[Today’s post is part of a new series of short parables about the creative life, chosen from my almost forty years as a creativity coach. Please enjoy! To be in touch, you can reach me at [email protected]. To subscribe to my Craft of Coaching weekly newsletter, please visit here. To subscribe to “Tales of the Creative Life,” please visit here.]
Fred had become a famous painter. His paintings sported huge prices and his shows sold out. But Fred remained distinctly dissatisfied with his paintings. He’d look at one and cry, “There’s something so wrong with it! Damn! How could I have been such an idiot!”
Gallery owners where he exhibited would try to talk him down. “That painting is gorgeous!” one would say. To which Fred would reply, “Look at that green. It’s hideous!” Another would beam, “We’ve upped your price by 20%!” And Fred would exclaim, “I’ve a notion to cut that tree right out!”
One bright Spring day, Fred’s unsettling unwillingness to call a painting finished came to a head. He arrived at the front door of one his most ardent collectors, Leonora, and demanded that he be let in. As Leonora opened the door, Fred pushed passed her, traveling painting kit in hand, and shouted, “Your painting is so not finished! I couldn’t sleep a wink last night!”
Fred rushed to where his recently-purchased painting hung over Leonora’s massive sofa. Leonora rushed after him and grabbed Fred by the arm.
“What are you thinking?” she cried, realizing what Fred intended to do.
Fred pulled free and began unpacking his painting kit.
“I just have a little more work to do on it,” he muttered. “Just a few damn spots!”
“But I’ve purchased it!” Leonora cried in horror. “It’s finished!”
“It isn’t finished. There’s a spot there … and another spot there … “
“It’s on the wall, for God’s sake!”
“Yes. But that bit of yellow is so wrong …”
Fred raised his brush. Leonora screamed. The maid came running from the kitchen. A labradoodle bounded out from somewhere, barking its head off. Fred and Leonora began wrestling. In not too long, the police arrived. As Fred was being taken away, he could be heard to mutter,
“But it isn’t finished.”
When he got to the patrol car, he turned to a stunned Leonora, who was standing in the doorway. “Not to worry!” Fred cried cheerfully. “I’ll be back once I make bail. I’ll get that painting finished yet!”
And so it came to pass that Leonora found herself obliged to get a restraining order against Fred, the great artist, the first such restraining order ever issued against a trespassing artist. And surely not the last.
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Eric Maisel is an internationally-respected diplomat coach who specializes in creativity coaching, existential wellness coaching, and relationship coaching. He trains coaches and provides workshops and webinars nationally and internationally.
Dr. Maisel is the author of 50+ books, writes the “Rethinking Mental Health” blog for Psychology Today (with 3.5 million views), blogs for The Good Men Project and Fine Art America, serves as lead editor for the Ethics International Press Critical Psychology and Critical Psychiatry series, and is co-founder of Purposely, the life navigation app.
Dr. Maisel’s books include Fearless Creating, Rethinking Depression, Coaching the Artist Within, The Van Gogh Blues, The Power of Daily Practice, Redesign Your Mind, and scores of other titles. He has been published by Penguin Random House, McGraw Hill, Rodale, Harper San Francisco, Shambhala, New World Library, and Conari/Mango, among many others.
Dr. Maisel has created three certificate programs with Noble-Manhattan Coaching, a Creativity Coach Certificate and Diploma Program, an Existential Wellness Coach Certificate Program, and a Certified Relationship Coach program. With Lynda Monk of the International Association for Journal Writing, Dr. Maisel has created an Art of Journal Coaching Self-Study Plus program.
Dr. Maisel’s most recent books are Why Smart, Creative and Highly Sensitive People Hurt (2023), Affirmations for Self-Love (with Lynda Monk, 2024), Parents Who Bully (2024), and Choose Your Life Purposes (2024). Dr. Maisel lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and maintains a thriving international coaching practice.
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This Post is republished on Medium.
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Photo credit: iStock
