How my paintings went off the rails (and how I'm bringing them back)
I’ve been thinking a lot about momentum lately. About how we bul it and how we lose it.
As I've said before, October was a breakthrough month for me.
The paintings were flowing in a way that felt both surprising and inevitable. I wasn’t trying to “make” anything. I was exploring, following threads, responding to what was happening on the canvas. The work felt alive. Honest. The kind of work where you look at it afterwards and think, oh… that came from somewhere true.
And then something shifted.
At first, I didn’t notice it at all. I was still in the studio, still painting regularly. But slowly, almost invisibly, I began to imagine a future for the work. I started seeing the paintings on white gallery walls. I caught myself rehearsing how I’d talk about them. I imagined YouTube videos, Facebook ads, explanations, positioning.
And without realising it, I stopped being with the paintings.
Instead of paintings emerging from exploration, I began designing them. Instead of discovery, there was control. Instead of curiosity, there was self-consciousness. I was no longer listening to the work – I was managing it.
For a few days, I couldn’t understand why nothing was working. The paintings felt stiff. Flat. Overthought. And then it clicked.
I had lost my mojo because I had gone astray from the process that created the breakthrough work.
The very thing that made those paintings powerful – their authenticity, their lack of agenda – was what I had quietly abandoned. I had stepped out of myself and into an imagined audience. And the work felt it immediately.
Realisations like that used to take a long time to come. I would struggle on for months - even years - without realising what had happened. But that doesn't happen anymore. I am much more iu tune with myself and my art-making process and I rarely get stuck for more than a few days. This is what i mean by momentum.
Once I saw what had happened, I knew exactly what to do. I returned to the way of working that had been serving me. I let go of outcomes and came back to exploration, sensation, curiosity, and trust.
And now the work is breathing again.
This is why I care so deeply about process and mindset – not as abstract ideas, but as practical, lived tools.
Because inspiration is not enough. Breakthroughs are not enough. Talent is not enough.
What actually sustains an art practice is having a way of working (and thinking) that you can rely on – especially when things wobble or when self-consciousness creeps in or when external pressures start to distort your relationship with your work.
Over the years, I’ve built a set of strategies that help me:
Generate ideas without forcing them
Stay connected to what feels authentic
Notice when I’m drifting into self-consciousness or performance
Gently course-correct without spiralling
Keep going in a way that feels nourishing rather than draining
These aren’t rules or formulas. They’re a way of relating to my practice – a mental and practical framework that keeps me grounded, present, and creatively alive.
That’s what building momentum is really about.
It isn’t about hustling harder or producing more. It’s about building a process and mindset that can carry you through the inevitable ups and downs of making art – so you can keep creating work that feels true, meaningful, and uniquely yours.
Last night, I opened up enrollment for the 2026 intake of my course, which is aptly called Momentum :)
This 6-month deep dive is where I share all the ways I manage my own practice, stay on track with my work, and keep generating fresh ideas.
Momentum is only open to former students of Find Your Joy, and those invited will have received a separate email about it already. You have only 6 days to sign up, so don't wait!
If you took a paid version of Find Your Joy in the past and haven’t received any emails about Momentum, please do get in touch so I can make sure you’re included. (Just hit reply and let say you want to know about Momentum).
But even if you're not eligible for Momentum, you can take a lesson from my experience this week. First, realise that we all experience these hiccups. We all get into flow and then find ourselves suddenly lost or procrastinating going into the studio. We all wonder 'what the heck happened? Why have my paintings gone off the rails?'
Well, if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: momentum isn’t something you chase. It’s something you tend. And if you know how to catch yourself, you can quickly identify the issue and get yourself back on track.
No-one else is going to do it for you. It really is up to you :)I’ve been thinking a lot about momentum lately. About how we bul it and how we lose it.
As I've said before, October was a breakthrough month for me.
The paintings were flowing in a way that felt both surprising and inevitable. I wasn’t trying to “make” anything. I was exploring, following threads, responding to what was happening on the canvas. The work felt alive. Honest. The kind of work where you look at it afterwards and think, oh… that came from somewhere true.
And then something shifted.
At first, I didn’t notice it at all. I was still in the studio, still painting regularly. But slowly, almost invisibly, I began to imagine a future for the work. I started seeing the paintings on white gallery walls. I caught myself rehearsing how I’d talk about them. I imagined YouTube videos, Facebook ads, explanations, positioning.
And without realising it, I stopped being with the paintings.
Instead of paintings emerging from exploration, I began designing them. Instead of discovery, there was control. Instead of curiosity, there was self-consciousness. I was no longer listening to the work – I was managing it.
For a few days, I couldn’t understand why nothing was working. The paintings felt stiff. Flat. Overthought. And then it clicked.
I had lost my mojo because I had gone astray from the process that created the breakthrough work.
The very thing that made those paintings powerful – their authenticity, their lack of agenda – was what I had quietly abandoned. I had stepped out of myself and into an imagined audience. And the work felt it immediately.
Realisations like that used to take a long time to come. I would struggle on for months - even years - without realising what had happened. But that doesn't happen anymore. I am much more iu tune with myself and my art-making process and I rarely get stuck for more than a few days. This is what i mean by momentum.
Once I saw what had happened, I knew exactly what to do. I returned to the way of working that had been serving me. I let go of outcomes and came back to exploration, sensation, curiosity, and trust.
And now the work is breathing again.
This is why I care so deeply about process and mindset – not as abstract ideas, but as practical, lived tools.
Because inspiration is not enough. Breakthroughs are not enough. Talent is not enough.
What actually sustains an art practice is having a way of working (and thinking) that you can rely on – especially when things wobble or when self-consciousness creeps in or when external pressures start to distort your relationship with your work.
Over the years, I’ve built a set of strategies that help me:
Generate ideas without forcing them
Stay connected to what feels authentic
Notice when I’m drifting into self-consciousness or performance
Gently course-correct without spiralling
Keep going in a way that feels nourishing rather than draining
These aren’t rules or formulas. They’re a way of relating to my practice – a mental and practical framework that keeps me grounded, present, and creatively alive.
That’s what building momentum is really about.
It isn’t about hustling harder or producing more. It’s about building a process and mindset that can carry you through the inevitable ups and downs of making art – so you can keep creating work that feels true, meaningful, and uniquely yours.
Last night, I opened up enrollment for the 2026 intake of my course, which is aptly called Momentum :)
This 6-month deep dive is where I share all the ways I manage my own practice, stay on track with my work, and keep generating fresh ideas.
Momentum is only open to former students of Find Your Joy, and those invited will have received a separate email about it already. You have only 6 days to sign up, so don't wait!
If you took a paid version of Find Your Joy in the past and haven’t received any emails about Momentum, please do get in touch so I can make sure you’re included. (Just hit reply and let say you want to know about Momentum).
But even if you're not eligible for Momentum, you can take a lesson from my experience this week. First, realise that we all experience these hiccups. We all get into flow and then find ourselves suddenly lost or procrastinating going into the studio. We all wonder 'what the heck happened? Why have my paintings gone off the rails?'
Well, if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: momentum isn’t something you chase. It’s something you tend. And if you know how to catch yourself, you can quickly identify the issue and get yourself back on track.
No-one else is going to do it for you. It really is up to you :)