In his notes written on December 7, 1856, Eugene Delacroix tells readers about his need to keep himself motivated to paint.
Delacroix’s December 7, 1956 entry from his famous “Journal” reads:
“[my friend] tell me he thinks that the concentration of the eye and brain on colour greatly adds to the fatigue caused by painting. .. The truth is, I have to be feeling very well to be able to paint. This is not so necessary with writing; ideas come to me even when I’m ill, and as long as I can mange to hold a pen I can write, but it is different when I’m at my easel, with a paint brush in my hand.”
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Self-motivation is required in a field like the arts where external rewards can be small and unpredictable. An artist has no guarantee of commercial success even when her skills are well-honed. The outside world may not reward her, so she finds her positive reinforcement inside.
Artists typically work alone. Their work is of such a highly personal nature that little can explain its pursuit except self-motivation.
In “How to Make a Journal of your Life,” writer D. Price asserts that artists must become fanatics: “Fanaticism can go a long way to bringing you to places you otherwise would never have come.” He insists that artists must not let the “deluge we call adulthood” carry us away from our work or keep us from creating.
But self-motivation has its difficulties. As Delacroix intimates in the quote above, keeping at the creation of art even in the face of adversity or any drawback requires huge and constant effort.
