The Not-Quite-There Burnout
I didn't know it was happening to me till I got out of it. My impression of burnout was much different. The general notion of having a burnout is that the artist does not paint at all. He/she is repulsed by the thought of picking up the brush. That he lies in bed all day - unmotivated - in a solipsistic fugue state.
My experience was not so. You see, I painted myself into a corner (pun 100% intended). It's not that I didn't want to paint. I did. I was hungry for it. I painted. But nothing came of it. It was a vicious cycle - painting something for 2 hours, hating it, deleting it, and starting over. There is a term that runners use. They call it "The Wall". I was running head first into it over and over again. It sucked. For a whole week it sucked.
Continuing the 'wall analogy', I saw 3 options. (a) Let time take its course. (b) Circumvent the wall. (c) A combination of the two. And so I went with option 'c'. Here's my magic solution. Literally walk around the wall. Yes, literally. Take a hike. I hate the outdoors so I paced inside my room like a feral cat and guess what? It worked!
I think I'm still remission but at least I'm happy with what I'm doing now.