Artistic Thinking: My Creative Practice
In the last few years, since being in the Masters program, I
don't take time to sit, for too long, to work on my art, unless it is for a class assignment. However, I do carry my camera with
me everywhere and I'm always taking shots and small video clips of anything that
makes me go “Wow”. Lately I have a large amount of what I call “Sky Paintings” beautiful
shots of sunsets, sunrises and storms. I have many mini videos of other
creative friends playing music, spinning fire, dancing or doing stand up
comedy. This gives me an expressive outlet and keeps me open to seeing and
noticing the wondrous inspiration at any moment. When I do take time to create
art I am usually alone, in the comfort of my family room. I prepare by turning
on plenty of light, getting the room temp just right, making a cup of dark
coffee or tea and then I turn on my Itunes and select music to fit my mood.
Depending on what I’m creating, I will sit on the floor, at my desk, or on the
couch. And then I just go for it. Sometimes I just feel the need to do a
certain type of work and let myself be spontaneous, but these days I have a
list of creative projects I want to do with a lexicon of my own images and
videos and a plethora of collected songs, quotes and saved found objects to
use. I can be creative any time of the day when I’m inspired but it tends to be
more in the evening and late night lately. When I’m painting I use watercolors
and sit at my desk with all my supplies organized around me. If I do
collage/assemblage, I sit on the floor and have all my clippings and items
spread out in a semi circle around me so that I can pick and choose what to
use. If I am doing Photoshop collage or
editing video I sit on the couch with my feet up on my ottoman and pillows on
either side of me and behind my back, creating a nest to rest my arms on. Some
of my favorite music to create by depends on my mood and it ranges between
Space/ Electronic sound scape type music to very tribal world beats with lots
of drums and ethnic instruments. I am a music collector and have a very large
variety of genres and period music. Music always tends to put me into different
moods and can elevate and inspire me or relax and make me more contemplative. I
would say I am a multi-tasker yet it depends since when I am really into the "flow" I tend to hyper focus and can sit in one spot for hours working. When
working in a studio class or studio with others around, I can focus on my work
quietly but I will engage with others, in conversation, and it
does not seem to interrupt my work, instead it is usually an element of playful banter, jokes or talking about new music or videos which adds a fun and interesting quality to the environment.
this is a very rough draft. I had a problem with fixing the sound so the music is louder than the voices but hopefully you will get the idea:
Visual Exercise
Reflection:
I sat quietly on my couch with no distractions, chose this vine and quickly sketched it with a pen.
I did it in 35 minutes. I tried to do it in 30 yet did not have a timer and got caught in the process. While working I noticed my breathing and how every now and then I would take a deep breath almost as if I had been holding it while looking closely. I noticed the sounds outside my window, the wind chimes and a dog barking. I felt relaxed yet my thoughts would continue to jump back and forth from noticing the shape of the leafs to thoughts of the night before and something I said or did while hanging out with my friends. I also had the thought that I forgot to do something but then pushed it out and went back to concentrating on the line and trying to get it right with the pen
I did not feel like I did the best I could with the pen since I could see areas that obviously needed to be corrected yet I just let it flow and did my best to translate what I saw onto paper. I dont know if I would have gotten more done, or less done or did a better job while listening to music and drinking tea but this method was just as pleasant and I felt good sitting in the silence. As far as insight into how others might work, including my students, I dont think that listening to music or even doing some multitasking, like checking email or leaving a post would interrupt their process. I think 30 minutes is a short time but when working for and hour or more it is good to take a mini break, step back from the work to look at it from another angle or disstance to gain perspective and then continue to build on it. Artists need to experiment and find out what feels and works best for them. Being open and ready to receive and translate a creative inspiration or just deep observation is all that is required to perform. The rituals or spontaneity around how the artist creates is added comfort for the journey.Proposal for Developing Craft
What
work of art have you been wanting to create but haven’t had the time? What body of work have you began, but never
had a chance to finish? What techniques
or artists/artwork keep flittering in and out of your head as new directions
for exploration? Choose one of these
ideas and develop a short proposal for
My proposal is to begin again and work on my final Masters Project which is a documentary about Art Education in the 21st century. I began two years ago yet only got the beginnings down. After thinking about technique and how other video and documentary artist work, I have some new fresh ideas of how to simplify this large topic into a more workable slice. My intention, when I began, was to demonstrate that art was so much more than just drawing and painting and show how important it is to our students progress and to the progress of society. I stil have ideas for a in-depth documentary that I can enter into film festivals yet I know I need to start small and build on it. Therefore I will use all of my new knowledge around 21st century art and art teaching to give a glimpse of how artistic thinking is on the cutting edge of a more holistic way of teaching and learning. I will use the authors explored, techniques such as VTS, the theories of Visual literacy, and some of my own instructors, fellow teachers and local artist to creatively piece together a short documentary.
this is a very rough draft. I had a problem with fixing the sound so the music is louder than the voices but hopefully you will get the idea:
