Creative Over-Thinking

The most common complaints I hear from students and fellow painters have to do with too much thinking. Our minds are so creative. Individual thoughts and experiences are utilized by our mind to make our artwork unique and personal. But that same mind can sometimes get in the way, creating mental static and keeping us from creating. It’s sometimes hard to distinguish between a valid need for a rest break and plain old stubborn mental static. Generally when my mind is acting like a lawyer making convincing arguments that create a stuck feeling, then that is the time I need to override the thought patterns. The best solution is to grab a paintbrush and paint anything – just paint – doesn’t matter what. The act of painting changes the program.

Here are some examples of my mind’s favorite arguments. “Sales are not happening right now so why bother? My work isn’t good enough so why bother? I’m too tired. There’s not enough time today to get anything done. I have too many other pressures that need my attention.” Well, all these arguments at the time might have had some validity to them (our creative minds only use good arguments). But there is always some time in the day to paint – even if only for an hour. And in that one hour generally all the arguments fall apart.

The over thinking mind uses its best legalese at choice moments in our process. When we are at the brink of something new and big, ready for a change or to expand, the mind gets a bit nervous (as it is wired to keep status quo and avoid change) and launches its best attack in the hopes of keeping us from taking action. Each of these times feels like frustration or creative blocks, and represent a prize moment in our passage towards the next momentous step. We can choose to give in to the arguments and stop our progress, or override the arguments and enter a new phase in our creative work.

As I mentioned before, the best way to end this nasty phenomenon is to paint anyway. But here are some steps to help switch the program. First, just notice that you are using legalese-mental static. Then gently acknowledge to your mind that you appreciate it's efforts to help, but that you are OK painting and that new changes in your creative process are not life threatening. The more creative we are as artists the better the overthinking mind can use convincing arguments. Acknowledge how crafty our mind is but let it know you will be taking over.

Recently a student emailed me with the argument that she doesn’t have enough technique, so she isn’t painting. She wrote a whole page about it. This student has been studying painting for years and has more technique then most artists I know. Her argument should have received a prize it was so good, but what gave it away was the over arguing. If, however, she had asked a specific technique question – like how do I make this color more opaque – or which colors will give me a certain effect – then I would know she is searching for real information. But I could tell this was just another over-thinking moment, and that she just needed to paint to change the thinking.

The “not enough technique” is one of the most common arguments. I honestly believe that we only need a small amount of technique to get our message visible and understood. It’s in the process of painting that we discover the next technique, and add that to our creative “toolbox”. Even though workshops are good to take, and there are instructors with great advice, the next technique that we need is usually discovered on the spot with paints in hand. I like to take one or two week-long workshops a year to learn something new, but I have seen some students use workshops as an excuse to avoid working on their own, and making their personal mark. It is important to take time – several months at least – to create work on your own without any teacher or group influence. Too much technique is often overburdening (trust me on this one). All you need is a few paints and a brush and a clear mind, and a joyful spirit (usually found by turning off the thinking mind) and you can create the most superb paintings of our time.

Key Word - FUN

Making art is fun, right? Isn’t that one of the main attractions to any creative activity? When you take on art as a career, though, the business aspects can easily bog you down with extra responsibilities not normally considered as fun. The career artist needs to be a photographer, web tech, marketer, publicist, writer, accountant, sometimes framer, shipper and self-motivator. Even if all those hats you wear are fun, the pressure of switching daily and still keeping enough energy to paint can wear down the fun part.

Several years ago I decided to make it my motto to keep everything I do fun. It’s not always easy, but worth the effort. By keeping everything fun, it doesn’t require numerous breaks from what I am doing to grab an ice cream cone and find the nearest swing set. (Actually one of my favorite pastimes). Instead I try to make what’s required next from me to be fun. If I notice that I am not looking forward to an important phone call, or a few hours working with digital images for my website, then I stop for a few moments and ask myself to think about it differently. It’s the thoughts that make all the difference. Once I switch from a negative thought about a situation, I can easily find a positive one to replace it. For instance, let’s say I need to call my gallery to find out where my check is, or some other touchy subject, and it gets me nervous or frustrated. Instead, before the phone call, I take a moment and think about how much I like some of the staff, how professionally they handled the last show, etc, and then I get excited about the call – like I am calling a good friend. And the results are often better then I anticipated.

