Category: Creativity

They call it “incubation”. This is an often crucial stage in any creative process. It is means allowing time for your subconscious to work on a solution for your latest creative conundrum. Sleep on it as they say – figuratively or literally. Go do something else. Let your mind relax, daydream. Many very creative and highly successful people have their most profound thoughts and solutions happen this way. As diverse a group as: John Cleese, while writing comedy sketches for Faulty Towers, Henri Poincare, who pioneered discoveries in mathematics, physics, and engineering in the late 1800’s, and the famous inventor Thomas Edison, – all were aware of the importance of incubation time in order to be more creative. In order to tap into the subconscious mind, Edison would work hard on a problem, and then purposely doze off in a chair holding a ball bearing in each hand. On the floor below each hand was a tin plate. When he fell asleep and the noise woke him, he quickly jotted down any new thoughts. Many of his problems with inventions were solved this way. Considering that only a tiny amount of our daily input is processed consciously, it makes tremendous sense to tap into the huge resources available in our unconscious thought. 

Not as specific in conveying a message as words can be, art is none-the-less a language. What is profound about the language of art is that in bypassing words, it often reaches straight for the heart. Music touches the soul and speaks to mood so profoundly that words are often not necessary. With painting, colour in particular is considered very emotional and personal, but so are the many other aspects of a composition. It’s this personal side of the art language that makes it so diverse, both in expression and in how it is received. What one person loves in art, another person doesn’t like at all. I think of the art language as a celebration of diversity. Each artist brings their unique vision and expression. Each viewer or listener brings their unique response to this expression. And as with all languages, it takes time and perseverance to develop a compelling voice. 

I don’t actually know the music that Dan Goodwin is referring to in this short post, but I sure do like what he has to say about creating in a new medium! Here’s the link…“Embracing Strangers” from A Big Creative Yes. What do you think? Do you have to work at warming up to a new way of painting? Have you experienced a time when you wanted to give up on a painting or method, and then were glad you didn’t? 

I’ve come across this expression in a few different places lately. There’s something attractive about it, perhaps especially when applied to the arts. When you find the courage to come to an art class, to show someone your paintings, and eventually to hang them in an art show, you are living out loud with your art. In a way, we visual artists have it easier than those in the performance or music arts. Our creativity happens while we are on our own, and gets displayed later. The wonderful thing about living out loud with your art is, you may encourage someone else to find the strength to do the same. And when creativity is shared, the world gets a bit brighter for us all. 

I have updated the videos that are available on the homepage blog of my website (cherylo.ca) You can now view my 3 most recent videos there: “The 4 Horses”, “Sunflower Drawing” and “Toward Abstract”. The time of each videos is short – from just over 1 minute to under 3 minutes – and this is a bit deceiving. “The 4 Horses” took several weeks to complete, the sunflower drawing about 20 minutes, and the abstract painting took 8 hours. Hope you have fun watching these! 

There is still a lot of confusion out there about copyright. Basically, the copyright laws are a good thing. They ensure that the person who did the creating stands to benefit their creation; whether a photograph, painting, drawing, sculpture, or whatever. It’s an important issue for visual artists. Specifically, if you are doing a painting based on a photograph, and you want to sell or display that painting in public, you need to either a. have taken the photo yourself, or b. make sure that you have permission from the photographer to work from it. I encourage my art students to get themselves a camera. The prices have gone waaaaay down in the past 10 years for a camera that will take great photos. I have a small one with a 10x zoom that cost under $200. You don’t even have to buy a printer. You can take your camera card into a drug store or print shop, and get prints of just your favourites to paint from. If that really doesn’t work for you, perhaps you have a friend or relative who loves to take photos and would be happy to have you base some paintings on them. The days of painting from magazine or book photos are gone once you are no longer painting simply for educational purposes. Besides, when you have taken a photo yourself it’s a lot more special – you were there, you framed it, it’s yours to be creative with! 

This website – “Earth As Art” shows some wonderful images taken by NASA. These could be marvelous inspirations to ‘launch’ paintings in the “Toward Abstract” class that starts tomorrow. Room for a few more if you would like to join us. (Find link at cherylo.ca  if reading this on facebook or elsewhere.) 

I am pleased to introduce Judy Stirling as the current Featured Art Student on my website. I’m sure you will enjoy her thoughts on painting, as well as her lovely work. (Find link on my website cherylo.ca if reading this on Facebook or elsewhere.) 

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another without loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill – You might think of me as that person who is constantly encouraging artists; at least, I hope you do. Today however I have some sobering information that you need to absorb. I call it “The Failure Factor”. Put quite simply, it is this – creative people fail more often than non creative people. This makes sense when you understand the definition of being creative. To be creative is to make something new – to combine things that were previously not combined and make something new that is useful or esthetically pleasing. So, someone who does the same thing the same way, time after time, may never fail. But they are also not being creative. It is necessary for you to grasp this failure factor so that you will not be discouraged with failing, but will understand that failure is a necessary part of being creative. Because of this, to be creative takes real courage and a spirit willing to persevere as well. Read that quote again by Churchill at the start of this blog – does it make more sense to you now?