Power of a Deadline
How I Became A Painter Again
Often times we have vague dreams of getting back to something we used to enjoy but no longer do, and we keep putting it off. For me it was painting. The power of a deadline was what I needed to get back into it. Hopefully this story can help you get back into that thing you’ve been meaning to get back into.
As a high schooler I used to be really into painting. I even went to an art camp one summer. It was an activity that helped me drop into flow. After high school, while at Tufts, I started exploring digital media more, learning Photoshop, shooting video and editing. Video became my preferred creative outlet, so I didn’t nurture my inner painter. Fast forward many years later, the extent of my painting over the past few years has been a painting workshop date with my fiance and a watercolor class I signed up for but never took. (Does anybody else sign up for classes and not get around to taking them?)
Anyways, my co-worker was curating the Twitter Art Exhibit, a wonderful exhibition that’s open to anyone with a twitter handle, with proceeds going to charity. You just need to submit a post-card size original work of art. Since I’m a bit of an ego-maniac I asked my co-worker, “Wait, I can have a piece up in a gallery in New York City? You mean I can have art work sold from an exhibition?” The opportunity for this bucket list item, that had yet to make it onto my bucket list was too good to pass up, like performing improv on stage in NYC. I was also in the middle of Steven Pressfield’s the War of Art so I had all this great mental ammunition for firing back at the “forget about its” or “you can’t do that” voices in my head.
I literally had the weekend to get this done. Friday after work I went to the art store, bought paints and brushes along with the postcard sized cardboard which was the required size. I was nervous in the store, not sure what to get, and didn’t even want to to ask the people behind the counter for help for fear of ridicule or appearing stupid. I was scared of failing, but more excited to try my best and not let fear or resistance get in my way.
Saturday morning I woke up and selected the photograph I was going to paint, from my epic Everest Base Camp Trek trip.
So I began the process and once I got everything set up and got into it I had a lot of fun, was totally into. I was in the flow state where time passes quickly and I didn’t think of much else besides the task at hand. It took me two three hour sessions, plus a couple how to searches on YouTube for technique questions, especially around the clouds.
Here was the final piece:
The exhibition was a few weeks later and I went to the opening. There were dozens of people there and hundreds of entries. I was in the company of some amazing artists and pieces of art. I was hoping it would sell. I nervously showed it off to some coworkers who were there. “I didn’t know you painted,” they said. I said,”me neither,” or “I came out of retirement.” Then I went to go take a picture next to it, and found out, it was sold! Someone had already purchased it and taken it. It was amazing to sell, and part of me was a little sad to part from my work. At the end, I was really proud of myself of overcoming the resistance, producing work I poured my heart into and being vulnerable to share it with the world.
What deadlines can you use or find to help you get back into that thing you’ve been meaning to do. You can read more about the power of a deadline in Craig Balantine’s book The Perfect Day Formula.