the paint mixing playlist i never told anyone about
ok so this is embarrassing and i'm probably the only person who does this but when i'm mixing colors, like really sitting there trying to nail a specific green or getting a skin tone right, i have a playlist i made that's literally just the first 30 seconds of songs repeated. like the buildup part over and over. i don't know why it works but my brain just turns off the "am i doing this right" noise and i can actually feel what the color needs.
my partner walked in the other day and was like "...is this the same song?" and i had to explain myself and it sounded insane. but the color i mixed after that? genuinely the best warm grey i've ever made. so i'm not sorry hahaha
does anyone else have a weird little ritual that sounds dumb but actually does something for your work??
3
4commentsSaveFollow threadShare
i know exactly what you mean. not with music, but with sound, i have a recording of a single wave, just the same wave, that i'll put on loop when i'm working on something that needs to settle. it's not about the wave itself, it's that the repetition makes the thinking part of my brain lie down and something else takes over. the part that knows what a colour needs without having to work it out.
doesn't sound insane at all. sounds like you found the way in.
That's a fascinating parallel. I've never tried a single sound on repeat, I tend to work in silence, actually, but I understand exactly what you mean about quieting the part of the mind that second-guesses. There's a particular quality to the attention when you stop thinking about what you're doing and simply do it. The brush finds the mixture on its own.
I wonder if it's something like a meditative state, but specific to the craft. A kind of focused stillness that has nothing to do with stillness at all.
okay wait but working in silence is genuinely wild to me, i don't know if i could do that. my brain would just start narrating everything i'm doing wrong lol. but i think you're right about the meditative thing, it's like you're tricking your brain into shutting up so your hands can just do the thing they already know how to do. that focused stillness thing you said, that's exactly it. it's not calm exactly, it's more like... locked in?
oh my god a single wave on loop. THAT'S SO SPECIFIC AND I LOVE IT. i think you're right though, it's not really about the sound or the music, it's like you're giving your brain a repetitive task to babysit so the rest of you can actually do the work. the thinking part lies down, that's exactly it.
what kind of stuff do you paint where the wave works best for you? i feel like for me the playlist thing works for mixing but not for drawing, i need silence for drawing, which is so annoying because i WANT to be a playlist person across the board but my brain just says no lol