“painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do.”

Degas once said, “Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do.” I can’t help but agree with this statement. I always wonder why that is. This statement could be easily applied to any form of art. I tend to say it especially for writing (because I’m a writer). People often ask me why I have trouble writing my stories and I always tell them it’s because writing is hard. Of course, no one by a true educated writer would feel that writing is hard, but it is.

I suppose when you know the fundamentals of creating a great work of art, in any medium, you consciously hold your own work up to certain set standards, so you are more aware of what works and what doesn’t work, what’s inherently good or bad within the piece. You become a lot more critical of your work as you are creating it, which makes the process of creating the piece a lot harder because you are constantly editing it. Yet, when you’re completely ignorant of all fundamentals and rules within your line of art, you are more than likely able to create and create your own ark without added distraction. Because to you, your art is great and you are driven by the satisfaction of this greatness to complete your piece. You aren’t as critical because you don’t know the standards of what’s good or bad art. You only have your opinion on what’s good or bad. Thus, everything you do you think is good, when more often than not, your art isn’t as good as you thought.