How I love this concept of the 'work making itself' which is how I often realize that is happening and it's mostly something that I am aware of once the piece is finished or almost there. I've been working on a piece the last week and it is almost finished but I'm not sure what it needs to be completed and signed. So I sit with it and wait for it to tell me, to let me know what it wants and I will follow it's command so that it feels done......not necessarily that I decide it's done. Yet I always agree with a piece when it lets me know it's completed. There's a communication between the art and myself that is mutual, symbiotic.
Wow, is this good! This kind of immersive technique is what I've been touting for years in my understanding of mimesis. It reminds me of the late great Annie Dillard and her insistence that we just "be" — taking the time to rub a puppy's belly in the sunshine without concern that we are "wasting" those moments. And Betty Edwards's instruction, in Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, that we "draw what's there, not what we think ought to be there." All of it with a view to dismissing our inner critic for a time during the creative process and entering a state of being "un-self-aware."
Beside the inner critic is the inner ‘assumer’ we make a lot of predeterminations. That is not exactly a bad thing. I often take a stance when I start a piece since a lot of my work is process oriented. I might set boundaries. But inside of that anything might happen.
Then there is the inner ‘expecter’ we often put expectations on a work and that can lead to unnecessary disappointment. The idea of success and failure can be put to the side and just think more in terms of experiment.
Then there is the comparer when we want to compare what we are doing to others but often there really can’t be a comparison only disappointment usually.
You mentioned "Drawing on the right Side of the Brain" book. I believe that it is the BEST how-to book on drawing ever written/shown. Yes, that 'inner critic' is an annoying character to be reckoned with at times. I like the idea of being 'un-self-aware' an will think about that for a while. Excellent post/comment!
How I love this concept of the 'work making itself' which is how I often realize that is happening and it's mostly something that I am aware of once the piece is finished or almost there. I've been working on a piece the last week and it is almost finished but I'm not sure what it needs to be completed and signed. So I sit with it and wait for it to tell me, to let me know what it wants and I will follow it's command so that it feels done......not necessarily that I decide it's done. Yet I always agree with a piece when it lets me know it's completed. There's a communication between the art and myself that is mutual, symbiotic.
Love…”keep the mirror clean”.
Dear Cecil,
Wow, is this good! This kind of immersive technique is what I've been touting for years in my understanding of mimesis. It reminds me of the late great Annie Dillard and her insistence that we just "be" — taking the time to rub a puppy's belly in the sunshine without concern that we are "wasting" those moments. And Betty Edwards's instruction, in Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, that we "draw what's there, not what we think ought to be there." All of it with a view to dismissing our inner critic for a time during the creative process and entering a state of being "un-self-aware."
Thank you!
Beside the inner critic is the inner ‘assumer’ we make a lot of predeterminations. That is not exactly a bad thing. I often take a stance when I start a piece since a lot of my work is process oriented. I might set boundaries. But inside of that anything might happen.
Then there is the inner ‘expecter’ we often put expectations on a work and that can lead to unnecessary disappointment. The idea of success and failure can be put to the side and just think more in terms of experiment.
Then there is the comparer when we want to compare what we are doing to others but often there really can’t be a comparison only disappointment usually.
You mentioned "Drawing on the right Side of the Brain" book. I believe that it is the BEST how-to book on drawing ever written/shown. Yes, that 'inner critic' is an annoying character to be reckoned with at times. I like the idea of being 'un-self-aware' an will think about that for a while. Excellent post/comment!