Hello World: On Ripped Paintings and the Best Way to Start.
Is there a more appropriate way to start? Probably.
I’ve heard that starting something is the most difficult part of doing anything. The first workout is the most exhausting one, the first day of school is the most intimidating day, and your first concert is the most overwhelming one. It’s even more intimidating when you think people are watching you, even if they actually aren’t.
That’s what I’ve heard them say. However, in my humble opinion, keeping something up is the most difficult part of anything.
With that opinion appearing to me as my hot take on habits, I thought starting something was easy. It certainly isn’t the most difficult part of anything, but it still phases you; at least, it still phases me.
What am I saying here? I kept thinking about what would be the flashy start to this newsletter, the start that would properly capture the “wisdom” of my 5-minute, highly-opinionated voice notes to my friends; fully transcribed in all its analogical glory. The truth is there will always a better start, there will always be something more or something better I could do to better capture the wisdom or to properly punctuate these paragraphs, and thinking about how I could do this better will never get it out there; the voice notes will stay in WhatsApp and the substack will stay set up and empty waiting for my first “perfect” post. I could do better, but this is my best today, and this is my best start. Accepting the lack of perfection and my human condition makes starting less intimidating, and even makes the maintenance way less overwhelming.
This all reminds me of what Claude Monet once said. He said: “My life has been nothing but a failure, and all that’s left for me to do is to destroy my paintings before I disappear.” He said this before he destroyed 15 paintings he was suppoosed to exhibit, after working 3 years on them. He destroyed what would be a couple millions worth of art today, but I think even a ripped up Monet Water Lillies would have its allure, no?
I mean Sotheby’s seems to [partially] think so when it still auctioned off the ripped Banksy; someone had to take an axe to fine art and question its value when it’s not to their liking ($25.4 million being that value).
So, with that being said, hello world (in the way I could start best).
Signed, Sarah.
Also, here is the video of the Banksy being ripped up:
and here is further reading on what happened to someone who ripped up a Monet, guess Monet himself would’ve known how his perfectionism destroyed him if he got this big of a bill on his sabotage:
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/damage-not-deliberate-says-man-who-ripped-10m-monet-29783412.html