I have spent many hilarious moments with artist friends comparing rejection letters and interviews gone haywire. Odd situations like a former gallery owner who wouldn’t return my unsold paintings a week before the gallery was due to close. (I had to send in my husband and they almost got into a fist fight). I’m not proud of those moments, but they happen. We can choose to let them get us down, or keep us in good humor by our thoughts about them.

Recently, I wrote a puppet show making fun of all those “odd” artist moments. My “Broadcast Puppet Theater” will present “Art Attack” a short 30 minute puppet play on July 4th weekend at my studio here in Santa Fe, along with comic performer/artist friend Barbara Mayfield. It was very empowering making a gallery director puppet, famous artist, collectors, etc. and acting out several of these scenes. Above is a photo of the cast.

One of my friends on a recent visit to my studio, stood in amazement at the stage, puppets and props I had made, and remarked “I have never known anyone who spends this much effort just to have fun”. I am so proud.

So Many Ideas, So Little Time

I think for most artists, scarcity of ideas is not as big a problem as too many ideas. Here is how I came to this conclusion. The other day I was browsing through my “idea book”, a purchased blank book that I vowed to keep updated with all my painting ideas, allocating one page per idea. Once I started, I found ideas popping up during car rides, outings with friends, reading books and in restaurants. I planted mini-notebooks in my purse and car so I could record them on the spot, then transplanted them into my official idea book after so many got accumulated.

I felt confident that this system of idea recording would keep me happy, knowing I would never run dry of good original ideas. After awhile, and since I decided to number each idea page, I discovered that I had recorded well over two hundred ideas. Now the feeling of confidence turned into dismay. How the heck was I going to find the time to do all these? I began to notice, though, that not all these ideas still held an interest for me. The feeling of dismay now turned to guilt. What kind of artist was I that I couldn’t keep up the excitement, and bring each into fruition? Where was my artistic integrity? Isn’t it important to keep up the pace of production with the fountain of inspirational ideas?

I grabbed a brush and began to paint in a successful attempt to keep myself from over-thinking. I got back to a happy place by painting, and put my mind to it again. Soon I came up with an idea about ideas. I realized that not all ideas are meant to be born into the physical world, even if they really excite us in the moment of discovery. Some ideas, by staying in the non-physical (just writing them down, or allowing them to simmer in our thoughts) became stepping stones to the BIG ones. I figured that if I tried to keep up with them all, and paint each and every one of them, I might miss the BIG picture. I noticed that for every 20 or 30 ideas I would write down, I would get inspired to actually paint and bring to fruition the next idea in the chain. And that one would in a way reflect or contain all the others.

After writing this, I am now finding an uncanny correlation to my to-do list for today. All these errands, phone calls, food shopping…how the heck can I find the time to do everything? Well, I had better grab my painting brush before I start over-thinking again.

An Art Affair; indulging in another discipline

There are many artists I know that enjoy a second artistic discipline as a way to assist or add a creative burst to their primary art career. For instance, author Natalie Goldberg, who lives in New Mexico (best known for her book “Writing Down the Bones”) mostly writes. She has written a ton of books by now, (I count 14 on her website, but I am sure there are many more) and teaches writing. She also, according to some of her audios I have listened to, paints. She even wrote a book about her painting, and how it helps her write. Some of my friends who paint like to write, dance, play an instrument. By taking a creative break from our primary medium – one that we strive to master, make a living from, and/or turn our career into - we get a different perspective.

My career or profession is painting. And once I chose that primary profession, I am then even more specifically labeled; by a certain style of painting, and often by the use of certain mediums – acrylic for now. And all that labeling can sometimes feel a bit confining. While cramming to produce enough work for my galleries who represent me, and my clients, I crave ways to expand my thinking. My “affair” or art on the side, is ballet. Often it is while doing ballet that I get my new inspiration. In ballet, there is a constant striving for a certain ideal or perfection, that is impossible to reach due to the limitations of our own human body. But yet, in ballet class everyone, no matter what level of expertise still strives to get better. And unlike an aerobics class, in ballet you need to use EVERY part of your body, brain, spirit. My teacher, who is excellent at taking each person to their next step, will comment on where my eyes are focused, while I am struggling to keep balanced on one leg with my arms in the correct position. Sometimes its annoying but it does keep me in gear.

