Have you seen this before?

Rinse and repeat. When I work on my paintings, I try to work in series.

“I have to see a thing a thousand times before I see it once.” – Thomas Wolfe

Whether I’m using the same palette of colors throughout, or focusing repeatedly on a singular subject, the act of revisiting an idea again and again is surprisingly creative.

The first pass catches me trying to get it right. I look for what I know, or at least what I assume I know. The second iteration begins to show me the flaws in those assumptions.

By the third round, my impatience begins to kick in. I’ve done this before, and I am itching to do it in a new way. Redundancy gives way to risk and experimentation. The limitations imposed by repetition push me to try to see differently.

Riding Over Rothko, Excalibur, Summer Haze – Gabriel Mark Lipper

We are all creatures of habit.  Many of our habits follow us about as we stumble blindly through our days, like whispering pixies, or a mild case of dandruff. They are waiting to be seen.

When we’re painting, we have a chance to slow down and look at those behaviors that show up without invitation. The foot we continually stand on while painting or the colors that we never deviate from. That ugly stage in the painting when we need a snack. Working in a series lays these consistencies bare, and gives us a chance to rethink them.

The next time you have a painting that you like, paint it again. Paint it consciously. And look for ways to make it better. Look for ways to make it new.

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Have you painted the same painting more than once?

Can we see what keeps us stuck?

Do you work in a series?