#38: The Idea Arrives Before the Skill

Chasing an Image I Don’t Yet Know How to Paint

Sometimes, the idea comes first. It arrives sharp, electric, undeniable.

You see something — not in front of you, but behind your eyes — and it won’t leave you alone.

It’s not a fully formed painting yet. It’s a flicker. A concept. A visual curiosity that says, try me. And the problem, of course, is that you don’t yet know how.

Bigger Than My Current Skillset

That’s exactly where I’ve found myself with this new moiré portrait project. The images I’ve been building — layering acetate over inkjet prints, suspending Perspex above canvases, experimenting with shifting patterns — are pushing me. Not just creatively, but technically.

I can see what I want. But I haven’t yet painted it.

Not because I don’t want to. But because I don’t quite know how.

And that’s both exciting and infuriating.

When the Work Gets Ahead of You

There’s a strange tension in following an idea that outpaces your current skill. You’re not copying anything. You’re inventing. But that means there’s no roadmap. No tutorial. Just you, your materials, and the quiet question: Can I pull this off?

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks testing — using Photoshop and acetate and all the tools I can to preview what the painted versions might eventually look like. It’s like scouting terrain before you walk into it. Essential, but not the journey itself.

Learning in Public

What I’ve realised is that it’s okay to admit when you’re learning in real time. I don’t have to wait until the final paintings are perfect before I share the process. In fact, sharing this in-between space — the gap between idea and execution — feels more honest than pretending it all comes naturally.

Because it doesn’t. Not for me, anyway.

This stage, where the skill hasn’t caught up with the vision, is often where the most interesting things happen. Mistakes. Breakthroughs. Weird detours that take the work somewhere better than planned.

The Only Way Is Through

So I’m not waiting to feel “ready.” I’m painting into the gap — into the not-knowing — and letting that be part of it. The work will teach me what I need to know. It always does. And if the first few attempts are wrong, that’s fine. The idea isn’t going anywhere.

It’ll be there, steady in the background, waiting for me to catch up.

And that, I think, is part of the deal when you chase something new. You follow it before you’re ready. You learn what you need as you do it. And slowly, the image that arrived before the skill begins to take shape — not just in your head, but on the canvas.

.M.

Be real.

Make art.

If you’d like to learn more about my creative process or see my latest work, feel free to reach out or check out the rest of my website.