I have found that even cooking in the kitchen, and creating a new dish can improve my painting.

Sometimes I find myself feeling guilty that I am taking “time off” from what I SHOULD be doing (painting) as I am heading towards my ballet class. But every time I get myself to that ballet barre I am glad. My painting sessions afterwards run smoother, I feel better, and much more expanded in my thinking. I guess the word “should” is a clue. Let’s stop feeling guilty and do what we LOVE – and let that freedom take on a wide variety of forms. One of my teacher’s David True, once commented that we only have 4 good painting hours in us each day. If we keep painting after that we just ruin the work, or go backwards on our progress. I think about that often, and it helps me get over the guilt of taking precious time during our day to “have an affair”.

Warming Up with The Brain Gym

I first learned about The Brain Gym at my son’s elementary school. A visiting counselor was demonstrating exercises from a book of the same name, that help coordinate the left and right brain hemispheres, created especially for helping children learn better. I started using some of these exercises in an adult figure drawing class I was teaching at that time. Over the course of several years I would alternate, introducing the exercises on some days, but not on others, and I noticed a huge difference. During the days when we did the exercises the students had sharper focus, better stamina, and were more satisfied with the quality of their work – 100% of the time. Here is a link to the website, http://www.braingym.org/ and a book of the exercises is certainly available. But here are the exercises I like the best, and use in my classes. I may have changed the names by accident, as I remember them best with the names I listed below. I am sure the book describes them in even better detail, but here is my interpretation.

I like to do them in this order, starting with the person’s favored arm (right handed people start with the right arm, while lefties start with the left) and accomplished while standing. This should only take about 5-7 minutes total.

Lazy 8: Starting with your preferred arm, put your hand in a fist and extend the thumb out and upwards, and extend the arm fully straight out in front of you, so that the thumb is level with your nose. Draw a lazy 8, or otherwise known as the infinity sign, which is the number 8 on its side, as large as you can, as if your thumb were drawing it in front of you. Your whole arm is still straight and extended and moves from the shoulder. Begin the first loop of the lazy 8 going upward to the right, then down and around and back to center to form the right side of the loop. Repeat for the left in one continuous movement. OK, that was just practice. Now here is the important part. Before you start the next loop cycle, fix your eyes on your thumb and do not let your eyes go faster than your thumb so that your thumb is always in your direct vision. Do not move your head to favor one eye over the other. BOTH eyes need to track the thumb for the whole lazy 8 loop cycle. Repeat 2 more times, for a total of 3. Left handed people start with the left arm, but still start the loop moving upward and out on the right. This exercise helps sharpen perception and focus. Don’t forget to breathe during all these exercises.

Trombone: Using the same arm, keep the fist and thumb the same as before, extending the arm straight in front of your nose. Stare fixedly at your thumb. Pull your thumb towards your nose almost to touching, while still staring, so your eyes feel slightly crossed. Then extend it back out to original position. Breathe in when you pull your thumb towards your nose, and out when extending it back out, so it feels like you are playing the trombone. Do a total of 3 trombones. This is helpful for “near-far” perceptions. Good for figure drawing, or any type of art making from real life, like plein air painting or still life painting.

Repeat the first 2 (Lazy 8 and Trombone) for the other arm

Hot Dog: Extend your pointer finger on both hands and make the rest of the hand into a fist. Face palms towards your face and allow your 2 extended pointer fingers to touch each other at the finger tips. Place them about 7” from your face. Stare at the fingers where they meet. Continue staring until a small hotdog – or illusionary mini finger – is created in between them. Now look beyond the fingers about 10 feet or more in front of you so the small mini-finger disappears. Repeat looking close, then far 3 times total. This also has benefits for near/far perception.

Brain Points Accupressure: There are 2 points on either side of the top of the rib cage which, when pressed deeply will activate the brain. Press both points simultaneously with your thumb and third finger for a minute or more, while breathing, going deep without being painful. Then repeat switching hands.

Energy Release: wrap your right leg over your left at the ankle. Wrap your right hand over your left at the wrist. Fold fingers together like you are holding hands, and turn the hands inward and upward while still clasping the fingers. Stay in this position. Mouth is closed, tongue is touching the roof of your mouth. Breathe deeply and continuously for a minute or more. This balances your energies.

