Posts Tagged ‘creativity’
Spinning Through
Spinning through
This perfectly messy world
Forgetting and remembering everything.
I am almost back from my tech vacation, it was nice! I actually made lots of stuff with my hands. Which I will write about soon. I have also tidied the studio and started making some new work, it is so helpful to be able to actually find your materials! I put all my paints and pigments in two lovely old wooden boxes, now I know what I have and what I need to get. I kept the stuff I like; such as nice pots and jars and got rid of the ugly ones, such as the plastic glass that was once used for black ink, that sat there for about two years. I rescued my hard paint clogged brushes with some old paint thinner which seems to work better than white spirits for recked brushes. Especially if you steep them for a few hours in it.
There has been lots going on in The Funny little Gallery, but more about that soon. We are open, so call in if you are in the mood for fun and creativity!
Don’t Think, Merge Instead!
Riding “Iago” at Dunmoe Riding School 2009
Often it is necessary to think a great deal before you do something and after, but during it is often better to merge with what you are doing: your surroundings, the computer, the horse, the materials that you are making art with. Giving away the control can seem a little scary, but the times when something goes really well for me I am usually not doing very much! As my riding instructor used to say “like nothing” when I and the horse would jump or do some flat work well. This makes me think about when I am doing art, that I probably think too much a lot of the time. Thinking can limit the possibilities and sometimes stifle creativity. If we allow the parts of us that are usually without a voice to express themselves then we may come across something of a delicate and/or profound nature.
“Maybe Human” one of the paintings in “Merging 3” exhibition by Marianne Slevin
In August, I was in a three person show called “Merging 3”. I was the person who wanted to call it Merging. At the time I was not really sure why, but the other night while reading the book called Spiritual Alchemy the author, Dr.Christine Page wrote about how when people merge with what they are doing there are greater results. In an experiment people guessed heads or tails on a computer game, most people got around 60% correct but the difference between the people who got around 80% was that they talked about merging with the computer.
Painting and drawing are exercises in merging for me, merging the different parts of me and the materials that I use and often the environment. I also attempt to merge with something greater then myself and if I am thinking too much then that will hinder any voyages into the unknown.
Every Child is an Artist
“It looks prettier with blue in it” Oil paint and natural pigment on a paper bag by our Daughter aged nearly 4
Every child is an artist, children can also see art more than adults, often. I recon that if art was” taught” in a more encouraging way in schools and by parents, and adults nurtured children’s creativity that the next generation would be a lot more confident about making art and looking at other people’s art.
The Spirit of the Land
I feel that there are places in nature that are very powerful, where the veil between the dimensions is thinner. When I make art in nature I am drawn to these places; it is not about how it looks really, its about how it feels. The reason I love the Burren is because of how it feels or how it makes you feel I love how it looks too! In the book Spiritual Alchemy the author says that Ireland is one the countries where the veil between the dimensions is the thinnest and therefore easiest to feel certain energies. Out of all of the places in Ireland that I have been to I think Clare and the Burren area is one of the strongest. It seems to attract allot of healers and creative people. (I see healing as being very creative and music and visual art and poetry and other forms of creativity as being very healing.) I wonder was it the energy of land that attracted the people, then because of all the creative people and healers that it became even stronger? I love the idea of all of that music floating around out there echoing off the ocean and the rocks for eternity!
I was talking to someone who plays music and writes, about a certain place I have made two drawings I said that I reckoned that it was a very special place, he agreed saying that `if fairies do exit, they exist there!¨ Later that day I spoke to a woman who was very passionate about the same place and brings all of her guests there at least once. I was amazed the other people felt something there as well as myself and James.
I love the book Eternal Echoes written by John O´Donahue, who died earlier this year. The painting Secret Garden was inspired by a story he told about this garden in the mountains he remembered from his childhood. I loved the idea of a secret garden in the mountains, all ordered and cared for, surrounded by wilderness.
I am going to do some research into Aboriginal art and their connection to the land. I just read about an aboriginal woman Emily Kame Kngwarreye (1910-1996)who started painting after she was 70 years old, she was very prolific, and made up for all all those years of not painting!
Part Time Muse for sale, one owner, good mileage.
The role of a muse is an endless chase, but a better role I know not. Once you taste the nectar you can rarely go back, yet I have occasionally tried to dip my little toe back into the murky waters of “real job title” life, but, its just not for me, its an overly chlorinated pool that just stings the eyes too much.
The moments of rebellious toe dipping generally happen when my role has reached the point it has as of this moment, the point when you have seen your cherished owner fly to the highs of creativity and surpass the need of any outside stimulation, a bird basking in the perfect environment that they were created for, sun, wind, freedom.
At the point of take off, the point a muse must constantly be seeking to harmonise the surroundings and circumstance to create, the muse is temporarily unemployed, no, temporarily retired is more accurate, and it is a strange moment of satisfaction mixed with boredom.
The satisfaction is not an issue as you can imagine, but the boredom is, hence I have decided to offer up my part time retirement as muse in waiting for an artist in search of such services a muse has to offer.
To apply for my services write in no more than 400 words “why you need the service of a muse”.
Please use the comments section of this post for contact and application
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