Some things SORT OF change….
I wonder if I’m the only one who has this lifelong problem. I have trouble using my art supplies! Some things I can plow through, almost wastefully. If I’m accustomed to using something then I have no hesitation. But if I win a set of paints or receive a wonderful gift set and I’m not quite sure what I want to do with it…..then caution sets in and I may keep it for YEARS.
I remember having the same tendency as a kid. Art supplies were simply too precious to be used on the dumb stuff I would make. They should be used by someone who knew what they were doing! So I’d turn brushes over in my hands and open paint and look at it, then close it up carefully. Of course, it eventually dried up and then I didn’t have to ponder it any longer. I had sketchbooks with a few pages used but I’d soon decide I was wasting the paper. It would be best to save it for later when I could draw better. Weird logic, right?
The long term effects of my reverence for art supplies was a determination to DO IT. I could have written the Nike commercial. When I started painting again as an adult, I had no patience with people who were worried about saving paint in plastic containers or painting on the backs of old paintings. I plowed through supplies and spent money like crazy. My theory was do it, use it, make it, and make some more.
I do pretty well at this point, controlling my old tendencies to be too respectful of supplies. But when I was cleaning the studio for Gallery Tour, I opened a cabinet and found a stack of pastel and watercolor sets — still perfectly packaged and untouched. My stomach got tight and I quickly closed the door. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with old hangups :). The new ones are enough to keep me busy these days!
