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“I spend an insane amount of time wondering if I’m doing it right. At some point, I just remind myself that I’m doing my best. That is enough.” ~Myleik Teele
Does this sound like you? Perfectionism is an obsession in our society right now. So, what is perfect? One definition of perfect is this – without any flaws, defects, or shortcomings. I tend to see a lot of people approach learning with this attitude – I can’t make any mistakes and allow anyone to see me being less than perfect. Although when I ask whether or not perfection exists, they say no. "I must give my all" isn’t really a bad thing but when having to give your all means being perfect, and there’s no such thing as perfect, it can turn into… I may as well do nothing. At least if I do nothing, I haven’t really failed and I won’t feel embarrassed or humiliated.
So, why this push to be something we can't be?
Because perfection doesn’t exist, it sets us up for failure every time. From that perspective, it certainly makes sense why you’d want to do nothing versus failing every single time. Once in a while you see glimmers of what is perceived as perfection. Those glimmers continue to keep you holding on for hope. If I just do this one thing…I’ll get there, I can be perfect. The problem is, the one thing never leads to perfection… Because there is no perfection.
HOW TO DEAL WITH PERFECTIONISTIC TENDENCIES
So, why this push to be something we can't be?
Because perfection doesn’t exist, it sets us up for failure every time. From that perspective, it certainly makes sense why you’d want to do nothing versus failing every single time. Once in a while you see glimmers of what is perceived as perfection. Those glimmers continue to keep you holding on for hope. If I just do this one thing…I’ll get there, I can be perfect. The problem is, the one thing never leads to perfection… Because there is no perfection.
HOW TO DEAL WITH PERFECTIONISTIC TENDENCIES
- Learn to embrace mistakes – know that mistakes will help you grow.
- Feel good about a win – winning feels good and should be celebrated, but having a win doesn't mean every practice will be a step forward. Celebrate then refocus so you are present for the next challenge.
- Find 1-2 things that you did in a practice that are positive – Beginning to point out the positive things will help motivate you and give you confidence.
MISTAKES HAPPEN. MISTAKES ARE HEALTHY.
There really is no such thing as perfect but there’s something better than that! What is it? Realizing there’s no such thing. Learning to be ok with doing your best (whatever that is at any given moment) and allowing yourself to be human. Just do your best. Be your best. That means what you have the ability to be.
Being present in the process will allow you to do what you want to do. Mistakes will still happen but they are so incredibly important for growth. Here’s my challenge to you – instead of trying to be perfect, try to find another way to appreciate the positive things and deal with mistakes in a healthier way. I'll leave you to think about this quote: "If I am not failing regularly, I am living so far below my potential that I am failing anyway".
My honey pot colouring here is from our Mini Colouring Class Bundle 6 which you can find in the store here! It includes instructions for both markers and pencils - love to have you join in and thank you for reading this week's art therapy post! :)
Hi everyone! Have you been checking in each week for our follower freebie? It's free for absolutely everyone and a new one goes up each Saturday. Be quick! If you miss it, you can't go back to claim. You can find them anytime via the banner on the homepage of the website, or the EVENTS tab in our Facebook community. Grab it now!
Plus our next Vintage Class Re-release is here! Grab 40% off our Tropic Paradise 2019 classes here: markers and pencils GREAT for beginners as I break down all of the very basics + you'll receive lifetime access to do them at your own pace!
Techniques covered include: tropical flowers and leaves, birds, feathers, creating depth in white and yellow animals, rainbow effects, orchids, hibiscus, and more! Plus FREE images included!
If you are new to Kit and Clowder, every month I re-release a retired "Vintage Class" for sale from our 2015-early 2020 vault so you can learn some of the past techniques we've already tackled. Be quick - these classes will only be available for sale until March 31.
Happy colouring everyone and make sure you share your work with us over in our Facebook community! :)
I have a special surprise for you all 
To celebrate our final day of our Advent Calendar of Giveaways, I have created a free colouring class for absolutely everyone! With so much going on in the world right now I think we could probably all use a break for some self-care 
If you've been nervous to try a class, this is a great starting place for all levels - even total beginners. This class has separate instructions for markers and pencils, and comes with lifetime access to do at your own pace This is not a quick how-to tutorial but a proper educational lesson with real art fundamentals to help you level up your colouring skills no matter how much experience you have. I hope you will schedule just 10 minutes to jump in this week - put your mental health first, recharge, and destress as you focus on the challenge and joys that learning something new can bring
To celebrate our final day of our Advent Calendar of Giveaways, I have created a free colouring class for absolutely everyone! With so much going on in the world right now I think we could probably all use a break for some self-care If you've been nervous to try a class, this is a great starting place for all levels - even total beginners. This class has separate instructions for markers and pencils, and comes with lifetime access to do at your own pace
This is not a quick how-to tutorial but a proper educational lesson with real art fundamentals to help you level up your colouring skills no matter how much experience you have. I hope you will schedule just 10 minutes to jump in this week - put your mental health first, recharge, and destress as you focus on the challenge and joys that learning something new can bring TO CLAIM YOUR FREE CLASS:
Please leave me a little comment below to help this post get seen 
Just head to www.kitandclowder.com
Click CLASS ROOMS in the menu bar
Select the Free Spring Moments Class and click Join. Enjoy!
