The Creative Process (1 Viewer)

esart

esart.com
Founding member
I'm lifting this topic from another forum I visit, an art forum, but don't we have enough artists here? And I think this can also apply to writers. I was thinking about re-answering the questions as it applies to me as a "writer," even though I still don't officially feel like one yet. Almost. Sometimes. Kinda. Kinda not. I don't know. Anyway.

Here were the sweet and innocent questions posed by a young woman who had stopped painting for a long while because her parents didn't think she could ever seriously make a real living at art, but recently started up again.

And even though her parents are completely correct, we won't tell her and continue to encourage her to make her average art and try to sell it on Etsy, or whatever, because that is what that forum is all about.

But I digress.

She wanted to know from other artists...

1) how many pieces are you usually working on at one time? just one? various? how long do you usually work on a piece?

2) to what degree do you plan what you want to create? do have an exact idea of what the result will be? do you draw/paint without thinking where it's going and just seeing what'll happen?

3) what's your motivation/aim? do you have any particular motives or topics you want to express and which appear frequently in your art?
 
1) how many pieces are you usually working on at one time? just one? various? how long do you usually work on a piece?

I usually have at least two projects going at all times, but never more than five. I think more than that would overwhelm me. I am easily overwhelmed anyway, but for some reason, I do not allow it to stop me from producing art.

I work in a whole lot of media: painting, bookmaking, drawing, soft sculpture, etc. So how long does something take me? That really varies. A medium sized painting (let's say 30 x 30 inches - sorry non-Americans, I am metric system debilitated) can take me anywhere between a full day to a few weeks from conception to completion. It totally depends. I have canvases that have paper collage with oil paint, pencil, and then they might be embroidered, and those can take weeks of hand stitching: walking again and again to the front and back of the canvas on the easel. Then there are pieces that can take me just a couple days. Those are rare, but more frequent as of late.

2) to what degree do you plan what you want to create? do have an exact idea of what the result will be? do you draw/paint without thinking where it's going and just seeing what'll happen?

I usually have a very rough sketch and concept to begin with and like to keep it that way. However, ironically, it takes me more time before I get to the sketching, and even the concept process. To say it's a meditation wouldn't be exactly correct, but someone might call it that. In a lot of ways, it's the opposite of meditation. I always imagine people who meditate to be serene and balanced. Their mind is clear, empty of thought and stress, and they feel one with the Universe. My process is more like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder with a pinch of constipation. My imagination is frantically going through the file cabinets of my mind like a really slow computer. It's hoping to spit out the answer to the existential question of the day.

Once I get the sketch onto the canvas or the panel, the paint takes over. I have no idea where it's going to go.

3) what's your motivation/aim? do you have any particular motives or topics you want to express and which appear frequently in your art?

Yes, to the second question. I have a sort of list that I make/remake/revise every six to 12 months that I tape up in my studio where no visitors can see. If they saw it, they'd either not understand it, or think I was the biggest dork on the face of the Earth (but something else would probably give that away beforehand anyhow). Anyhow, it's not so much a list, but a combination of a list of actual things - physical things, conceptual things and sentences, maybe a formula, I think a quote is on there too, and a palette. It's titled 10 Elements, and it's just a bunch of stuff that answers the second question.

As far as my motive/aim? I keep that very simple, although it's not as easy as it seems. MAKE WHAT I WANT TO SEE and have for my own self. Like, what would I want hanging on my wall? Otherwise, who are you painting for?
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top