Combining Ideas

Sometimes the best thing we can do for our artwork is to combine ideas and mixing mediums together we have never used before.  This can result in amazing new techniques and outcomes.  A core concept of creativity is the combining of unrelated ideas.

Here are some favorite medium mixes of mine.
1.  Combine tissue paper with acrylic paint.
2.  Combine ceramic paint with glass.
3.  Combine found objects with glass.
4.  Combine wood and paint.
5.  Combine paint and metal.
6.  Combine sand with paint.
7.  Combine textiles and text.
8.  Combine digital art with wax.
9.  Combine tinfoil with glass fusing.
10. Combine ink and photographs.

Here is a quick and easy, fun and intriguing way to combine unrelated ideas as subject matter for your art or writing project:
Create a list of items you like now or liked at an earlier time in your life—here is a random list of items I like:  butterflies, bicycles, gardens, swimming pools, seashells, clouds, bluebirds, cats, party hats, fancy dresses, high heeled shoes, books….

Now I could take two or more of those items and create a piece of art that combines them.  For example:  A cat with butterfly wings riding a bicycle; or A bluebird in a party hat and fancy dress lying on a cloud.

Here is a great link for some more thoughts about combining ideas and creativity.

A Ripe Moment

Okay, this might seem a little awkward at first.  Just…relax.  It doesn’t mean you are “crazy,” or “off your nut,” or need psychiatric care (of course, I’m not saying that you aren’t or don’t either!)…

Picture this.  You are zooming along in the art studio.  Making great strides toward completion.  Picking the right colors, the right brushes, making the right marks, adding the right touches, combining the right materials…whatever the case may be, you’re on a roll.

And then, just like a water well gone dry…your energy on the project disappears.  You get bored.  Maybe you stop to take a coffee break or even a nap.  Maybe your eyes glaze over when you think about working on the project and your brain gets fuzzy.  All of these are the perfect symptoms indicative of “A Ripe Moment.”

A Ripe Moment is that place in time and space where a convergence occurs and there is an opportunity to proceed and complete the project.  A Ripe Moment, despite its name, can last for as long as it takes for you to get it that it is A Ripe Moment. 

What do you do when you realize it is A Ripe Moment?

Ask questions.  This is where the partly bonkers stuff comes into play, because you are going to either be talking to yourself, or to your artwork, and no other.



Ask yourself questions about the work.  For the sake of this blog entry, we’ll refer to painting—with the understanding that this could apply to every medium and technique. 

Such questions might be:  what color would I like to use now?  What brush feels good in my hand?  If I could paint (or put) any subject matter into this, what would I add?  Was there anything that I thought about doing to it but didn’t?  Continue to ask questions that require something more than a yes/no answer until you find your energy for the project restored and can again work on it.



If, as once in a while may happen, you cannot either think of any questions to ask yourself or you aren’t getting any answers that move you to that place where you can work again, begin asking the work questions.  Okay…you’re going to have to use your artist’s imagination here and pretend that the artwork is actually answering you. 

Questions to ask the artwork might be:  What color would you like to have next?  What color would you like more of?  Is there something I need to add that I haven’t?  Is it okay if you turn out “ugly”?  If you were going to hang at any gallery or museum, where would you want to be?  What would get you there?

In the long run, A Ripe Moment is a turning point.  It can be ignored, procrastinated or stopped in its tracks.  Sooner or later, if you wish to return to creating, A Ripe Moment must be embraced. 

May you receive happy answers and stay out of the Looney bin.

The Art Zone

One of the reasons athletes say that they love to do what they do is because of that inimitable moment when they "get in the zone."  Runners, for instance, describe the zone as losing track of time, sometimes even losing track of their own body and just being 'in the now.'  Psychologist and physicians assure us that at that moment, there is an overwhelming rush of endorphins, dopamine and other chemicals that surge through the body, flooding the neurons and synapses with what I call "internal bliss." 

(c) nz.srichinmoycentre.org, used for educational purposes only.
In meditation, students are often asked to start by focusing on a candle flame.

I recently completed a meditation class and was astounded to discover that I was able to achieve this same internal bliss by spending a few minutes focusing on a single item, piece of music and just letting my thoughts and usual stresses unravel.  I lost track of time (and didn't care). I was relaxed and when I finished meditating, I felt oh! so good!!

Artists too can get to that place.  Even though we aren't necessarily using physical movement like the athlete or mind quieting techniques like a guru, the practice of making art and creating does, indeed, have the potential of that mindless, timeless, totally focused internal bliss.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi coined this term as "The Flow."  On Wikipedia, he defined it as, "a state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the situation. It is a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter (Csikszentmihalyi,1990). The idea of flow is identical to the feeling of being in the zone or in the groove. The flow state is an optimal state of intrinsic motivation, where the person is fully immersed in what he is doing. This is a feeling everyone has at times, characterized by a feeling of great absorption, engagement, fulfillment, and skill—and during which temporal concerns (time, food, ego-self, etc.) are typically ignored." 

Ultimately, we all want to be in the groove!

How do you get into The Art Zone?
1.  Go to the studio.
2.  Choose a project.
3.  Clear away everything but that project.
4.  Focus on each detail of the project as individual units.  Be aware of the feel of items in your hand, the smell of the paint, the texture of the canvas, and all of the individual aspects.  As you are aware only of your movements in working on the project, distractions will disappear.

Remember, more than anything else, your mind and thoughts are what get you into the zone.  If your thoughts are focused on just doing the tasks, one movement at a time, one stroke at a time and you can place your attention on the details--a dot, a stroke, the color of the paint--when you are able to attend to one moment, one detail at a time, the more your work will flow. The more you practice this intent focus, the more easily and quickly you will get to the Bliss that I call the Art Zone. Not only will you feel fantastic, achieve the benefits of meditation (lowered heart rate, lowered stresses, sometimes even weight loss and other physiological effects), but you'll eventually have a completed piece of artwork.