Rocks

I typically imagine Vaishali judging me if I don’t slow down. 😋 No, but seriously, on the conceptual side, I’ll use my laziness as a support. I think of the expression “haste makes waste” and I recall that my laziness makes it very painful to undergo the time-consuming correction of haste-created errors. I also (try) to be mindful of my breathing, leveraging it as a way to get me into the “rest and relax” parasympathetic mode. I’ve been learning about Buteyko breathing, which encourages nasal breathing that is silky, even and veeeery gentle (almost imperceptible)... like that of someone who has been sitting on a meditation cushion for some time.

Btw, I really love the colors you choose for your rocks image. And the shapes and colors together would actually make a successful abstract piece too! I hope to see the next stages of this painting. Rock on! ⛰️

Hehehe ;-) I won't judge you at all, no worries ;-)

But I will give you one of my crazy strange metaphor-tips.

Yes, slow down. Slow down, slow right down as if you have juuuuust finished feeding a small baby and thankfully they have fallen asleep at last - but your arm is trapped underneath them and you need to take your arm out veeeeeeeerrrrrrryyyyyy slooooooowwwwwly from behind the back of their head and it's imperative you don't wake them at all during the arm removal process otherwise you will never make it to the toilet and you're desperate to pee. THAT slowly.

That is an idea of just how slowly you must paint - don't wake the baby! See if that helps ;-)

Another tip: lots of students say they hold their breath when they paint important long lines... don't do this... you need to keep breathing, people... but as Nadia rightly said there are ways to manage your breathing. Your technique sounds really interesting! I use more of a yoga pranayama technique which is to do with the stomach as well, as it stills you, and on the out breath you can do the line. Not on the in breath as is commonly thought, as if you do that too much you will get light-headed and that's not good for painting.

I will look up Buteyko breathing as it sounds fascinating! Thank you!

I suffer from my impatience like yourself Nadia ! For me what works best is preparing my work space for calm; I like to paint with relaxing, meditative music in the background, I set a comfortable cushion behind my back, I make sure I switched off my phone/emails and then I can start; as my body feels good, and my mind is in peace, I can let go of the outside world, and I realise then that my impatience is gone 🌷