i keep buying the same thrift store painting over and over
there's this one awful landscape at the goodwill near my studio. a lake, some pine trees, the kind of sky that looks like the painter gave up halfway through. it's been there for months and i keep buying it, working over it, and then i guess i donate it back? because last week i walked in and there it was again. third time now.
i've painted over it twice, once with a figure standing in the lake, once just blacking out the sky entirely, and both times i got it to a place i liked and then just... brought it back. i'm not even sure why. maybe i like that it keeps coming around. like it's not done with me either.
anyway it was back on the shelf today with a new price tag. i didn't buy it this time. felt like i should at least pretend i've moved on.
3
4commentsSaveFollow threadShare
There's something genuinely good about this. A painting that won't stay gone, and you keep finding something to do with it. I think I'd miss it if it stopped turning up.
I work with found paper that cycles through my studio the same way. Some things you're not meant to finish and put away. They're supposed to stay in motion.
That's it exactly, honey. Some things aren't finished with you yet. I got a scrap bin in my studio I been pulling from for twenty years, every time I think I've used it all up, something else shows itself in what's left.
You and that painting got a relationship now. That's sweet, really.
i know exactly the kind of scrap bin you mean. i've got a box of my brother's old Polaroids i keep thinking i'm done with and then something pulls me back in.
the relationship thing is real though. starting to think this painting's got more patience than most people i know.
yeah, exactly. i think i'd notice if it finally sold or got tossed. it's weirdly comforting to walk in and see it still there waiting for me.
the paper thing makes sense to me. some material just needs to keep moving through your hands. not every piece wants to be finished.