BRUSHED BY TUSCANY: AN ARTIST’S DIARY COLUMN
Artistic Geniuses Procrastinate
On functional procrastination and a painting of Florence
Wednesday, 7 February, 2024, 4:00pm
I’m sat on my desk now, my paint-splattered laptop abandoned on the floor, while I use an old paint-by-numbers kit on a small, round canvas. While writing and art are my hobbies, my day job is user experience design. And on my current project, I’m stuck.
Yesterday, the executive dysfunction had me pinned down into my couch, unable to move. In my study, the paint dried rapidly on my wood block. The thought of being wasteful on top of being useless had me in a vice grip.
The world kept spinning while I stayed transfixed in anxiety. Too much is happening. Too much is due.
Today, then, I’ve decided to abandon it all, and start a whole new painting. My other paintings cast shadows on the studio floor, as I move them off the easel and put my painting of the Duomo down there.
One lone trickle of water slowly runs down the piece. I smile.
Men of lofty genius sometimes accomplish the most when they work the least, for their minds are occupied with their ideas and the perfection of their conceptions, to which they afterwards give form.
I’ve had some time to think about my project, and we’re at a Eureka! now. Thank you, procrastination!
I learned about productive procrastination through Da Vinci. You see, back in 1495, when he painted the Last Supper in the Santa Maria delle Grazie monastery in Milan, Italy, painting wasn’t individualistic. It was a performance, and it had an audience.
Men of lofty genius sometimes accomplish the most when they work the least, for their minds are occupied with their ideas and the perfection of their conceptions, to which they afterwards give form.
Many a Lombardian flocked to the monastery — gawking, murmuring, breath bated — to watch paint dry. In Da Vinci’s case though, they realized soon that far too much paint had dried, not enough fresh anymore.
Was the great Da Vinci a procrastinator?
A church had taken this exact thought to the Duke of Milan, who made haste in summoning Da Vinci for a verbal spanking. Instead, the Duke was met simply with a now-famous quote of Da Vinci’s:
“Men of lofty genius sometimes accomplish the most when they work the least, for their minds are occupied with their ideas and the perfection of their conceptions, to which they afterwards give form.”
The father of the Renaissance has also birthed functional procrastination.
Remember the story of Archimedes in the bath? That’s also a kind of functional procrastination!
There was method in his madness — when he was commissioned to build a bronze horse (Il Cavallo Dello Sforza) for the Milan square, he didn’t just sit down instantly with his clay.
He studied horses.
He spent his days with them.
He perfected the anatomy of the horse in his mind this way, before he could begin.
He daydreamed, he sketched, and he thought his way into a perfectly sculpted horse, the largest to ever be seen.
Of course, like many of Da Vinci’s works, this stayed unfinished until the 90’s, when his anatomically perfect drawings were studied and actioned.
Maybe he’s not the best role model. I didn’t say his method was perfect! But he’s wonderful to learn from for the neurodivergent fixator.
How does functional procrastination work?
The low and high of it is that you very much tear yourself away from what you’re trying to accomplish, and do literally anything else. Here’s a list of things I did:
- Diamond painting — this involves putting little crystal-shaped plastic beads on sticky canvas. Sort of like paint by numbers but with a choking hazard.
- Writing — I write all my articles while I’m procrastinating doing something else. And I do everything else when I’m procrastinating writing articles.
- 3D design — I am currently working with Spline to get into 3D rendering for web
- Watering your plants — just don’t kill them with too much love!
- Showering or taking a bath — Remember the story of Archimedes in the bath? That’s also a kind of functional procrastination!
- Cooking — But try cooking things you already know, because the muscle memory will allow you to cook well while freeing up your mind to come up with ideas
- Cleaning — this is a lie. My partner does the cleaning. I watch the freshly-mopped floor dry.
- Going on a walk — you’ll be shocked how easy it is to unleash your creativity with a walk to a duck pond or a park
- Painting literally anything else — I frequently avoid forcing myself to paint the first until my brush strokes are confident
- Taking a vacation — Go to Budapest for the weekend, I know I did!
8 February 2024, 9:10am
I’m sat now on my couch, my paint-splattered laptop on a portable desk on my lap. Clack-clack-clacking away at this article, a day late for its publication.
I’m still thinking about how the church prior began breathing easier, when Da Vinci told him about the art of deep mental planning — via functional procrastination. It was either that or the fact that Da Vinci threatened to model Judas Iscariot in the Last Supper in his likeness. After all, great work needs great thinking. And procrastination.
Today, I’m procrastinating going to the government office to pick up my identity card.
On the bright side, I’ve finally gotten around to writing this article!
I’ll catch you next week Wednesday for the next installment from Tuscany!
Check out last week’s topic here:
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