I've just started reading "What Painting Is" by James Elkins and (for some reason) was drawn immediately to the Chapter entitled "The studio as a kind of psychosis". Started to smile out loud when I read this bit as it is SO TRUE:
"Sooner or later every one of a painter's possessions will get stained. First to go are the studio clothes and the old sneakers that get the full shower of paint every day. Next are the painter's favourite books, the ones that have to be consulted in the studio. Then come the better clothes, one after another as they are worn just once in the studio and end up with the inevitable stain. The last object to be stained is often the living room couch, the one place where it is possible to relax in comfort and forget the studio. When the couch is stained, the painter has become a different creature from ordinary people, and there is no turning back."
Well, so far my two winter coats, my two best handbags, several pairs of "good jeans", a brand new white T shirt (particularly sad!), my nice pink woolly hat, my mobile phone, my ishuffle, and my new leather purse (Christmas present from my Mum) have all gone this way. So far the living room couch has escaped (although I have not been examining it lately in close-up detail...). I thought it was just me being particularly messy/careless, but it seems it is an recognised condition for painters, so that's something at least!
Mr Elkins goes on:
"No one who has not experienced that condition can understand the odd feeling which accompanies it. when every possession is marked with paint, it is like giving up civilian clothes for jail house issue ."
I SO empathise with that last point. Every time I turn up at the school gates wearing my "painting jeans" I feel like all the other Mums must think I'm some kind of trampy Mum (and not in the good way), who can't be bothered to keep herself clean, eeks. But every time I bow to that self-imposed pressure and put on my "good jeans" guess what happens........paint. And there they go.
"Sooner or later every one of a painter's possessions will get stained. First to go are the studio clothes and the old sneakers that get the full shower of paint every day. Next are the painter's favourite books, the ones that have to be consulted in the studio. Then come the better clothes, one after another as they are worn just once in the studio and end up with the inevitable stain. The last object to be stained is often the living room couch, the one place where it is possible to relax in comfort and forget the studio. When the couch is stained, the painter has become a different creature from ordinary people, and there is no turning back."
Well, so far my two winter coats, my two best handbags, several pairs of "good jeans", a brand new white T shirt (particularly sad!), my nice pink woolly hat, my mobile phone, my ishuffle, and my new leather purse (Christmas present from my Mum) have all gone this way. So far the living room couch has escaped (although I have not been examining it lately in close-up detail...). I thought it was just me being particularly messy/careless, but it seems it is an recognised condition for painters, so that's something at least! Mr Elkins goes on:
"No one who has not experienced that condition can understand the odd feeling which accompanies it. when every possession is marked with paint, it is like giving up civilian clothes for jail house issue ."
I SO empathise with that last point. Every time I turn up at the school gates wearing my "painting jeans" I feel like all the other Mums must think I'm some kind of trampy Mum (and not in the good way), who can't be bothered to keep herself clean, eeks. But every time I bow to that self-imposed pressure and put on my "good jeans" guess what happens........paint. And there they go.
