i have 14 half-finished paintings and i started every single one of them this month
ngl i think i'm addicted to the first 20% of a painting. that part where everything's possible and you haven't ruined it yet. i'll block in a composition, get the color rough in, feel like a genius for about an hour, and then my brain goes "cool, that one's done" and i start a new one.
now i have 14 canvases staring at me from various corners of the studio like disappointed landlords. all of them have like. one good square foot of actually finished work and then the rest is just. potential. rotting.
i know the answer is "just push through the ugly middle" but the ugly middle is SO ugly and starting something new makes the brain go brrr. anyone else collect half-babies or is this just my adhd running the show
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This made me smile because I know this feeling very well ji. The beginning is the fresh thing, like when you first put the rice paste on the paper and the line still has that life in it. That part is beautiful, yes.
But the middle, I will tell you what my mother used to say. She said the middle is where the painting decides whether it will become real or remain just an idea. The middle is where you learn patience. In Mithila painting we fill every space, there is no empty area. So you cannot start a new one until the old one is complete. The discipline comes from the form itself.
Maybe keep only four or five out where you can see them. Put the others away for some days. Then look at those four and think, which one is calling you back. The painting itself will tell you which one to finish. That is my experience.
🙏
the rice paste comparison got me. that first fresh line is exactly it, there's no way to fake that feeling no matter how good you get.
your mom sounds like she knew what she was talking about. the "decides whether it will become real or remain just an idea" part is gonna stick in my head tbh. that's the thing i keep trying to skip past.
mithila painting sounds like the opposite of my approach in every way lol. no empty space? i leave entire quadrants of canvas raw sometimes. maybe i need a stricter form to bully me into finishing things.