7/3/2021
Art, constraints, creativity, keywords, Susie Ibarra, silence...
ART
I often come up with ideas for what to write after the fact, say, five minutes after I hit the publish button, or more usually the day after, while I’m eating breakfast or lunch. On the day after I published the last newsletter, with the question of whether I should register for open studios hanging in the air, I decided—nah.
The reasons are many. For example, although I could “afford” the fee, as a less-than-middle-class working person, I keep thinking of other things I could do with that money—like buy art supplies and get some of my art framed. And it’s doing the art that’s important. There are other reasons: with the Delta variant now appearing in Monterey, I’m not sure I’m ready for an art crowd just yet. Also, the constant online proddings to market one’s art, and oneself, grow tiresome. The introvert in me needs time to incubate some ideas and create.
I’ve started meditating again, for very short periods before sleep, and upon awakening in the morning. It’s not much, but (perhaps similar to how microdosing works) it’s affecting my view of things in subtle ways—for example, in just noticing that a sense of spaciousness and silence can be experienced during my art process, or during walking, moving, washing dishes, and sometimes even in the noise of everyday life.
Along with my experiments in media (in my last newsletter I wrote about switching to acrylics and liquid acrylic ink or liquid graphite), I’m changing some aspects of the “rules” I’ve set up for my art. In the “Keywords” project, I’m choosing the words I want to work with, this time. The element of “chance” and “randomness” is still there, in that I still never know exactly how the letters of a word will combine all the various elements into one work.
I’m also incorporating more ways to use figurative imagery as part of the visual language. And I’m going to include more chances to use imagery that’s not “pretty” but possibly mundane, or possibly disturbing. That last thing is probably also influenced by my meditative practice. Trash, I realize, is just as worthy of art as are roses.
So the “artwork” I’m working on right now is basically thinking and figuring some things out. I’m going slow. Editing and nonprofit projects have been calling, too, and I’m doing some tweaking on my art website as well.
THREE GOOD THINGS:
Composers Now Presents IMPACT: Susie Ibarra:
Composers Now presents IMPACT: Susie Ibarra - YouTube
I make rule-based art with traditional materials like paper, ink, and pencil. Casey Reas makes rule-based art with code (and it’s gorgeous):
How To Draw With Code | Casey Reas - YouTube
It’s not all about Freedom! “How Limits Can Boost Your Creativity” (from BBC):
How limits can boost your creativity | BBC Ideas - YouTube
That’s pretty much it for this week. No doubt I’ll think of something more to say five minutes after I publish this, but it’s about five minutes to midnight, and I’m about to turn into a pumpkin or something…