Validating the Artist

What is it about selling a painting, receiving an award, winning a prize that is important for so many artists? If one creates from the need to create, then these things shouldn't matter. For some, they don't, but for a majority of artists, awards are nice and sales are even nicer. I have never met an artist that didn't talk about a recent sale without a big grin on their face.
Accolades help to validate sometimes, but certainly not always. Look at all the rejections from the French Salons the Impressionists endured. Lots of rejection and ridicule. So, validation or lack thereof, can be a powerful motivator. But artists, like anyone else, sometimes have doubts. Doubts about the direction they are going in, doubts about the quality of their work, doubts about, "is it worth it all?", doubts, doubts, doubts. So when a prize of any kind is obtained, it is a stamp of someone's approval. Often this can be the needed push to continue on and to go further into their work.
One of the things that a gentleman at the Charles Taylor Art Center said before announcing the juror, was that artists shouldn't be discouraged because they didn't get into the show or didn't receive an award. Each juror has their own particular slant and affinity for certain work. Caroline Cobb Wright, the juror for the Virginia Artist Exhibition, made her justification for the prizes awarded based on her preference for artists who used new and innovative materials in interesting and creative ways. I spoke with her for a short while and she was very encouraging about my work and said that I should continue exploring the direction I was headed. Validation.
I was happy for those who won awards and it is always so great to see artists receive recognition for their work.  I don't expect to win at every show I enter. It is discouraging  for artists to bash certain shows when they don't get in, yet rave about how great they are when they win or are juried in. Each show has its own slant and is not for every artist. You win some and you lose some. Keeping one's perspective and looking at the whole picture is a better way to look critically at your work. Validation from within.
People will tell you often, "Oh, I love your work..." yet NEVER ever think of buying a single piece. I'm not sure I understand that one. The only thing I can figure is that they often feel compelled to say something and this is what inevitably falls from their tongues. I don't think that you can take too much stock in what close friends have to say unless they buy. Sort of like your mom liking everything you ever created from the time you were born. That's your mom, they always say stuff like that. If you want to believe everything you hear from close friends, beware. Sort of like believing all of your OERs in the military. It only means trouble for your ego.
Better to get validation from within, validation from being included alongside other artists whose work you admire, validation from sales and being able to increase your prices, and validation from strangers that have not reason to blow smoke up your skirt.