I confess I am one of those people—one of those artists—who will always doubt herself no matter the number of successes I achieve. It's in my DNA, I assume, as I have had this conversation with my sisters, and they commiserate. 

Here is an example of how this doubt can play out—I was in my studio puttering around with one painting or another, when I recieved a message through my Etsy shop. The person introduced himself as a musician who was interested in one of my paintings for an upcoming album cover, and was I interested in such a project?

I immediately thought the guy was a scammer because scammers and scammer bots are everywhere! Know what I mean? At least he didn't ask if I would "sell my arts as NFTs."

But I also immediately thought that this message couldn't possibly be legitimate because, well, as I said out loud to my husband, "I'm an aging white woman sitting here in Ohio painting little pictures in an upstairs room."

Shame on me for many reasons, but let's break down that description. Who cares about my age? Also, who cares where I am when I create? And I do more than just "paint little pictures." 

I have sold work far and wide—I actually sat down and mapped that out. I have shipped artwork to nearly all 50 states and to many different counties. I wrote a separate post about that very thing, which you can find here on the blog. So, I have proven to have some value as an artist, I'd say. 

Still, there sat this message, and I got to work googling every possible link to prove the man a fake. I came up empty. He put me in touch with his manager, and I googled again, and again came up empty. So, I took a deep breath, said some cuss words to my self-doubting shadow that haunts me, and said "yes" to the whole thing.

Keeping Company by Bill Laurance and Michael League

And you know what? It's legit! One of my paintings is now on the cover for a CD and vinyl release of a new album by Bill Laurance and Michael League, both from the band Snarky Puppy but also recording as a duo that is mesmerizing. The new album is titled "Keeping Company," and is produced by Act Music. As of this writing, I have only heard the first single that was released before the full album—it's beautiful, and I am delighted to have a small part in this project.

What's the lesson here? Keep an eye out for scammers, and do your research. But as one article about art scams put it, sometimes good things really do happen to artists out of the blue. So, keep a weary eye wide open, but remember some offers that seem too good to be true really are solid.

Also, stop doubting yourself so much!

Oh, and here is a link the actual painting:

#albumcovers #selfdoubtingartist #KeepingCompany