Painting Detail | POOP!!!

Paintings coming to an end, and the internal struggle that follows

By Thomas Matthew Pierson

                As paintings near their determined finish line I am filled with all the FEELS!!!!  Part sadness, Part excitement, and Part Fear are some of the emotions I get after I finished a piece.  I feel like I have accomplished something, and for that I am quite proud.  Excitement for the prospects of a new piece to begin and the possibilities that that entails.  I also feel a bit of fear and apprehension.  Fear of the unknown and a little bit a of doubt. 

                This fear can often lead to me procrastinating or avoiding starting a new painting.  I am fearful that I am going to make mistakes.  The problem is that I won’t know what those mistakes are until I do them.  I fear the future and probability; it is times like these that I just focus on working.  I try not to worry about what may happen and just do the best I can do at that time.  I hate thinking about hypotheticals, as a creative we can get in this positive feedback loop of thinking that we get stuck into over analyzing. 

                The fact that I face these fears is a strength, I could sit in my doubt and not act. But I make the act of doing my therapy.  I am always a little uneasy when beginning a new work because I never know what lay ahead of me, but I can rest assured that the process of doing will level everything out in the long run.