Food for thought




Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others.

Three reasons why people are motivated to be creative:

need for novel, varied, and complex stimulation
need to communicate ideas and values
need to solve problems

In order to be creative, you need to be able to view things in new ways or from a different perspective. Among other things, you need to be able to generate new possibilities or new alternatives. Tests of creativity measure not only the number of alternatives that people can generate but the uniqueness of those alternatives. the ability to generate alternatives or to see things uniquely does not occur by change; it is linked to other, more fundamental qualities of thinking, such as flexibility, tolerance of ambiguity or unpredictability, and the enjoyment of things heretofore unknown.
From Human Motivation, 3rd ed., by Robert E. Franken:


Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby a person creates something new that has some kind of value. What counts as "new" may be in reference to the individual creator, or to the society or domain within which the novelty occurs. What counts as "valuable" is similarly defined in a variety of ways. From Wiki

You cannot use up creativity. The more you use the more you have. Maya Angelou


Creativity is marked by the ability or power to create to bring into existence, to invest with a new form, to produce through imaginative skill, to make or bring into existence something new. from Webster


“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” ~Antoine De Saint Exupery

Ruminate

Sunday night I finished my last painting for the show. It was the portrait of Troy. Monday I spent the day with Mel Schockner Photographing the work for the show in July.

This is the end of the heavy lifting.

Much to my good fortune, Monday night was the meeting of our monthly "Artist Collective" It was one of the best meeting yet. Dena Kirk was one of the speakers that night and she said some things I was ready to hear.

That is one of the cool things I have learned over the years is that when I am ready to learn a thing, someone comes along and says something, or does something that makes everything come together in a way, in that moment, something is passed between my teacher and me.

Tuesday I had a long day at my other job.

Today I have been meditating, while washing dishes, the last two plus years and what I have been trying to accomplish and how did that match up with what I took away from this thing I have been doing.

I think that is what I have to share now.

I will ruminate on this, while I move from room to room kicking up the things not yet internalized like the dust under the swing of my broom.

weather conditions

Tonight I have been working on a fund raising project I participate in every year for the Youth Gardeners. This year I am painting a stylized peacock feather on an Adirondack chair using a light pallet.

Last night I made my sketch and made some design decisions. As with any work for me, the design, pallet, skill and meaning all receive consideration. I find that if I do the footwork, there seems to be more freedom in the moment of execution and that is when inspiration takes front row.

One of the many benefits from this study has been find and creating the conditions in which I am able to find inspiration. The design, the skill, the pallet, those are the tools one spends a lifetime of practice on.

Inspiration is found in the moment.

Rose hips

I have started my painting influenced by my studies of Georgia O'Keeffe. How does Georgia influence me?

The first time I went to her museum in santa fe in 1997, excitement was in the air. We came by way of motorcycle, Karl and I. We stayed at the Abiquiu Inn a couple of miles from her house. Settled in and then took a day trip to Sante Fe. We paid for our tickets, I remember handing my ticket to the man at the door to the entrance, walking around a corner and there was her painting of the night cityscape with a single street lantern. It took my breath away, literally, tears welled up in my eyes. suddenly I felt terribly resentful that there were other people there. Surely this was meant to be a solitary moment. I could feel her spirit in her work. It was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had, one I will never forget. I have trouble describing it as anything less of a spiritual experience. I had read about her, had calenders, books, but to be face to face with the work was so different.

When it came time to start on the painting that represented the influence that Georgia O'Keeffe has had on me and my work,it was more complex then one might think, she is perhaps the most famous female artist in history.

I have in the past painted my fair share of flowers at close range and I have my own deer skull paintings with their own personal stories. But I wanted this painting to say something about her and I.

I decided to paint "Rose hips"

organic in nature, familiar curves and shapes, the rose hip representing the afterlife and nourishment that comes from the rose after the spender has passed.

Breaking silence

Breaking the long silence of the holiday season, I am thinking about the Flemish style of painting.

"Flemish painting flourished from the early 15th century until the 17th century. Flanders delivered the leading painters in Northern Europe and attracted many promising young painters from neighbouring countries. These painters were invited to work at foreign courts and had a Europe-wide influence. Since the end of the Napoleonic era, Flemish painters have again been contributing to a reputation that had been set by the Old Masters.[1]".

You have to love wiki.

