There Are No Art Police—So Why Are You Following Their Rules?

Hey, it's Antrese and welcome to another episode of the Savvy Painter Podcast. If you have been listening for a while, welcome back. If you're new here, I'm so glad you found me. Savvy Painter is the podcast for artists who want practical, tactical tips to create a meaningful art practice that is both fulfilling and supports you.

Let's play for a second. Imagine that you are standing at your easel mixing a slightly unconventional shade of turquoise or something when all of a sudden sirens blare, spotlights flash, and the SWAT team of beret-wearing art police burst through your studio door saying, “Step away from the brushes.” Is that the most absurd thing you can imagine? It is to me. But I swear, I think a lot of artists really believe that there are some sort of art police that will come and take away their brushes if they are not doing things “correctly”.

In today's episode, we're going to dismantle the myth that there is a right way to create, show, or sell your art and that some invisible authority is just waiting to catch you in the act of artistic imperfection. I know it sounds crazy, but I have been in that crazy land where I'm just like, "Oh, my god, I'm doing it wrong. Oh, my god, can I do this? I don't know. I don't know."

So let's talk about this because this comes up so often in my conversations with artists in the Savvy Painter community and just seriously all over the place. I see it everywhere. It's usually pretty subtle, kind of undercover, then sometimes it's just blatant. It's interesting when you think about it, because artists are supposed to be these creative rebel rule breakers.

We think outside of the box, we see the world differently, all of these things. But we are still susceptible to the subtle programming that happens in society and in just living in a world with other human beings and absorbing what other people's beliefs are, what people say, what people think. We see it in media, we see it in film. We see this all over the place that there's an acceptable way to be.

It's interesting that on the one side, we are the rebel rule breakers, but on the other side, from what I see in my experience, we are also very prone to being absolute rule followers. I just want to point it out to you in the hopes that maybe your in-a-rebel will be like, “Wait a minute, that snuck in, absolutely not.”

Let's play with this idea a little bit today. I'm going to purposely make it absurd. That's why I wanted to kick it off with this idea of the SWAT team breaking through your studio windows to take away your brushes. I mean, just imagine this art police as a secret society of these, I don't know, I see it almost like a cartoon, like with big mustaches and they're just twirling their mustaches and looking through a monocle and hiding in your closet, waiting for the moment that you don't do the lay-in correctly or that you choose a wrong color.

Then they're going to pounce on you and come out and wag their fingers and pull out a notebook with all the infractions that you've ever made and take away your canvases. It's just so silly. I want you to really picture this idea of whatever it looks for you, like make it a cartoon, make it absurd, make it just absolutely ridiculous, this idea that there are these rules that we are supposed to follow and that there are severe and irreversible consequences for breaking a rule. Sounds scary, right?

Here's the thing, if there is a part of you that believes this, A, you're holding yourself back, but B, it's kind of intimidating to believe that somebody's watching you. It's like this big brother aspect of somebody watching you and just waiting to pounce when you make a wrong move. I mean, that just sounds like it would completely stifle any and all creativity.

Listen, I have had this exact same thing happen with me. If you catch yourself while you're listening to this episode thinking, “Oh my gosh, that's me, what am I doing?” don't worry, we all do it. That's why we're talking about it. I mean, I see this come up with artists who are self-taught. They think that there is something that everybody else who went to art school learned that they didn't and that there is something that they're doing wrong and that everybody will see.

It's like this vague fear almost that there is a rule book somewhere that they don't have access to and they're desperately trying to follow the rules. I see it with people who have degrees in art, who have BFA's and MFA's and they're thinking that they have to do things in exactly a very specific way. I remember seeing this, I want to say that it was Gary Larson on The Far Side, but I cannot swear to that.

I'm officially starting an internet rumor right now. If anyone knows this cartoon, recognizes it, please send it to me. I would love to see it because it was so funny. It's basically, there's an artist, he's at the gates of heaven and Saint Peter looks at him and says, "Well, I can see here that you were in several life-drawing classes and you didn't do a proper lay-in, so I'm sorry, you cannot come in."

