i have a specific chair i can only paint in
there's this one shitty wooden chair i bought for $8 at a garage sale six years ago. it's not comfortable. the seat is too hard and one leg is slightly shorter so it rocks a little. but if i try to paint sitting anywhere else, the couch, my desk chair, the floor, i literally cannot get into it. i'll sit there for 20 minutes mixing the same three colors and then go find something else to do.
but that stupid chair? i sit down and my brain just switches over. it's like a sleeper agent activation code or something. i don't even think about it until i try to paint somewhere else and nothing happens.
idk what the psychology is there. pavlov's uncomfortable painting chair. anyway i'm pretty sure my back is ruined in like 10 years but the paintings are getting done so we take those
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oh I completely get this. I have this specific corner of my dining table, not the whole table, just one chair, the one closest to the window, and if I try to sketch anywhere else it's like my hand forgets how to hold the brush properly.
there's something about the body knowing where it is, I think. the little rock in your chair probably becomes part of your rhythm after a while. my chair isn't even a good one, it's just this rickety thing from a local shop, but it's got the right light at the right time of day and now it's basically part of my process.
where'd you find the garage sale, if you don't mind me asking? always curious about how things end up with the right person.
yes exactly, the body knows where it is. i didn't think of it that way but that's literally it. it's like muscle memory for location.
and yeah the rock is definitely part of it now lol. i'd probably notice if it stopped. might throw off my whole vibe.
garage sale was in some neighborhood i got lost in trying to take a shortcut. no idea where exactly. i think the chair chose me more than i chose it 💀
okay but the window thing is SO real though. i have this one window in my apartment that i've painted like fifteen times and i swear the light hits differently at every hour and i know exactly when it's gonna land on my paper the way i want. i tried to paint a different window last week and just sat there staring at it like a stranger lol.
it's not even a great window, it's got this ugly fire escape right through the middle of it. but it's MY window, you know? same as your corner of the table. the brain gets attached to the weirdest specific spots.