I was laying on my couch last night trying to think of an idea for this week’s newsletter and I realized: good ideas don’t come from straight sitting-and-thinking; they come from a variety of things ~ experiences and inspiration.
“All truly great ideas are conceived while walking” -Nietzsche
While getting out in the world one clears the head. New ideas, for art and other things, bounce off the trees or bounce off a crumpled up red/brown leaf on the ground. Exposing ones self to a different environment will put one in a different headspace. This can stop a recycling of sh*t that personally I’ve experienced, and then defeated ~ with a walk or a trip to the museum.
For art I find it interesting that some of the same places that Monet, and other [& even more in the past] painters, painted are still there. One can still visit the bridge at the waterlilies pond or see the ‘Starry Night’ views from Van Gogh’s asylum. It’s that these people noticed that beauty.
But for having great ideas it’s important to not just try and think it through but to think on it; maybe in a café or on a run. I remember in the documentary movie of Allan Turing, The Imitation Game, Turing goes on lots of runs when he is conceiving up how to build one of the first computers [to break the Nazi code]. Great movie by the way.
All of my good art ideas weren’t formed from raw thought power, yet from something that happened. Of the 3 styles I want to work on I am noticing they came from: 1) thinking and something happening that informed my thinking (a cat was on my lap) ((which the cat inspired my art)) 2) by doing, I just decided pour paint on a canvas and I looked at the shapes and saw a recognizable shape, painted the picture… it turned out good… next step) I want to make more of this kind of picture. And 3) from past experience of enjoyment and adolescence formation.
Thinking was involved in all of these. The experience was the catalyst.
But I got away with just dang ‘ole thinking ~ at least for this week. But I’ve got to get out and experience a little more, as do we all.
This week I worked a little more on the print I’ve been working on for a month. I kind of gave up when I realized I wouldn’t make the deadline and worked on something different. I started a new big painting but I’m still working on the print! I want to get it finished with it so I can get started on something I really want to work on. I also did a lot of little sketches and have been trying to get more into filling up sketchbooks again. Lots of things to think from once I get something on paper!
Bye
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