Fear's a powerful thing...

Fear is a powerful thing - that's a line from the album Devil's and Dust by Bruce Springsteen; it's true Fear can stop you in your tracks,  but I'm not thinking about the fight or flight sort of fear where you find a Tiger in the back garden in the middle of a starry night and think "What the Heck!" - no I'm talking about the sort of fear that stops you from wearing that Red dress, from taking a holiday, just in case X, Y and Z happens, or stops you from eating  Avocado on toast in case you don't like it!... everyday fears that are self made.  As artists we can often be fearful of what people think about our music or art... it stops us from being or expressing who we really are or who we are meant to be...

It's important to be 'Authentic' such a buzz word now that I am reluctant to use it, but we do need to be true to ourselves, as The Boss says "let our mistakes be our own".
Being authentic is something that Bruce Springsteen seems to have managed well through-out his career, from his Irish - Italian roots he's a poet, who puts words into song speaking of the darkness and light of the working class lives of his New Jersey youth, remembering who he is and how far he has come.
I think to be authentic as artist's we need to keep pushing and experimenting, whether that's with technique, colour, style, whatever it is, it's all about the experience of reducing the fear.... helping to find what resonates and makes you and your work YOU!... I'm taking my own advice and trying different techniques such as the collage above inspired by the designer Claire Picard and her great #Skillshare class, I'm doing this whilst listening along the to blues man himself - Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band - I'd forgotten how much I love this!