Drink a whole glass of water immediately.

Size Matters

There’s a tradition among some Native American ceramists that I know, which I have always admired. These artists consider the selection of materials as the actual starting point of their art making process. The location they choose to collect their clay is just as important, as the making of the clay pot, and is in fact a deciding factor in how the final piece turns out. Modern artists are fortunate to have most ingredients and materials pre-made and ready-made. Paint comes in tubes, canvases are pre-stretched and even primed. But we still have choices, and the choices we make right in the beginning are an essential part of the process of making our art. Sometimes we just take it for granted, but what we choose pre-determines the end result. Before the first brushstroke is even considered, an emotional “content” is already inherent in the choices we had made.

Take, for instance, selecting a painting surface. Large, medium or small sizes each carry a different emotional weight. Anything painted on a small surface will appear to the viewer as a “gem” or a precious object. Something medium sized ( any side measuring about half a person’s height) will be more directly personal. The viewer is imagining looking in a mirror if it is vertical, and looking out of a window if horizontal. Any size that is our height or larger will evoke a “cosmic” or grandeur of the universe appearance.

Some artists use this emotional content regarding size to their advantage. Here is a painting by New York artist Chuck Close, who paints close-up intimate portraits on super large scale formats. The jolt between what you expect and what you see adds a dynamic quality to his work.

Once we establish size and orientation, where we place forms within that painting space also carries different emotional expectations. For instance, something placed near or on the bottom of a painting needs to be large and “weighty” (either physically or emotionally) because this is the pedestal which holds up the rest of the imagery. Our continual relationship with gravity still holds sway when we look at a painting. And how about this new craze with square formats? A former teacher of mine, David True, would call a square canvas the “boxing ring” because of the energy battle contained in the square shape.

At times, I have found small surfaces to be more difficult to paint on than larger ones. This is because, for me, a large canvas is like writing a novel. I can paint a large variety of things in an aggressive way. While a small surface is like writing a haiku. I need to be more precise and execute it simply and directly. When I embark on a new series, I will often begin with several large works, then as I clarify my thinking I more easily move into the smaller pieces. Below I included a small and large image from my latest “ocean” series. The large one feels more like a grand ocean, whereas the small one focuses on one wave.

Here is my latest small painting, measuring a mere 8” x 8”.

While in comparison, here is a larger painting, measuring 46” x 36”.

The Healing Power of Landscape Paintings

I recently found an uplifting and interesting tidbit for those of us who enjoy painting landscapes. According to Dr. John Diamond, in his 1979 book Your Body Doesn't Lie, when a person looks at a landscape painting it will raise their level of well being, balance their right and left brain hemispheres and increase their life energy. The book describes Dr. Diamond’s research and practice for Behavioral Kinesiology (BK), which uses muscle testing from Kinesiology to test for factors in the environment that raise and lower a person’s energy or life force. He muscle tested patients for music, electronic devices, picture symbols, food, just about everything, as well as paintings. He found that a photograph of a landscape or an actual view of a landscape did not come close to the life giving qualities from a landscape painting (!)

Here is a quote (p. 76 in Dr. Diamond’s book) “…The results are not nearly so satisfactory with line drawings or with photographs. Looking at a beautiful scene in nature may or may not be as effective, depending on the ability of the viewer to abstract certain qualities from it, which is, after all, what a good painter has already done for us. I have found that if people take an “energy break” every so often – just to recite a verse or two of poetry or to look at a picture postcard of a painting, stress and tension will be considerably reduced……and the Life Energy will be high…”

How cool is that?

Going Beyond Technique

The learning curve for most artists generally takes a similar path, which I see consisting of 2 parts. The first part is mastering technique. Not all techniques in all mediums, but the ones that will best suit the artists needs. The technique is mastered when the artist has enough tools to say what they want to say. Then comes part 2. This is a key point where the artist rises above technique, and the message or content or voice of the artist takes precedent. Here it gets tricky because a successful work of art contains not only the voice of the artist but the voice of the medium as well. The artist must create a balance between mastery and surrender. Mastery of the technique, while surrendering to the materials and message, as well as being a conduit to the collective energies/concerns of the times.

