“My goal is to find my style – I’m a little all over the shop.”

Feel all over the shop with your style? You aren’t alone. A lot of creatives have a goal to find their style, but feel all over the place when they look at their art.

Hi, my name is Carrie Brummer and here on Artist Strong I help creatives like you build your skill and develop your unique artist voice. Today I share three approaches to making your art that will help you and your viewers celebrate your varied art. 

First. Create works in small groups or a series.

When you get an idea for a work or begin to enjoy working in a particular medium, make more of them! Create anywhere from 5-20 pieces depending on your level of enthusiasm and curiosity. And when you release the works, release them in the group. This becomes a talking point and creates a feeling of consistency in your work when you share it, present it, or even apply to exhibitions or sell the work.

Second. Don’t share everything you create.

I currently have 3 bodies of work I’m exploring in one way or another. While I might shift between the three different kinds of work in my studio on the daily, I curate how I present them to a larger audience. Presentation and curation of your work can not only help you stop feeling like your style is all over the place, it helps you better understand your own style as you think about what and why you group certain pieces together.

Lastly, why not embrace it?

In my personal journey I felt my work was all over the place while I was still exploring ideas and media and hadn’t quite yet found my sweet spot. I fought that feeling most of the time and felt pretty crappy and inadequate because of it. Now, when I get in that space again, in between projects, I have to constantly remind myself this is actually part of my creative process. I need times like these to help me figure out what’s actually worth my time, and doing this continues to refine and develop my unique artist voice.

Ultimately, my biggest concern is people don’t feel permission to make the art they want to make because of some preconceived idea of what they “should” be doing with their art. There are easy ways to start to group our art to present works with a more consistent style and be proud of the varied art we create. 

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Which strategy resonates with you the most? Or, what advice would you offer for someone facing this struggle?

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