I mean, that's how seriously we take it, and I thought it was hilarious to see that in The Far Side. I'm pretty sure it's The Far Side. I really want to say it was The Far Side. I'm just going to give him credit for it. If I'm wrong, I apologize. This belief, regardless of the education level that you have, is the same, I think. I think that the consequences of this are exactly the same.

What happens is artists find themselves hesitating to try new techniques or to experiment with materials or to approach galleries because they think that a single misstep will permanently irrevocably forever and ever end their credibility as an artist. When I say that out loud, I am sure that there are many of you who think like, "No, I don't do that."

But I want you to take a look and just notice when you find yourself feeling like there is something that you are supposed to be doing, that you're not doing with your art, something that you are supposed to know, that you don't know, when you find yourself doom-scrolling on Instagram—oh, it's becoming so bad lately, that's a whole other topic. Don't even get me started—but when you find yourself doom-scrolling on Instagram, looking at other artists and thinking that they know something or are doing something better or different or in some way have a leg up on you.

Here's another one that comes up. This comes up in critiques constantly. This idea that we need permission to do this. I'm handing out permission slips left and right inside Growth Studio. It's so funny. But this mindset leads to constantly seeking outside validation. Artists are almost waiting for someone else to say, "Yes, it's okay. You can do that. You can follow your instinct or you can try that idea that you have or you can figure it out on your own," something that you saw another artist do or maybe it's just something that you noticed in a completely different discipline.

One thing I want to say here at the get-go is it's not that there aren't "best practices" or ways that other artists have done things that you can learn from, and it's not that it is just absolute chaos. I'm going to dig a little bit deeper into that in this episode. But instead of feeling like there are, it's like this, artists go back and forth between these two extremes of “There are these rules that I have to follow. If I don't follow those rules, then I am not a real artist, or I will never make it as an artist.”

On the flip side, there is this idea that nothing matters and just do whatever you want and la, la, la. What I'm going to propose on this episode is that you consider how these ideas that you get from other artists or these “rules” that you hear from other people are impacting your work. Because when there's a part of you that believes that there's this all-seeing judge and you're feeling monitored by an imaginary authority, it just kills your creativity, it kills your confidence as an artist, and it pushes you to follow these safe, tired formulas.

If you believe these kinds of myths, and you believe that if you do something wrong, then you won't be able to “make it as an artist”, it's like this career apocalypse myth and when you think about it, it's just so ridiculous to think that one wrong move could permanently end your career when in reality, we are constantly evolving, we are constantly growing, we are constantly shifting our styles, we are trying things out, we are having ideas and seeing if they work, and then having the Bob Ross Happy Accidents and discovering something that we never ever would have thought of if we hadn't tried that experiment.

When we believe that there are these art police, we're not willing to do all those things because, God forbid, you make a mistake in your art. I will say that I do have a lot of fun with this idea with the artists that I work with. Oftentimes, in Growth Studio, somebody will come to me, I won't name names, but somebody will come to me with this idea that they want to switch styles or they want to try something completely different with their art or they have this idea and they're like, “They're very intense about it.” They're seriously like, "What do you think? Should I do it? Is it okay if I do that?"

I look at them really seriously and I'm like, "Well, you know that on page 375, I can see in the Artist Handbook that this artist specifically is prohibited from trying that method or switching that event. It says right here in paragraph B12, la, la, la,” I just read them the most ridiculous thing because what I really want you to just start to notice is how silly it is and allow yourself to have fun with this idea because it takes all of the steam out of it.

Yes, what I'm saying is there are no rules. Zero. None. There are no rules. There is no central authority. This is what I love about being an artist. This is what I love about getting to know you and all of the artists that I get to interact with as part of the Savvy Painter. We are a diverse group. We have a history that is, if you think about painting, it's like five, well, I don't know, arguably, it's longer than that, but a lot of people say that it's like 500 years old if you start thinking about the Renaissance and the pre-Renaissance.

But I would argue that cave painters were painters as well. So there's this deep, long, rich history of creativity that personally I think started basically with the very first human. I often wonder if the reason why artists are considered rule breakers is because they start to recognize that there are no rules and so they follow their own ideas and they follow their own vision.

