Student Question of the Day:

I have so many paintings started but lose interest and start something else before finishing. How do you persist through a painting?

Denise E.

This is a great question that I think a lot of artists have experienced at one time or another. You get excited about an idea, grab your tools and start a few pieces and then get so far and get bored or tired of what you are doing and either scrap the idea altogether or move on to something new.

It doesn’t take long before you start feeling overwhelmed and uninspired when you have a ton of art started and nothing finished to show for your efforts.

You keep chasing the feeling of exhilaration and promise when starting something new but walk away before you ever get to the finish line.

It might take some self-reflection to dig down to the root of the problem so take these ideas or thoughts and see if there’s a smidgen of truth and then decide which way you want to go with all those ‘UFO”s (UnFinished Objects).

1. Are you really excited about what you are painting? Or perhaps you started off excited and decided the colors weren’t right or the execution of your vision isn’t in sync. If you are excited about what you are painting, then keep working on a few pieces until they are done. Forget all the others that aren’t finished, just commit to finishing a few and see how you feel after you achieve that goal.

If you aren’t excited about what you are painting or the materials you are using, then just stop. You need something to follow that you are interested in and find no trouble ‘persisting’ through to the finish line. Life isn’t meant to be a struggle all the time. If it doesn’t feel good or joyful, then there is no reason to keep doing it.

If you are doubting yourself about how to finish a work of art, welcome to the club. While you shouldn’t feel like you are struggling every inch of the way to the completion of a painting, you will find yourself in an uncomfortable situation several times during the course of a painting. The only way to reduce the feeling of the unknown is to build up your skillset and paint a lot. I mean a lot.

2. Perhaps you are someone that works better with deadlines and goals. If you are painting because you enjoy it and it’s your hobby, it’s a bit easier to just keep painting without finishing things. There’s a lot less pressure to create something to sell so you can pay a few bills here and there and maybe a vacation or two down the road.

Regardless, if you are a hobbyist or depend on your creations to make a living, if you need to work under the umbrella of deadlines to make things happen, then go ahead and set yourself up some goals to work towards and deadlines not to miss. Working for yourself is hard business. Pretend there is someone higher up the chain than you are, and that person is expecting you to complete what you agreed to do in the timeframe you said you would do it in.

That higher up is your conscious and your inner muse. Don’t disappoint the person that matters the most, you. If you truly were working for someone, what would you do differently in your art? How have you finished projects before? What did it take for you to stay motivated?

3. Do you have doubts about your ability to finish the paintings that you started? This is very natural, especially for beginning artists. The trick is to take pressure off yourself and do the best that you can TODAY. Every painting you complete puts you closer to the goal of feeling confident in your work and developing your skillset to make you a better artist overall.

4. Another trick that might help is to limit your supplies so that you aren’t overwhelmed with choices. When there is too much in front of me, I get paralyzed. Have you ever been to the Cheesecake Factory? There are so many choices, I get overwhelmed when I look at their menu. I can second-guess myself into starvation! Fewer choices aren’t necessarily a bad thing in art either. The fewer choices you have will ironically give you more freedom to explore and a limitation to challenge your creativity.

5. Make a deal of some sort with yourself. For instance, I can only start a new painting after I finish three of my older ones. Or no new work at all until the unfinished painting pile is reduced by half. Give yourself some guidelines and make it a studio practice.

6. In addition to a lot of paintings started and not much finished, do you find this pattern repeating itself in other areas of your life? Do you think the behavior is related in any way? Remember, fully valuing your work and yourself is to care enough about it to see it through to the end. It’s not always going to be easy, but if you commit to growing as an artist, this is a huge part of your commitment to excel in your art practice.

I hope this conversation helped you at least dive a little deeper into what is going on in your art practice and take action to keep moving forward. What do you think could be at the root of this problem many artists face?

Until next time,

Jodi Ohl