Patience:
This virtue, ohhhh how I need to cultivate it. With my ADHD-addled mind I can get rather impulsive. With a creative idea oh dear, how I itch to make it come to life! But, as i suggested last post, sometimes my ideas are sooo big and require so much planning or forethought that by the time I finally getting around to making it well... I lose patience with the project.
Sometimes starting a project, or a series, especially when I have an idea of the "end goal" too firmly in place, I become so anxious to get the project finished so I can move on to some new goal. This issue is probably as much about loosening up as it is about discipline. I find myself getting impatient with a project to be finished so I can start another.
Sometimes, I am too "patient." I decide to let a project sit for a little bit as I try to figure out where I'm going with it, and then I end up stalling out. Do you know what I mean? Sometimes that beloved project ends up shafted when I decide to move onto something else because while I was trying to solve the problems of my current piece I dreamed up something else.
Truly, my latest series does require patience. Hundreds of colorful circles are needed to complete an image. I sometimes have to switch between colors and often have to switch brushes, but the movements are the same; though some pigments seem to have a little more flow than others. (Have my artist friends noticed that? Have you ever used two different hues by the same brand and one flows a little more than the other? I've noticed it with craft clay-sculpey III as well. The colors that seem to have more white seem to be a little stiffer than other colors.) They say God works in mysterious ways, perhaps this is one of His ways of teaching me patience. Painting all of those circles is half meditation half puzzle.
I'm reminded of some trigonometry principle I learned in high school about how you never need more than 5 colors to create an image where the same colors never touch. The example I was given was a map. If you had the states colored in different colors, you would need a maximum of 5 colors to make sure there weren't two blue/green/pink/yellow/orange states touching. Crazy! So, when I'm tempted to start mixing a bunch of new colors to fill in holes where I just can't seem to avoid placing two of the same color side by side, I think of that. (Now try telling an artist she doesn't need math-and we haven't even touched on patterns and slope of lines and scaling, oh my!)
Suffice to say, any good puzzle and any good art piece, requires patience. Patience for drying, patience for planning, patience for arranging, patience for figuring out how not to place two circles of the same color right next to one another.... It's a learning process and I can't wait to get back to my painting puzzles after work!
Hello e.e!! I'm so glad to find you here:) I have my cup of hot lemon tea with ginger syrup (found the recipe in GIFTED: lovely little things to knit & crochet. It's a wonderful book!) So I'm joining you for a visit. First of all, I'm excited that you're blogging. I love hearing about the creative process. Instead of commenting on each entry, I'm just going to go for it right here, all at once. The dancing fairy is so very whimsical. I love him!! (i think it's a he??? Can't go back and look without erasing this). Definitely do something with him! The elephant is gorgeous. Your mom showed me a few other things you're working on and let me encourage you to continue on. They're fabulous!! I hope you can find the printer you want, but if not, I think you'll find many customers will want the original. Inspiration comes in many forms, and I'm enjoying hearing YOUR process. You're doing a great job of putting it into words......not always easy. I'll look forward to the 2 other pesky p's!!
ReplyDelete