This is a beautiful thing. If we are not consistently pushing our own boundaries and doing things exposing ourselves to risk in our artwork, then we're not going to make any mistakes. This is another thing that I think is so interesting in how we tend to think as artists. It's like, philosophically or intellectually, we know that, yeah, mistakes are good. Bob Ross has done a good job of teaching all of us that there's happy mistakes and we have these happy trees and all of that stuff.

We know intellectually that mistakes are often stepping stones. Yet a lot of artists will get really distressed when they make a mistake in their work. We simultaneously want everything to turn out beautifully, but we want the benefits of having made a mistake. We just don't want to experience the mistake.

I want you to really think about that because we're human beings and we have all of these contradictions. Just think about that one for a second, we intellectually know that mistakes more often than not, will lead us to innovation and creativity. Yet, we get upset when we make mistakes. Yet, when we make a mistake we make it mean that we are not okay as artists, that there's something wrong with what we did or how we did it.

I just want you to start to notice that and notice what happens if you let go of that whole idea and really embrace it. This is becoming such a cliche, this idea that mistakes are your friend and fail forward and all these things that we keep hearing more and more often, but I like to really dig into that because it's so easy to say.

I'm sure you say it. I'm sure if somebody walked up to you and said, “Is it okay for artists to make mistakes?” You would instinctively say, “Well, yes, of course, because that's how we learn and that's how we innovate. A lot of times the thing that I love the most about a painting was something that was actually a mistake and I could not have planned it and it just came out and it was just amazing and all of these things.”

Yet, when we're standing in front of the canvas, and we're making our marks, and a mark doesn't turn out the way that we want it to, more often than not, we will see that as a negative. I really believe that a big part of that is because we have this cognitive dissonance about making mistakes.

On the one hand, there is the joyful idea that mistakes are wonderful and it's how we learned and all that fun stuff. Then there's also this part of us that believes that mistakes are not allowed and mistakes are proof that you don't know what you're doing.

Sometimes I will hear people say things like, "Yes, but not that mistake.” Just catch yourself, just be on to yourself. Just start noticing when you do that. What's actually happening when you allow those beliefs to run with scissors, when you allow those beliefs to run around in your head unattended and unnoticed, that is why you start believing that your art isn't good enough and that you need outside permission in order to do the work that you feel called to do.

The only permission slip you need is the one that you write for yourself. The more that you can lean into that and to really allow that part of you that gets stifled by this idea of the art police, the more that you can free that person inside of you and let that person say what they want to say and be who they want to be on the canvas, that your art will just get better and better and better and that is what we want is that self-expression.

That is what we want is for you to be able to freely share your ideas and share your experience of what it is like to be a human in this world today. Currently, as I'm recording this, it's 2025. I want to encourage you to check in with your own voice.

When you notice these ideas like, "I should do this," or "Is it okay," anytime you have those types of thoughts, I just want you to check and ask yourself, “What do I find exciting? What do I want to make? What am I curious about?” Just answer that question and lean into that answer in your work.

Our art is an expression of who we are, and it's also meant to be fun, joyful, exploratory, and surprising. Give yourself permission to play. What that can actually look like is allowing yourself to have many challenges that don't have any purpose other than just to have fun and experiment and know that nobody ever has to see this work.

Some of my favorites—and I've probably mentioned this before on the podcast—but these are my absolute favorite ways to introduce this playfulness and experimentation and allow that inner voice of mine to come out and play, that's the way I literally think about it, I'm inviting this voice inside of myself to come out and play, is to paint with your non-dominant hand or mix the non-conventional turquoise.

Mix unusual colors or invent a personal symbol system that you start to incorporate into your work. Just let that voice of yours take hold and allow that to be your North Star, your guiding light, as opposed to the other voices.

The hypercritical, judgmental, authoritative voices that just spew all this nonsense. I'll leave it at that. Nonsense. Listen, you know way more than you give yourself credit for. I want to encourage you to use that knowledge and trust yourself. One of the things that I've been fascinated with lately is how much our subconscious, our unconscious mind really is doing behind the scenes and how much it knows.

