Hello, hello. Welcome to another episode of the Savvy Painter Podcast. I am your host,

Anne Trees Wood. And if you've been listening for a while, welcome back. If you're new here,

I'm so glad you found the Savvy Painter podcast. It is the podcast for artists who want practical

tips to create a meaningful art practice that is both fulfilling and supports you.

So in the last episode of the podcast, I kind of joked around a bit about the idea of the art

police, these imaginary enforcers who supposedly show up the second

that we make a wrong move. And hopefully we've realized how silly that fear is. And I'm sure it's

kind of obvious when I talk about it in the sense of these art police who bust into your studio

to take you out when you don't do quote

unquote something right. But the thing is that that shows up constantly in the way that we talk

about our work and in the things that we do in our studio. Just think of all the times

you find yourself even thinking or saying out loud, I should do it this way,

but or I want to do it that way, but I can't because, but I don't know if it's okay.

I can't because of X, Y, or Z or I just don't know if it's okay.

All of that has the undertone of this art police. So personally, I just think it's really

funny to actually make them into a character and it just becomes so ridiculous that you cannot

take it seriously. So now that we know that there's no one out there holding us back,

we also have to acknowledge that no one is coming to rescue us either.

There's no artist fairy godmother who appears with a magic brush or a gallery contract.

And if that feels a little bit intimidating, I know I get it. It feels like a lot when you're in

your studio by yourself creating day after day and it's just you in your canvas.

There's not really anyone to bounce ideas off of or to ask what they think or to just kind of like get a reality check.

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