*This class has taken over 60 hours to create - if you love it, I'd so appreciate any help to share this post/tag your friends/mention it if you see someone wanting to level up their colouring Thank you for helping to keep our community alive during this difficult time
Thank you for helping to keep our community alive during this difficult time
There's only a few days left to grab our Stellar Spirits Beginners Colouring Classes - our Jan-Feb monthly colouring projects - (markers left, pencils right) over at https://www.kitandclowder.com!
What we're learning this month: We'll be breaking down the absolute basics of these techniques: in-depth, realistic skin contouring to use on any image, eyes, in-depth hair texture and contouring, black hair, rainbow effects, iridescent effects, gemstones, galaxy backgrounds, night backgrounds, stars and swirl effects, sequins and glitter, metal, smoke, and more!
Once you purchase a class, you get lifetime access to it to work at your own pace, no lock in contracts to join in, + free private tutoring! For sale only until Feb 14 so jump in now and let's help you feel more confident with your colouring!
Take a peek of the upclose projects below!
Hi everyone! I'm popping in today to share our next Colouring Tips video and this week it's all about making Copic blends and understanding how the official Copic numbering system works! Even if you've been colouring awhile, there's a lot of tips and tricks here for selecting colours for your projects
There's a lot of conflicting information around on how to make blends, but I often have people come to our classes frustrated because what they've been taught isn't allowing them to get the same depth in their colouring that our students are outputting. A lot of that comes down to understanding how lightsource works to give your objects dimension, and how we choose colours to best represent lightsource within our blends. So let's break down a good foundational way to create blends in all of your projects!
If the embedded video doesn't work for you, you can find the full video on youtube here: https://youtu.be/ag75OWxLr8E
For more information on colour blend theory, premade blend charts, blank charts to fill in, and more, please visit the Blend Charts page on our website at https://www.kitandclowder.com. You'll also find more helpful colouring questions answered under our Colouring FAQs page!
I hope you've found this video helpful, and if you have any requests for future Colouring Tip videos, please get in touch!
Art Therapy Post: Are Mistakes Necessary?
I want you to read this quote and really think about it's meaning. We can be so quick to give up on the things that we aren't instant masters in, the things that challenge us, the things that push us out of our comfort zones. Not one single person became a master in any skill or occupation overnight. Their journey was not a straight path of successes. They made mistakes, they had ups and downs, they had to fail.. in order to succeed.
What is an achievement or a success? It means something accomplished with considerable skill, effort, or courage. We all seek these achievements in life - they make us feel proud of ourselves, they give our lives meaning. They can be something as big as getting a job, a car, a house, or something as small as finishing a colouring project. Regardless of what that achievement is, it is important to our self-worth. Now, I want you to think about this... what does that achievement mean if there is no work to get it? Would it really be an achievement anymore? Do you congratulate yourself for everything you accomplish in a day? Or do the things you have to work for make you appreciate their worth more?You can only have an achievement when there is something to strive for; a challenge = something to overcome = an achievement to be had. Don't underestimate the importance of these challenges in all areas of life - without them you don't have growth, you don't have success. So, how does this relate to our colouring? All the time I see people ready to give up because they were pushed, because they were challenged, because they didn't instantly master a technique. They approach learning as something that should be easy, and if it isn't, it isn't worth it the effort. But we don't realise it's not our skills that make us incapable, it's our attitudes that stop us from learning and that determine whether we give up when something is hard.
The only failure you can have is when you give up on something, as that's the one time you can't improve. Perfection and ease of doing a technique do not equal success. Success is progress, is having a go, learning new things, pushing beyond what we already know. Growth = success. Successful people aren't afraid to have a go - if they make a mistake, they know that mistakes aren't the end. The mistake is a golden opportunity to learn and improve, and as a result, gets you one step closer to your goal. Every single person whose colouring you admire has made every mistake you have made, if not more, but instead of letting that stop them, they've accepted it as their growth and progress in becoming a better colourist. They treated their mistakes as lessons in both what TO do and what NOT to do, which helps inform our achievements.