Our unconscious mind remembers everything. Every book you've ever read, every gallery you've ever been to, every museum you've ever been to, every piece of art that you've looked at, every conversation that you've had, all of that is somewhere inside that beautiful head of yours.

That is plenty for you to create your art. That is plenty for you to trust. That is plenty for you to develop your own techniques, your own instincts, your own tastes, and to create your unique perspective. When you tap into that, when you tap into your own voice, then you can start to ask the question, “Is there more information that I need? Here's what I think. Here's what I believe.”

Trusting and believing that you are doing it right and you do have permission to do it the way that you are thinking of doing it and the way that you want to do it, and if you find that there is a piece of that, that there's information, specific information that you don't have, now you can go out and look for it.

But what the art police will have you believe is that there's this generalized idea that you don't know what you're doing and you don't even know what questions to ask and that you're completely helpless without the permission and this imaginary rulebook. That's the part I think is so dangerous.

What I want for you is to empower yourself with your own ideas, your own thoughts, your own techniques, your own style, all of those things. To really trust that, “Yes, this is what I am seeing. This is my vision. Now I can go out and look for ways, techniques, and information to help me achieve that,” because it's specific.

If you allow it to be general, and you allow it to be this giant 50,000 million, trillion, gazillion page book with all of these rules that you need to follow, you're instantly going to put yourself into a place where you just feel helpless and not knowing where to start. It kills your confidence, it kills your creativity.

Now, some of the tools that I use to move through things like that are tools like EFT, which is tapping. If you haven't heard of that, I have a video that I will link to, and also Integrative Hypnosis, which is something that I have been really digging into lately. It's so much fun.

But those two tools are really, really helpful in clearing the mental chatter and reconnecting you with your instincts. Journaling is also a really good method to move through this and to just understand what's actually happening in your brain.

Ask yourself in your journal, “Why do I think that and what exactly am I talking about? Is this true? What am I believing that has me responding in this way or has me feeling the way that I'm feeling right now?”

Just doing that for like 10 or 15 minutes in the morning or at the end of the day will help you enormously. The truth is that there is no one way to create your art and there is no one way to show your art or to approach a gallery. There's no one way to sell your art.

We are a diverse community. There are so many different artists who have different personalities, and who have been successful in an infinite number of ways. There's room for you to find the way that works for you. There is room for you to play and discover in all of those areas of your art practice, not just on your canvas, but in how you talk about your work, how you show your work, and how you sell your work.

There is no single correct path. Successful artists often blend approaches and they learn what fits their own personality and their own style because that's what is sustainable for them. You may try different ways of approaching all of these different aspects of your art practice, and then you'll naturally create your own.

You have permission to do that. It is okay. I promise you it is okay. The last thing I want to recommend is to surround yourself with artists who support and encourage you and are interested in sharing their experiences with you. Really make an effort, please, promise me you will do this, especially right now.

Make an effort to limit your time around people who either implicitly or explicitly try to tell you that you're not capable, that you're not talented, and that you are in any way deficient. Don't let them try to change you into someone you are not because that is a 100% certain path to make you miserable and hate your art practice.

Okay, I think I'm going to leave it right there. That's what I have for you this week. Wouldn't be me if I didn't say in Growth Studio membership, we celebrate these rule-breaking moments and there is just this amazing group of artists who support each other in experimenting and playing.

I promise you that nobody is waiting to report you to the art police. It truly is a safe place to experiment, to get encouragement, and to learn a wide range of mindset tools to help you trust yourself. When you feel that coming on, when you feel that idea coming on that there is some authority who is watching you, I just want you to imagine the most ridiculous-looking art police person that you can imagine. These are just imaginary monsters under the bed.

Flip on the light switch. There is nothing there and paint whatever you want. Keep making art on your own terms. I promise you your brushes are safe with you. Nobody's coming to take them away. Have a great week, friend.

Hey, if you want to take what you are learning here on the Savvy Painter Podcast even further, join us in Growth Studio. This is where you will take what you've learned here on the podcast and apply it, practice it, and take these concepts from just good ideas that maybe you'll do someday to habits that become part of your practice. Growth Studio is a unique community of artists. We meet multiple times a week for live coaching, critiques, and demos. Just go to savvypainter.com/join.