The Haunted Painter

Reasons - or not

Abbey Ruins - watermedia Cheryl O Art

Things have a way of haunting us. Hanging over our heads or sticking to the bottom of our shoe.

The spectre called guilt is like this. We get used to it – sort of. Used to carrying an unhappy burden. Scuffing our feet as we walk, trying unsuccessfully to get free of it. This interferes with the dance life was meant to be.

Perhaps artists are worse about this, but probably not. I expect it’s simply that I relate to a lot of artists and therefore see this at work in them.

I am going to be a bit hard on you and on me, as I tackle the specific thought that brought this article to mind. That is – why do so many artists constantly tell me, “I just don’t get around to painting anymore.”?

Ooof, I can’t even dodge that punch having been there too often myself. Rather than helplessly flapping our hands while sighing, “Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.” let’s look closer at this bleary eyed smelly spectre that haunts us all from time to time.

Reasons – or not

1. The habit shackles

We are creatures of habit. Our gray matter makes pathways that dig deeper and deeper the more we repeat actions. Entrenched is a great way to describe a habit. What if we have a habit of saying, “I’m too tired.” or “I don’t know what to paint.” or “I don’t seem to make progress.” or a dozen such statements? What if we have trained our brains to react to, “Should I go paint?” with these thoughts and they have become a type of comfort zone? A comfort zone laced with guilt that is.

You know the fix, but there is also encouragement about this.

Give the middle finger to those thoughts that try to shackle your creativity, and go paint! And here’s the good news. You can build a new trench in your gray matter. It takes time. It takes effort. But if you really (and do you really?) care about doing art, you should do it.

“If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint’, then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.” Vincent van Gogh

Keep it short if needed. Sketch for 10 minutes. Give yourself 30 minutes for a fast paint study. To quote Jack Sparrow, “The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude to the problem.”

2. Too tired, too busy

It could well be that you are genuinely too tired. You are the only one who can judge if your tiredness falls into #1 or #2 here. I’m not here to judge you about this.

Our lives get full to the brim, sometimes with good things, sometimes with things we should not be bothering with. Again, only you can judge how you want to use your time. I only hope you do so thoughtfully.

Here’s what I suggest in the case that you are genuinely too tired or too busy for art.

Don’t throw out the paint – throw out the guilt. Admit you are human, be glad for what other hopefully good things you can do, and stop moaning about what you can’t do. (Speaking to myself here too.)

If the call to paint really is in you, the time for it will come. Stop guilting and enjoy your life. (Your friends and family will be glad too.)

3. You don’t really want to learn to paint

This is a tough one for me to tackle, since I do believe in the healing and even life-giving power of creativity. So I will preamble by saying, perhaps you are called to be creative elsewhere.

It’s possible that painting doesn’t interest you enough to put time into it. If so, ask yourself, “where else can I be creative instead?” Fabric art, cooking, music in many forms - all these and so much more are creative too.

Maybe you feel guilty because you have invested in painting supplies, or got such a nice gift of them for Christmas/birthday/whatever.

There are places in your town, perhaps somewhere that cares for the less well to do members of your society, who would love a donation of art supplies. You can figure out where.

In this case, get rid of the art supplies. Get rid of the guilt.

Conclusion:

If you are chronically saying, “I never get around to painting.”, ask yourself why. Keep asking until you figure it out so that you can leave guilt behind.

I’m a big fan of guilt free living, and we each have a limited time. The older we get, the more we appreciate the fact that our visit to the planet has an expiry date. The temptation to attach guilt to this is huge. Let’s not. Instead of guilt...

Let’s thoughtfully examine what we want to do with our lives, and let the dancing begin.

Yours for a kinder and more creative world,

Cheryl O Art