Is anyone as much of the paint slob as I am?

[Thomasin Dewhurst]

Originally Posted by Laurel Alanna McBrine

A person who is unable to let go of empty paint tubes may need some professional help.

I think that certain artists who are totally focussed cannot be distracted from their work and the necessity of getting down their ever-flowing ideas. So cleaning up their studios is despairing to them as it means sacrificing so much time that could be used for their work. When I am on a roll every now and again everything goes to pot - the house, the studio, the garden, the meals, because it becomes almost painful to stop what I am doing with my painting.

Luckily though, like today for instance, tidying-up, cleaning, gardening, etc. puts me wonderfully on a roll of organisation and then nothing gets in the way of that. Its a great way to give you mental space to think, tidying-up is. Any repetitive, rhythmical physical activity does this, I think. I used to study for exams by playing tennis against a wall just to keep my body from being too restless - repeat a fact 10 times for every ten tennis strokes played.

Artists like Bacon and Freud were / are on a constant painting roll, with so very much to say and so little time to waste not doing it.