As a teacher I often see a tough spot happening between parts 1 and 2. This is the “leaping off” step. Sometimes students will keep taking class after class long after they have enough technique, but it’s a bit scary at that point to realize you have enough technique and then to use those techniques to say what you want to say. My suggestion is that students take a few technique classes, then take a year off with no classes and no teachers to just paint on their own. From then on sign up for a short workshop once a year to add something new, get reinspired.

I recently received a comment regarding my book, Acrylic Revolution, wishing that more of the examples in the book were finished paintings, and here is a good opportunity to add some clarity to my intent. This book is a collection of techniques. My intent in writing this book was to inspire artists to make that leap from part 1 to part 2, and to create their own unique style by combining techniques. To do this I decided to give final examples for each of the techniques but only going as far as a technique can go without becoming a painting. I put finished paintings at the gallery at the end of the book to show that powerful paintings are a combination of many techniques. It is this combining that encourages creating your own style. The techniques are purposefully left in a state full of potential, just for those purposes, to get your own creative juices flowing – not to imitate.

Turn Up the Volume on the Inner Voice

I discovered an easy and surprisingly beneficial painting warm-up exercise. This 20 minute exercise, performed daily for one month (or even less) will do wonders for increasing your creativity, getting rid of artistic blocks, and finding new styles or shifting your work. I came up with this after reading “Writing Down the Bones” by Natalie Goldberg, a popular book for writers to increase their writing and creative abilities. Natalie suggested that writers should “clear their head” by filling notebooks, and write in a stream of consciousness fashion, by writing without thinking, very directly, and not editing. I decided to transform this freestyle writing exercise to something that would work for painters. This is how it works: First get a pile of inexpensive painting surfaces that don’t feel precious to you. I gessoed some scraps of canvas that I had lying around. Gessoed sheets of paper, or cardboard work well too. Just don’t get too small in size. My scraps were actually around 16” x 20”. The night before you start set everything up for painting so that you can just jump right in without any preparations. Pick a time, preferably first thing in the morning, and stick to a schedule for a length of time. Pick what works for you, perhaps trying one week to see how it goes, but you need at least 5 days in a row to make a good assessment. Make a commitment to acting out your very first thought. Now here is the key. Your first thought is the inner voice. Your second thought is the “parent”. We are so accustomed to paying attention to the second voice that the first is sometimes faint and barely there. This exercise will strengthen that first voice, sometimes called the “inner child”. I like using the phrase “first voice” better or I feel like I am in therapy.

Here is a common example of what may happen. You get all set up the night before and come in excited and energized the next morning ready to start. You look at the blank white surface and your first thought is “I want to splash the heck out of that blank white with a bright orange paint”. Your second thought sounds like “Are you out of your mind? That orange paint is expensive, and that sounds like a stupid idea. How about a nice green landscape instead?” Your job is to tell your second thought to take a hike, and follow your first directive – to splash orange all over the surface. Then after the splash, which may only take a few minutes, take a look at it. Your next first thought will come right away, and might be “Wow, that could use a couple of dark green marks”. The second thought says “this is dumb. I have some pressing errands to do and should stop now”. Again your main task is to always take action on the first thought, and tell the second thought or voice to take a hike. On this same painting surface, add some green marks, take a look at it, quickly listen to your next first thought. Repeat this process all on the same surface for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes take your exercise painting down from your easle, wall or table and put it away – out of sight so you can’t critique it. It’s only an exercise. Leave it alone and just keep piling them up one after another each morning. Now work on your regular studio work and forget about the exercise. Repeat each morning. This will strengthen your ability to make good clear painting decisions for your art – the paintings you are currently working on. The idea is that the inner or first voice is always right. It is just so used to being ignored that it isn’t coming in as strong as the second. The second thoughts are usually critical, judgmental, the parent voice, the one that keeps us from painting.

Please let me know how this is working for you if you decide to try it. You will know if it is helping by how your studio work progresses. Perhaps you will see an increase in production, or less creative blocks. The exercises themselves aren’t meant to turn out to be great masterpieces. I ended up throwing most of them away, and cutting up the rest for collage pieces. I am interested to know what comes up for you if you decide to give it a try.

