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Big failed experiment with Oils on Canvas
When flow becomes an eddy...
'Some many' months ago... I was working on this big for me (39 x 63 inches) painting and I couldn't see the good things in it. My nose was too close to the canvas, my mind too obsessed with the results, and as I kept stubbornly working on it, it became worse and worse, until it took a deep dive into the trash... with several pounds of precious oil paint in the process... 
Such is the destiny of many of my paintings from a lack of "stepping back and giving them time to breathe." If only "Live and learn" was true in this case, i'd be sitting on many "good enough" paintings.
But no. Am not learning that one very easily.
Little by very little however, I am organically figuring out what MANY painters recommend: work on several paintings simultaneously. There are many valid reasons for this that i will not list here. And it truly is an excellent idea overall, especially for an ADHD mind.
Obsession in this case lies at the frontier between passion and excessive control, but mostly not too helpful.
Interrupting the flow can be a bit "excruciating" for certain brains like mine. When an activity stops too abruptly, there is a sense of feeling lost and dazed. The reajustment to what's next isn't smooth but feels jarring.
However, taking breaks is REALLY important. Resourcing. Refilling with energy and inspiration. Resting as a way to stand back...
Creating the space for finding the next thread.
Richard Rudd in the Gene Keys reminds us how everything in Nature pauses. Even a hummingbird. If we watch Nature closely enough, we find these moments of rest happen all the time. They are what creates the cycles of Life.
And as we know, "To everything there's a season"
