Donna Watson talks about Rejections July 23, 2010

I asked Donna Watson to help me with the idea of Rejections as part of the Artist's Process. This is what she said:

REJECTIONS: Many years ago, when I first began to enter juried exhibitions, I submitted a painting to a local juried show and it was not accepted. I was quite surprised and decided to enter it into a much larger, international juried exhibition. The painting received the Best of Show award. Since then, my paintings have been accepted into many juried exhibitions with the occasional rejection. I do remember a period of time when I received 5 rejections in a row.

There were times when I would really get quite down about my paintings and even questioned myself as an artist. But I would eventually rally myself and get back to work and continue to put my work out there for viewing. Juried shows are usually judged by one person and art is very subjective and you really can never know or understand each individual juror and what they like or don't like. So, eventually I managed to develop a thick skin. And now, I have become a juror myself as I have been invited to jury shows and teach workshops all over the U.S. and Canada. And with all the successes I have accumulated, I still can receive the occasional rejection. I get back to work in my studio. Here is a quote: "Ever Tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." Samual Beckett.

Thank you so much Donna, it could not have been said better.

Something I've always thought about, is when you give a person an opportunity to speak (or judge your work), you often find out what they do not know.