Specifically at the works of Jean-François Millet

again we hear from wikipedia

"Jean-François Millet (October 4, 1814 – January 20, 1875) was a French painter and one of the founders of the Barbizon school in rural France. Millet is noted for his scenes of peasant farmers; he can be categorized as part of the naturalism and realism movements."

When looking at the works of Millet, it is easy to see why he is on the list of artists I decided to study.

Breaking silence is hard.

I started a portrait of my daughter Tiffany in the Flemish style. I feel challenged and at the same time very impassioned by the color pallet and the crispness of the chosen style.

I think I may have captured something of her,Tiffany, maybe her spirit or her personality. I am pleased with the progress I have made with this portrait.

I amuse myself often throughout the process I find myself in.

I work for a while and I am thrilled and I think "I'm done, this looks fantastic, well done robin." I move the painting to the other room on the wall where I am hanging my completed works. Then I wonder over and start a pot of tea and arrange the assortment of junk mail, bills and old newspapers on the counter top, casually shuffling through the papers. Maybe even wash the dishes that have built up through the day. Slowly dissatisfaction starts to creep in and then I walk over to my books or the internet and I look at more art by Millet and other Flemish artists. Now I find myself walking back in the other room, taking the piece I was so happy with just a couple of minutes ago, off the wall and back to the easel. Then I look into the eyes of Millet's Louise-Antoinette Feuardent, 1841 oil on canvas, the soft touch of the brush, the stark simplicity. I think " No I am not done, and then I push into uncharted territories and fun starts all over again. This is one of the thing the Masters as we call them, say to me, " don't be so easily contented, push harder, expect more out of yourself, and you will get it."

The Studio

"Consider your studio a sanctuary where the devotion of time and attention are always more important than the actual physical space. The process of painting requires a mind-set that puts aside the concerns of daily life in order to focus on the inner dialogue between yourself and your visual perceptions as an artist." Suzanne Booker

For the last three plus years I have been decluttering my space in general. Many years ago I picked up the Feng Shui practices and have been mindful of then from my first discovery.

I live in a small space and that can pose some challenges that require creative solutions. I am always looking for those solutions as I discover the ideal.
While light and ventilation and storage, resources and elbow room are individual space by space requirements, the most challenging is my head space.

Pablo Picasso said "The purpose of Art is washing the dust of the daily life off our souls"

But sometimes that dust can find its way into the studio. I suppose that is a challenge that is as individual as each of our studios. But for me it requires a level of meditative practice. And sometimes I don't even realize that the dust has followed me in.

Over the last two and a half years I have been systematically eliminating the unnecessary. I occasionally get caught up in the flurry of life and drama and fear. The more I devote myself to my craft and my goals the less I am willing to participate.

This is a fine line. We all have our paths. Where we come from, our influences, our fears, our concerns, our investments.
Balance is even a tricky thing. I think we can all agree that if you wish to be a master of your practice, it requires imbalance. But I reserve the right to be wrong about that.

So for me, my studio, my sanctuary must be more than a well lit, well arranged studio space, but also I must be well with my soul.

My physical space is still under consideration and construction.

First you draw what you see

Since childhood I have always been involved with art. My career as a professional artist started over twenty years ago.

I have always been an observer.

My education has been of the self taught variety although that is a slightly misleading term. No I have not attended an art school or a university, but I have always paid close attention and am always willing to learn even when the teacher is unaware that they are indeed teaching this eager student. Likewise willing to teach when the student appears.
I have spent many years developing my skills with paint and pencil and perspective but always mindful of the lack of the formality of it all.

wow that is alot of 'ofs'

What this study has done and is doing is enhancing by information what I see with centuries old traditions that exist within Western art and culture.

I might say that observation in an ongoing process for many lifetimes.

"First you draw what you see, then you draw what you know, and finally you know what you see" Domenic Cretara

Walking through my perceptions and interpretations and observations I am coming to discover the way I think, see and feel.

I am learning that we painters think with our eyes and hands and the skill we develop through practice can not be separated from our ideas. I love this. So many times I have heard the opinion that skill is relegated to inferior, merely manual status. You cannot separate the hand from the arm, or the brain from the heart.

So there is an element of trust that must be employed as artists. The trust in the process, trust in the bigger picture, trust in the lifetime of searching and practice.

This is why I have said many times, 'Artist are like monks. There is a devotion required. There is an almost sacrificial attitude, if you will, required.

"For a life dedicated to the solitary task of pushing paint around a canvas, which is the essence of being a painter" Domenic Cretara