No. 8 1/2
Sunday, March 25th, 2007
I feel like I’ve smashed down the biggest barrier between the art that lives in my mind’s eye and the art that manifests in my studio
Like all great answers to life’s problems, it was a simple concept that has taken a lifetime to emerge: surrender to the process and embrace the flow.
At times, I felt like a tired copyist, struggling to take something perfectly clear and complete in my mind and transfer it to the page with some semblance of life and authenticity. It seldom worked. The mind’s eye doesn’t have the same constraints as the physical world. What came through was always pale and tired compared to what I saw inside.
If I can get out of my own way enough, I can let the mind’s eye guide the process, but also give the process freedom to
accept real world constraints as opportunities. What I create looks a lot less like what I saw in my mind’s eye, but it’s far brighter and more authentic.
I have to be a light trance state to let the process take over. I’m too much of a natural born control freak.
When I’m calm and relaxed, I can slip into a light trance without effort. I’m a daydreamer, and the dream world is just a soft breath away. With all the turmoil in my life right now, relaxation is difficult, and I have to enter the other kind of trance, which is a frenetic state. By working faster and faster, pushing myself to add layer upon layer, I don’t have time to control or analyze. No. 8 1/2 is all about frenzy.
I’m using the process of Expressive Visual Journaling™ from Juliana Coles. Experience it in Kaleidoscope, edited by Suzanne Simanaitis. I’m totally serious. Buy the book for this one topic. It will change your art.