Here I am computer in hand and fingers ready to type. This time, it’s art. I’ve decided to pick my own brain regarding the captivation I feel when I create and make things and also what I think about the process in general, so let's see what happens, shall we?
When I’m in the studio paintin’ away on somethin’, I’m usually totally lost in the moment, spellbound by the process and enveloped in “the zone”. Like a jet plane becoming airborne, I find that my state of mind transcends the mundane and elevates beyond the daily, waxing truly sublime. I’m relaxed, content and open (the ideal state for receiving more ideas which, in turn, come). The calm I feel is complete, there’s no lack or want and the very act of painting itself feeds my internal appetite, providing fire for the soul.
Akin to reading or horticulture, arting can be deeply satisfying - an end unto itself. It is giving by nature and the only taking it asks is that you faithfully render it’s truth onto your surface of choice. Trust is essential, doubting is death, first thoughts are everything - unfiltered, heavenly, perfect - whatever they may be.
Creativity is also like clay and potential. It is malleable, like a ball you hold in your hands that, once softened and primed for action, can be molded and manipulated any way you choose (giving way to prospective genius!). This preparation takes practice, though. Factors like falling and getting back up, stretching, tearing apart, piecing back together again, thought, balance and adjustment all make up this process. Many, many, many mistakes also make up that blessed imaginative state. Furthermore, it is impossible to reach already “knowing everything”. Like Charlie and his family before they struck it rich in that Willy Wonka film, you have to be willing to be hungry and honest about it in order for potential to find you a worthy recipient. And when it does, it will reward you handsomely.
To create is to imagine, to feel the pulse of that cosmic artistic vein that pulsates through the atmosphere, granted us by God Himself. It is both the act of becoming (or making) and discarding, a sort of simultaneous paradox .
Another thought is that it is imperative to replenish the impulse to art inside of us regularly. If there’s nothing to feed on, how can we produce anything? Things like reading, travel, museums and walks can all serve to satisfy the emptiness that finishing a piece of art can sometimes generate. Like birthing a child, the act of creating can leave us empty and we need to be sensitive and cater to that void - refilling our stations, so to speak.
These considerations are all things that have come to me as I’ve thought and ruminated over my own artistic journey. They are in no way comprehensive, but I think can serve to help understand that unique beast that is art.