Stop defining your success by your ability to master something, and instead define it by having the courage to start, by looking at your growth each time you try, by comparing only with yourself. When you can let the pressure go, you can focus on the process of learning and of creating bringing you the joy, fulfilment, and achievement you are looking for. Your process and progress is your achievement, not a finished product at the end. So it's time to ditch the attitude of perfect = success, and instead remember that the ups and downs are what give us our achievements <3 Embrace every single challenge because it is making you not only a better colourist, but a better you <3 dds
<3 Embrace every single challenge because it is making you not only a better colourist, but a better you <3 dds
*My pictured colourign from our Guiding Lights Pencils Class he
I've been a little slack in updating the blog lately - I'd love to hear if you still check in? If you haven't found us on social media yet, I mainly post over in our Kit and Clowder Facebook Community Group :)
We do weekly Art Therapy posts over in the group, and this week's post stemmed from a question about whether someone was too old to learn colouring. We have people of all ages joining in over the world, as young as about 8 or 9, right up to their 90s. I love the quote above, because it really encapsulates that learning shouldn't be on anyone's timeframe - it's more a state of being than a length of time.
<3 Learning is not about being perfect - it's about trying, it's about having a go when you feel nervous, it's about making mistakes so you can troubleshoot, understand, and overcome them to level up. A class, no matter what it is you are trying to learn, is not about replicating something to the point of perfect - it's about trying things you haven't learned before, about refining some prior knowledge or skills you already have. If you learn or refine just one thing then you have succeeded.Have you ever wondered why Nike's slogan is "Just Do It"? It's so common to make excuses in life *not* to do something - not to make time for ourselves, not to try because it might be hard or challenging, not to have a go because we might not be as good as others...but what happens when we "just do it"?
The only failure you can ever experience in life is not having a go as you can't improve upon nothing. If you want to be the best colourist you can be, take control of your learning; try all different techniques, styles, and topics, try the images or lessons that look a little challenging, do your classes and practice them, ask for help... if you allow yourself to just learn and challenge yourself outside of what is your comfort zone then you will always increase your skills and you will always have achievements to look forward in life - things to be proud of
<3 Don't fear failure - fear being in exactly the same place next year as you are today <3 If you want to learn anything in life, no matter what it is, don't allow yourself to make excuses any longer - put 10 minutes aside this week and "just do it" <3 **My dragon above is coloured with my Copic Markers and you can colour him too in our Mini Class Bundle 3 here: http://bit.ly/2pDhoRW
Hi everyone! Hope you are having a colourful week. I was so excited this week to be able to head back to the QLD Cancer Council Lodges to teach some free art and colouring classes to some of the people undergoing cancer treatment. I took in a simplified version of our brand new Taking Flight Class, featuring this beautiful image from Power Poppy, so we could make some coloured candles. As the butterfly is a symbol of hope, regeneration, and restoration, I thought this would be the perfect project that they could display in their rooms during their stay at the lodges.
My favourite part about doing these workshops is that no one has ever coloured before, and at the start of the class everyone is feeling a little nervous and unsure if they can create something. Then, once we get started, it gives them a chance to take their mind off what they are going through, to just take that mental break to recharge, and before they know it they've created something they can be really proud of. It shows if we just give ourselves a chance to try new things without pressure, then we are more capable than we think. I am a little limited on photos I can take due to privacy, but here is a few samples that were created - didn't they do a fabulous job!
If you want to learn to create your own coloured candle, we have a class in our Mini Class Bundle 2 here.
The next time you are feeling nervous to jump in, I hope you will think back to this post and know that if you just give yourself the chance to try then you can start on your journey to learning more. As these wonderful people will tell you, life is too short to hold yourself back and say "I can't" - the worst that can ever happen by having a go is you make a mistake, learn from it, and grow that little bit more for tomorrow. The only time you can ever fail is the time you don't start as that's the one time you can't improve.
I want to say a big thank you to our class members - your support is what has enabled us to do these free workshops for the hospitals - thank you! Just by being brave and giving yourself that chance to do something special for you, you are giving us that chance to help others aswell and I can’t thank you enough ❤️
If you are looking for a little motivation to get started this week, make sure you check out our newest motivation chat over in our Kit and Clowder Colouring Group here:
Our brand new Taking Flight Colouring Class is out now over at www.kitandclowder.com! Suitable for absolute beginners-advanced as we break down the very basics of each technique to gently challenge you to try new things and grow your colouring. Receive lifetime acess to do at your own pace. Love to see you join in with us!
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