The Best Times to Paint

I get up at 4 am, get to my studio by 5 and begin to paint. Most of my friends think I am nuts getting up so early, so I usually don’t mention it anymore. Getting up early started as a necessary ritual. For over a decade I have had to pick up my son at school by 3 pm. He always needed me for something, and if not, there were errands, phone calls, etc. And so my studio time came to an abrupt end by mid afternoon. Now that he is 16, driving and fairly independent, I was shocked to suddenly realize I no longer need to get up at an insane hour to get in enough painting time. So lately, the last few weeks, I have been playing around varying the timing of my daily rituals. Habits are hard to break. I get up later, and feel unenergetic all day and out of whack. But today, as I was taking a walk around 7 am, enjoying the cool air and brilliant sunrise colors I came to realize that there is a benefit to working so early in the morning. Just like freshly baked bread tastes incredible the first hour out of the oven, and changes flavor as it cools, the early morning contains a freshly baked energy, appreciated only by us early morning risers. I have noticed that not only do I have different energies during the day, but the day itself carries its own variety of energy potential. We are all different individuals, but it is my theory that by paying attention to the 2 energies: that offered by the day, and that of our own mind/body mechanism, that we can maximize our productivity and general feelings of well being, by taking advantage of that energy awareness and scheduling ourselves appropriately. I know that I can think and paint most clearly before the sun, noise (and everyone else) wakes up. I do my best office work, phone calls, bills, general left brain stuff around lunch time. And get a good second wind of painting energy late afternoon/early evening. So now I will go back to getting up insanely early. Except now I know it’s not out of necessity but a personal wise choice.

Using References & Staying Original

To start a painting I sometimes spend time looking at images for a jumpstart. These images could be photographs I took on trips, pictures from art books, drawings and sketches, postcards, or magazine advertisements – just about anything that makes my eyes happy. If I find an image that is particularly exciting I will pin it up near my easel to keep it as a reference while I work. There is a danger, however, in working too closely from a reference image. If I stick too closely to it, the work will look tight and lack spirit. One of my favorite artists, Albert Pinkham Ryder (1847-1917) said "Imitation is not inspiration, and inspiration only can give birth to a work of art." Here is a trick I like to use so that I can refer to other images, but still keep my painting fresh and original. I try to pick out at least three images for reference, not only one. I will then use each for a different inspirational aspect. For instance, one image may have a color palette that inspires me, while another image has a composition that looks enticing. The third image might have certain forms or shapes that I like. By using and combining all three at the same time, my imagination feels free to add, edit and transform the images in front of me, and my painting ends up a complete surprise, as well as extremely different from any of the original references. In creating my newest painting, Think of Something Fun, I used several of my landscape photographs and some sketches I had created on hiking trips in New Mexico, especially several of Georgia O’Keeffe’s favorite spots in Abiquiu, New Mexico.

The Objective Eye: Keeping Your Artwork Alive

You’d think being a Santa Fe painter surrounded by beautiful skies and bright light, would be enough to keep me inspired for every painting session. There are plenty of times, however, that I need to work at it. Energy, spontaneity, clear focus as well as inspiration, are qualities I need to create my work. Sometimes these qualities come to me naturally, while other times I need to work to get them activated. The key for me comes from using what I call my “Objective Eye”. This Objective Eye is readily available during the first hours or days working on a painting. But after working on the same painting for a long stretch of time, I lose it, and may get bored, side tracked and have difficulty making the new decisions that had been abundantly flowing a short time ago. My Objective Eye helps me see the work fresh, make good painting decisions, and continue being inspired. I have several tricks to keep it on. To start a new painting series, I begin by preparing 8-10 canvases at a time. I rotate working on each of them separately, painting on about 1-3 of them each day. Whatever painting is currently being worked on, I will have hanging on my wall easel. The rest of the works are lined up along the floor facing the wall. That way I cannot see them in my periphery. By focusing on only one painting at a time I don’t get overwhelmed by looking at the entire group of work, each of which would be calling for attention all at once. My motto is to only look at a painting-in-process with my brush in hand, and paints ready to go. As soon as I look at the work, after not having seen it for awhile, my first impression, my first decision, is the most accurate because it comes from the “Objective Eye”. By sticking to this plan, I am able to take action as soon as I see the next step. No time lags. There’s a three time rule in play while painting. If you see something that needs fixing in your painting, but don’t take action, and you do this 3 times, you won’t see it again, and the mistake stays. The Objective Eye starts to edit. Take advantage of your Objective Eye. It is the artist’s best weapon.