The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.        Carl Jung

Tootsie started…

I loved the way the sunshine hit her face as she was looking up.

As I was putting down the basic sketch, I was using pencil rather than charcoal, and was working in a more detailed way.  Normally, I just throw down some charcoal lines and go, but I was kind of getting into it.  This canvas is 20″ x 24″ – which is smaller than I’ve been working, and I was reminded of how much I loved doing smaller, more detailed work.  I wanted to just sit and use tiny brushes and be anal.  It also made me want to just draw, which I haven’t done in, um… years.

Tootsie is an awesome, happy little Pit Bull.  Maybe it’s not so coincidental that I chose to start this at a time when McDonald’s issued a new ad saying that it’s safer to eat Chicken McNuggets than to pet a Pit Bull (which is, of course, completely ludicrous on so many levels).

Anyway, I’ll pet Toots any day over eating a box of toxic crap.

fun with experimentation…

So, in stepping up to the easel… one night I just suck, and the next I’m completely in the zone. I know that this is just how it is for all artists, but what is up with that?

Because I’m hiking or walking dogs all day, I paint at night. I also love NPR, so I often combine the two and listen to On Point or Terry Gross or the Moth Radio Hour or whatever is on. I love them (until BBC News comes on and I run to turn it off before I develop a facial tic).

The thing is, if you allow yourself to paint without any talking, your brain goes into this beta-mode kind of thing where it’s like a waking meditation.  Hard to explain, but it’s like you have absolutely no conscious control over your thoughts, and they’re just below consciousness.  I assume it has something to do with the left brain shutting down and allowing the right to kind of take over, but…  I don’t know.  I should probably dust off one of the books I have in the bookshelf dealing with creativity and the brain.

Anyway, I’m wondering if what I’m listening to is influencing my painting.  Am I forcing my left brain to butt in when my right wants my whole head to itself?  What if, instead of listening to a show on, say, some scientific theory, I have Verdi playing in the background? Hmm.

I’m sure Harvard has done some study on this, but I need to see for myself…

I’ll report back.