for sales. At baseline, we compete for attention. Whether competitions spur even greater development, crush our spirits, or derail us completely is entirely up to us.

In art, as in life, to achieve goals, we need to plot a course and set the compass and FOLLOW IT. We also need to cultivate strategies to deal with those events that conspire to throw us off course.

Clarifying your artistic goals is the first step to plotting a course to achieve them. What is my artistic mission? What am I about? Why am I doing this?

 I paint to discover, and share beauty, grace, and the kind of magic that happens when skill and practice meet inspiration. Rendering something in an interesting or enlightening way and sharing it is the goal. Pursuit of these goals requires ongoing skill development: drawing, design, values, paint application, etc. Entering shows and competitions is one strategy to increase exposure, hone skills, and provide a benchmark of progress. An additional benefit is meeting other artists. Risks of this approach are potential rejection; seeing art as something that can be won or lost.

Certainly being pulled off course by following success feels different than being battered by failure. However, successes and failures wear various costumes to the artistic party. Treating each like the guests they are may help avoid lavishing too much attention on either. Celebrate your successes, and then move on. Acknowledge your failures for what you can learn from them, and then excuse yourself. It’s your party, after all.

I recently participated in a quick draw competition. One year ago, whether I could actually complete a painting in such a short time was very much in question. Yet that day, I felt a bit disappointed that my work did not seem to be among the best. Whoa. Time to apply the brakes and review my artistic mission and strategies.

Timed painting forces one to clarify thoughts and paint decisively. There is further much to be learned from seeing how other artists solved problems.

Sometimes we are privileged to create great art. It’s usually the culmination of years of study combined with diligent practice that results in those pieces of art that feel enlightened. Sometimes we fall short of the mark, and humbly return to the studio. Entering shows and competitions is one way of increasing exposure of our work and ourselves, and also to the bigger world of art and artists out there. Like much of art, it just needs to be kept in perspective.