Painting Moods

[Chris Saper]

I think that most people tend to have their own 'pace'. Like walking, hiking, reading...should I actually choose (it's never happened) to paint faster or slower, it rarely takes me more than about 5 minutes to slip into the alpha zone, or whatever one chooses to call it, and I will always revert to my own pace. I just know this happens, and I don't see any reason to fight it (which of course would be a hopeless endeavor.)

All my life I have preferred to paint in silence - even if there is music on somewhere, I don't hear it after a few minutes, and if I did, it would be annoying. However, I accidentally found that I can listen to audio books all day long, follow the plot, and never lose my concentration. Obviously some nether reach of my once well-funtioning, and now occasionally questionable, mind.

I am very sensitive to environmental distractions, so when I teach, I just ask students who like to listen to music to bring their own Walkmans (Walkmen?). This point being indirectly related to pace - I don't want anyone to be moved off his or her individual pace. I think it's part of us, and being externally pushed to change it can be a dreadful distraction.

Of course I have no idea how universal this is, but you might think, Kim, about how you structure what you do to embrace what your own natural pace might be.