Feedback

For the past three years I have attended an oil painting class at a local community education centre. Whilst I have produced some work that I am quite pleased with I don't know whether I can call myself a real painter yet. Some of my classmates pursued art studies to quite a high level in the past and most have been painting for much longer than I have. I notice that when they talk about their own work or when they comment on other's work they use a language that I don't speak.

When someone's work is described as "painterly" it seems to suggest that they are beyond the layman stage and are able to paint in a free and expressive way that goes beyond the beginner's attempt to create a photographic copy of the subject. I'm not qualified to add "painterly" to my vocabulary and don't expect the word to be used to describe my work anytime soon.

In an environment of encouragement and positive feedback I have also had to learn to interpret my art tutor's comments to gain any impression of the merits of my work. I take, "you must be pleased with that, " to mean that she views the work positively, whilst "what are your feelings about this painting," is not so good.

There are certain parallels with my writing endeavours. I think that I will only consider my self a "writer" when I am able to give useful feedback to others. At the moment I find myself held back from doing this and I suspect there are a couple of reasons for this:

1. That my comments may be thought to be over-critical and therefore unhelpful.
2. That my comments will make me appear naïve and inexperienced and therefore will be considered as being of little value.

I clearly have some work to do.