How to Create Helpful Obstacles with Hashim Akib

While so much of painting is setting up systems to make things easier… Hashim Akib (Ep.50) realized that sometimes the solution is to make things harder.

When Akib realized he wanted to work expressionistically and abstractly, he still found himself falling back into his own tendencies of realism. He couldn’t help but still draw every line and paint every tiny detail. This would take hours. While it wasn’t how he WANTED to paint, he somehow couldn’t stop himself from doing it.

So he found a solution: He set up physical obstacles between him and detailed work.

First, he set a time limit to finish a painting.

He wasn’t allowed to spend hours and hours on a painting. When the buzzer went off, it was finished, no matter what. This taught him that he needed to and could work faster. And even if he got stuck in details, too bad. The buzzer had rung, he was done.

Second, he got the largest brush he could and that was all he was permitted to use.

By limiting himself to one brush and one brush only, he took away the temptation to grab that smaller brush at the end for details. Plus it meant he could only get so small because there’s only so small a large brush can go. This also loosened up his marks.

Third, he bought the heaviest bodied paint he could so that even should he want to make a detailed mark, the paint wouldn’t allow it. This meant that even if he physically tried to add in details, the paint would say no.

Put it to Practice:

Being clear on what you want to try to do with your painting is really helpful.

Both because it helps you make sure you have materials that help you do that. AND it helps you think about creative ways you can use your materials to help you overcome painting habits you’re trying to change.

So the next time you run into something you keep doing, look at your materials. See if there is anything you can change physically to help you in your goals.