I’ve painted this same broken teapot again. It was a circular journey for me. The final result isn’t what I started out to paint, but this experience was a lesson for me in “enjoying the journey”, and “not obsessing too much about the destination.”

The teapot was sitting on my countertop, with the cutting from a plant in a jar of water behind it. I had a flash of inspiration. I was absorbed by the circular nature of the scene. Like the snake-eating-its-own-tail thing, yin-yang, circle of life, whatever. Symbolism aside, I really liked the way the vine made a circle with the curved base of the teapot. I also thought that I could do something with the leaves and the teapot handle. Sort of a repeated similar shape.

After much futzing about, I produced the painting shown below. Once again I limited myself to just a few colors: orange, violet, and green. I love those secondary colors. I really like how the teapot turned out! Some very nice lights and darks there. But darn it, that vine-in-a-jar in the background is weird. Maybe the jar is too small? I don’t know. But something about it wasn’t working for me.

So after mulling things over for a day or so, I repainted the background to eliminate the offending plant.

It’s now just a teapot, slightly off-center. Not a bad painting, though perhaps a bit boring. Something seems to be missing. I wonder if maybe the vine-in-the-jar wasn’t so bad after all. Should I put it back in? This painting has got me going in circles, but not how I originally intended. But no, I’ve declared this painting “finished”, and am putting it behind me.

Is there a profound lesson or metaphor here? I don’t know. I guess sometimes it’s okay to simply enjoy the journey. If you finish your painting, and it doesn’t look like what you originally imagined, that’s okay. Focus on the things you like about it, and remember for next time. Maybe another lesson is to know when to quit. Who wants to go around in circles for their whole life anyway? 🙂