Dear Subscribers,
A subscriber recently asked if I had a recording of the making of the painting above, and—surprisingly—I did! There are probably others lurking on my hard drive that have never been published, either because they weren’t quite up to scratch or I put them on hold, intending to improve them, only to forget and move on to other projects. This one has no audio, but I hope you still find it interesting and useful.
This painting came together surprisingly easily, which ties into the theme of this newsletter. I sometimes listen to podcasts while walking my dog, and as a fan of all things sci-fi, I’ve been enjoying a great audio drama called Girl in Space by Sarah Werner. That led me to another of her podcasts, Write Now (for writers), where a random episode popped up titled Is “Good Enough” Good Enough? It’s about the problems of perfectionism, which I think applies to all creative endeavours.
She talks about the “70% rule”—the idea that getting your work out there, or simply calling it done (even if no one else will see it), allows you to move on to the next thing. In my experience as a painter, the last 10% of a piece can take 90% of the time (an exaggeration, perhaps, but you get my point), often without any discernible improvement for the viewer. Quite often, it’s only the artist who notices the difference. Worse still, over-polishing can actually make the work worse as you try to erase every perceived flaw.
This applies to the painting above, which came together quickly and without major issues. I really enjoyed painting it—not because it was easy, but because I wasn’t entirely sure how it should be painted in advance. Instead, I problem-solved as I went, took some risks, and didn’t second-guess myself too much. That second-guessing is a hallmark of perfectionism—doubting your own decisions. And, as Sarah points out, doubt is just fear in disguise: fear of what others might think if the work isn’t as perfect as possible.
That kind of perfectionism is the worst because it can lead to creative paralysis—I know it well. Even looking back at past work that was well received can spark the thought: Will I ever be able to do that again? That kind of thinking is a creativity killer.
So what’s the answer? I suppose it’s what’s often called beginner’s mind—a phrase borrowed from Zen that has entered popular culture as an antidote to overthinking. The beauty of beginner’s mind is that it lets go of doubt and restrictive perfectionism while retaining all the hard-won skills you’ve developed. It’s a mindset that balances “I don’t care” with “I do care” at the same time.
A quick reminder that the next live drop-in painting class is on Saturday, 26 April, 5–8 pm (London time). Join as a paying subscriber for just $7/month to take part!
Warm regards,
Alex
Share this post