Freeing Your Wild Artist

What’s the wildest art you can make?

Do you favID-100213076_Beautiful Girl with Her Hands In The Paint_stockimagesor marking with a pencil or brush stokes?

Will you use brilliant color or a monotone?

Are you the type who makes sketchy lines or bold smudges?

Will you give your work sensual expressions, or keep it plain and simple?

What is wild artistic expression for me won’t be the same for you. Finding your wild side can be fun and enlightening. Let yourself make a few messes with this opportunity and you’ll likely discover some amazing things about yourself and your art. If you want to stretch your creative abilities do something racy to juice up your creativity.

Challenge yourself to take a new risks. Try a new technique. Do something you really hate just to see what lies beyond your belief. Wear a color you don’t like and notice reactions of others, can you feel what the vibrations of that color do for your perception. Try being like another person for a day. How would that person make your art? During your next meeting take the opposite viewpoint from your own. Can you see something else in your reflection? How can you use these new-found tensions to enhance your performance?

When I feel I need to shake things up in the studio painting or on my keyboard writing I seek out my wild side. First I clear time and space for adventure trusting my instincts for what I think I need and can afford. Second, I give myself loads of permission to get really messy and have a lot of fun. Third, I allow play to invade everything I do. Fourth, I let go and live on the wild side of my artistic expression.

How do you free your wild artist? Leave me your comment. I’d love to hear about your experiences!

(Image courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

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What do You Get from Being Stupid?

 

Wisdom!

An unknown cook in china experimenting in the kitchen created fireworks, learning that cooking can be dangerous and more than food will delight.

Ink Jet printers were imagined after an engineer accidentally left his iron on his pen causing the ink to spray out.

Thomas Edison inventor, learned thousands of ways to not do things.

Leonardo Da Vinci artist and inventor, learned about human limitations

Steve Jobs creator of Apple, learned that life is fragile.

Alexander Graham Bell inventor of the telephone, learned through listening that silence can be translated into sound.

John Pemberton a pharmacist, learned that people liked to burp when his assistant accidentally mixed carbonated water into his recipe for Coca-Cola.

Charles Babbage inventor of an early calculator, learned that ambition must yield to time. Never completing his invention, years later his notebooks revealed knowledge basics for the computer.

“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.” Mary Lou Cook

George de Mestral an engineer, learned that walking his dog could stick things together in amazing ways. He observed that burrs had a particular structure that stuck them to his dog’s furry coat and he created Velcro.

Leo Baekeland inventor of Bakelite an early plastic, learned the liability of copycat imitators after defending his work in numerous lawsuits.

Alfred Nobel inventor of dynamite and namesake for the Nobel Prize, learned that playing in mud has powerful payoffs, discovering mud held his explosive together.

John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley inventors of the transistor, learned about success, collaboration and the emergence of creative ego while working together.

John Walker inventor of the friction matchstick, learned that you don’t need to profit from a good idea. Never patenting his invention someone else stole it.

Patricia Bath inventor of Laserphaco Probe used for cataract laser surgery, learned that innovation is colorblind. She was the first black woman to receive a medical patent and compete a residency in Ophthalmology.

Richard Jones a naval engineer trying to invent a meter to monitor power on ships, learned about the fun of bouncing discovering the slinky.

Sir Isaac Fleming discovered penicillin, and learned the true value of dumpster diving after discovering mold in the garbage.

James Wright an engineer trying to make synthetic rubber, learned about the human enthusiasm for goo – Silly Putty.

Patsy Sherman a chemist, learned that being messy is important to the creative process. After spilling on her shoe she discovered Scotchguard.

Albert Hoffman a chemist, learned that accidents can take you to unimaginable places. He developed LSD.

For gosh sakes be as stupid as you can when you want to grow. You’ll be amazed at what you can learn and you’ll become one of the smartest people you know.

Always Something New to Learn

I get asked all the time, “Why are you taking an art class? You teach them.” Well the answer is pretty clear. There is always something new to learn. Someone else may have the same skills or mastered the same techniques, but they do it in their own way. By looking at the same information through new eyes I can get a fresh perspective.

Watching paint splashed or how another artist handles their brush, is just as exciting as trying it for myself. I learn about using the same old papers to get different results, and why a particular brand of paint is favored. Things I never thought about become fascinating.

I also love the camaraderie of working with others. It gives me a lovely break from my private studio work, where I become serious about my final outcome. For me taking classes is about discovering something. Perhaps it is a tidbit I forgot, but it might also be seeing a color used in a completely novel approach. I make it a rule to not make a masterpiece when I take a class. I want my eyes open to possibility, not perfection. If I find myself getting picky about what I’m doing, I stop and add some playfulness to my approach. This keeps me spontaneous and ready to explore.

Also, as a creativity coach, watching other artists tackle really tough techniques is inspiring! Witnessing the amazing angles from which they choose to draw or paint their subjects, is thrilling in its outline for how they think about creating. Tenacious beginners are incredibly gutsy. It is through their creative innocence I see the force of creativity most alive.

What can you discover by taking a new class today?

Summer Blitzing

I don’t know about you, but as an artist I can get excited about pretty much anything. I love to let ideas tumble through my mind, and sometimes to distraction from my real creative work. As summer heats up in the north country, all I want to do is sit and dream. This is the summer blitzing phenomenon, that makes me feel light and fluttery, bouncing from one thought to another. In this mindset, I can’t do much physical or outdoor work, which is what we northerners save up and take advantage of doing in summertime. Frankly, it’s too hot to be outside anyway, so I need to work inside looking out. Gazing through windows is definitely dream time, however learning to do so with purpose can be mind bending. I have to remember to plan time for and call this activity passive work, and set limits on how much of it I can afford to do given my other commitments, but it’s always worthwhile.

One way to make idea spinning meaningful is to record what you see, sense, discover or ask about the experience. Your observations might come in handy to solve your current or future creative challenge. I also like recording mine, because it sets limits due to the media used, and makes the time a part of my real artistic work. I think as summer as the soft months during the year, a time to ease up my workload. So when I find the need to day dream, I try to honor it. When you make this a real part of your summer, you can look forward to blitzing your way through your creativity with insight and wonder, and maybe an unanticipated nap!