practise makes perfect (if that’s what you want)

This morning after I read The Muse Whisperer on Quinn McDonald’s blog I got to thinking how all creative tasks involve skills plus ideas and then about where, or how, I get my ideas.  I realised that unless I’m working on something I don’t become inspired.  I need to be ‘thinking with my hands’ (thanks Quinn), exploring the properties of a material, in order to generate unique ideas.   Sometimes they’ll come when I’m walking the beach or working in the garden, not thinking of anything much, just noticing what is around me but usually, real inspiration comes when I’m completely engaged.   Ideas come and take on a life of their own through the materials.  Occasionally I’ll set out to make something and end up with something completely different because I listen to the idea . . . or is that the muse?

The other part of completing a creative task are the skills required to actually produce it.  I could have the most ingenious, fantastical, original idea but without the skills to carry to it out the idea would be like a bell without a clapper.

I read once in a book about Tai Chi that there are three aspects to mastering anything; talent, teaching, and perseverance.  You may have a truckload of talent and the best teacher available however if you don’t persevere you won’t master what you’re trying to learn.  You can take talent or the teacher out of the equation and a level of mastery is still possible if you persevere.  This applies to learning anything.

So what ever I want to learn to do, I can . . . as long as I show up and do the work . . . daily.

As a result of turning up today I’ve added to my skills and learned more about acrylic paints and what effects I can get from leaving plastic on it as it dried . . . I know I can use it but I want to experiment with using plastic of different thicknesses. Can I control the effect?  If you look carefully you’ll see I’ve used a large size bubblewrap on the magenta. Some of the bubble wrap had traces of yellow paint on it, traces of which stayed behind when I peeled it off so I stored that bit of information away as well.   Play is a great way to learn.
Wendy @ Late Start Studio

 

art for art’s sake

I’m off to investigate a pile . . . you know one of those piles you tidy things into but never quite get put away but at least they look neat(ish) even if they do become a dumping place for bits of twine picked up on the beach and threaten to take on a life of their own, growing, multiplying even..

A growing pile . . . beginning to gather flotsam and jetsam from the beach.
Wendy @ Late Start Studio

I know there are some eco-prints on paper of Banksia and pohutukawa leaves in there near to top. I’m thinking I might stitch into them and start a sample book.  I get hooked into thinking I need to make things that have a purpose other that their appearance so I reckon a sample book will be really useful for when I make something else . . . that may or may not be just for display.  I don’t mean ‘just’ as a synonym for ‘merely’ I mean that display is its sole purpose . . . like a painting or sculpture perhaps.

A piece of art that communicates with the viewer is serving a purpose however I have had many years of only giving myself permission to be creative when the object serves some utilitarian purpose as well.  Part of that drive to have a ‘use’ was financial and part just my practicality.

I’m beginning to suspect that ‘finding a use’ is just another means of procrastination, and probably another of the IC’s (Inner Critic) tricks to stop me playing. And now I can hear the IC start in about my audacity in considering what I might come up with as ‘art’ so do you know what I’m saying?  “SHUT UP! Move over and give me some room!”

excitement . . . and a little fear

The portfolio was accepted and so next year I will be a student again working towards a Diploma in Art and Creativity.  Great excitement of course but with any step into the unknown there is always a degree of fear . . . a little trepidation is possibly a good thing though because senses are heightened.  I’ll be more observant for a start!

Last weekend I took a two-day life drawing class which was a new thing for me.  I needed to send 3 drawings as part of my portfolio and realised how little I draw . . . doodle, diagrams yes but not drawing.  I had no idea what to expect, had last minute qualms but turned up anyway.  Isn’t that the point?  Turn up and participate!

The end of Day 1. Charcoal, pastels
Wendy @ Late Start Studio

It’s far from finished and it’s not great but then again, it’s not bad and I’m very happy with it.  I’ve been through the “what don’t I like about it, what do I like, what do I need to do next” routine and came out feeling positive about something that, initially, I thought wouldn’t be what I would focus on next year – at all!    Minds can be changed, fears confronted and learning begin.