How Can I Overcome Artist’s Block? For Brisbane: Paint the Next One

Several of the people I took my very first painting class with don’t paint anymore. They couldn’t find their thing, or whatever it was, and at some point the brushes went into a drawer and stayed there.

I understand how that happens. Early paintings can be hard to look at, and mine were tentative and careful, which I find ugly. You can see what you meant to do and exactly where it went sideways, and nobody tells you how long that stage lasts (it’s longer than you’d hope).

What I keep noticing is that people rarely find their thing first and then start painting with confidence. It tends to work the other way around. The subjects you keep coming back to, and the way you like to work, show up in the doing, often somewhere around the painting you almost didn’t finish.

There are good reasons to stop, of course. Life gets full, and nobody should hang on to a hobby out of guilt.

But if the only reason is that you haven’t figured out what kind of painter you are yet, I’d stay a bit longer. You just have to keep going.

So paint the next one, and let it be as ugly as it needs to be.

See more at melissaking.studio

This is for personal reflection, not medical or crisis advice.