Blank Slate

What are passing ideas, images and dreams, and what are the ideas I grab and make real? Is there a difference? Or is it all me? During the course of the day, many ideas pop into my head. Ideas of things that would be cool to do or have, images that would be interesting or challenging to paint, career directions I never considered before. My challenge recently is which do I choose to pursue, or are these merely distractions.

I am in an arguably enviable spot. I have a clean slate. I am not tied at the moment to any career or life direction. I can go and do anything, truly. On one hand, I am completely grateful for this opportunity. It doesn't happen everyday. On the other hand, it feels daunting and overwhelming. I'm not used to it. Many aspects in my life I allowed to happen to me, such as much career until recently. There wasn't much decision or direction or guiding. Much of that was due to me not understanding that 1) I have a say in how my life unfolds, and 2) I didn't know what I wanted.

So now, it is decision time. Which idea and image to follow is the task as hand. Which ones do I want and I believe I can make happen. Ironically, while I have been in this state for the past few weeks, I have been unable to paint. No desire at all. No inspiration. All these images in my head and I do not feel the urge to attempt to capture them at all.

I am curious to see what will happen in the next year, few months, few weeks. Many changes I suspect are looming just waiting for me to step in one direction in the other and start down a new and exciting path.

4 Principles

Always keep these four principles as a guiding foundation (from Delvyn Steele):

1. Vision

Have a vision of the change you want to see

2. Belief

Believe that what you do makes a difference

3. Faith

Have faith that even though you may not see the changes today, they will come

4. Action

Take your vision, belief and faith and channel that into daily action

Pat, I Would Like to Buy a Vowel

This past week I was examining the latest suggestion from Bruce Mau's "Incomplete Manifesto for Growth" which reads "Make new words. Expand the lexicon. The new conditions demand a new way of thinking. The thinking demands new forms of expression. The expression generates new conditions."

I didn't realize this but I've been doing this all along. I'm not a formally trained artist so there are techniques that I use that I may not know the "official" term but I still try to convey what I am doing or the meaning behind it. In those cases, I have created new words or phrases to help me get my point across. This goes hand in hand with creating your own tools.

In addition, creating my own words and phrases is a very creative process and it all builds on each other. First a word, then a technique to match it, then that leads to another technique and a new word is required, and so on. New vocabulary is just one way we can be creative.

But I would like to expand this idea even further playing off the concept that expression generates new conditions, and similarly, new conditions generates new expressions. I don't want to limit myself to only creating new words. I want to encompass it all to new forms of expression. Perhaps it will start with a word that grows into something bigger but I want to remove the limit. When working, create your own form of expressions. That will definitely foster new conditions and change.

This week I will look at the next suggestion from Bruce Mau "Think with your mind. Forget technology. Creativity is not device-dependent." This is the 29th recommendation. Only 13 left to go.

Time Warp

Some days I find the blank screen before I begin blogging a bit intimidating, like today. I'm not sure what to write about. So this is going to be very free form and flowing.

Due to a few circumstances I changed my routine this morning. I ended up painting nearly 2 hours earlier than normal. It felt odd. However, just like any other day, I got into my groove quickly once I committed to painting. I took frequent breaks and I made sure that I painted for at least the same amount of time as if I were on my usual schedule. I ended up painting a little longer.

I noticed that time warps for me when I paint. During one session between breaks I was painting and it seems that hours had passed. When I checked the time, only 15 minutes had passed. Then in another session, I thought I had painted quickly and it was much later in the day than I realized. I was experiencing extremes in how I sensed time. Time was speeding up, and slowing down. In both cases, I was focused on the painting and what I was doing at the moment. Not many external thoughts were entering my head, except for the music that was playing in the background. For me, painting, or creating of any sort, is a quasi-meditative state. I guess I "zoned out" this morning and my sense of time is the victim.

I wonder how much of my time warping is attitude, or color selection, or focused attention, or combination of these or other things going on. I'm sure these had occurred before but I never noticed it. How many other tasks that I believe will take me a long, long time (and therefore I procrastinate) and end up taking little time to complete? And on the opposite end of the spectrum, how many tasks I believe will be quick and take forever (and I get frustrated)? Of course, what about the tasks that take the amount of time to complete as I had envisioned. Do I even notice those or do I just go on with my day?

I will try to pay more attention to time while I work. I can imagine the fun I could have if I can learn specifically how to warp time. This sounds kinda like Star Trek.

Be Who You Are

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind
don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.

-Santiz

Left, Left, No Your Other Left

This past week I was reviewing the latest recommendation from Bruce Mau's "The Incomplete Manifesto for Growth" which states "Read only left-hand pages. Marshall McLuhan did this. By decreasing the amount of information, we leave room for what he called our 'noodle.'" Although in concept, generally speaking, I agree with this idea, the suggestion is not practical or helpful.

If I am reading something, I mean I actually take the time to focus on it, it deserves my full attention and I deserve to understand and comprehend the contents in total. Reading half of it can only lead to miscommunication and misunderstandings. I do agree in the idea of reducing the amount of information that I take in on a daily basis. How much "information" do I really need? Much that comes my way is not information in so much as it is gossip, hearsay, trivia, extra details, etc. There is also news that I am bombarded with through the media that has little to no impact on my daily life but I am to believe that I HAVE to know this information. No, I don't.

Since it seems that I have limited absorption ability when is comes to the amount of information put in front of me, I choose to restrict, censor and/or block the bombardment. For starters, I no longer read the newspaper. I also do not watch or listen to the news in the evening before I go to bed. I want my head clear thinking about what I accomplished today and what I want to accomplish tomorrow. It is much more difficult for me to do that if my head is filled up with details of events that I most likely already read earlier in the day on cnn.com. I have seen some suggestions of banning all new completely. I have found that difficult so I limit the amount of news I'm exposed to instead.

The other way I can reduce information overload is by avoiding gossipy conversations. They are pointless. Walk away. Clear your head. Stick to what matters. The final way I try to make room for my thoughts is through meditating every day. I am for 15-30 minutes once or twice a day but even 5 minutes sitting quietly with no TV, radio, iPod, or external stimulus can be very helpful.

Ultimately, the goal is to leave and/or create room in my head for my thoughts. After all, it is my life. My thoughts should be a major player. But often my thoughts are soft and end up drowned out by everything else that is going on around me. My thoughts create the images I paint, the blogs I write, the business ideas I pursue, even the relationships I want to nurture. My thoughts are core. I want to hear them. To do so, I have to stop and listen to them.

This week I will examine the next recommendation from Bruce Mau which is "Make new words. Expand the lexicon. The new conditions demand a new way of thinking. The thinking demands new forms of expression. The expression generates new conditions."

Sometimes I Drift Off

This week, I have been working on a set of pop art portraits for a client, 3 in fact. I have done many of these and although I do enjoy painting, this process has become a be stale for me. As such, my mind tends to wonder when I was working. An interesting thought crossed my mind that I haven't let go of, namely, what is the creative process? Where does it begin and where does it end? Can I switch it on or does it require inspiration or divine intervention? I'm sure I'm not the only one ever to ponder these questions before. This isn't even the first time I have thought about it myself.

So I look at the portraits I am currently painting. Like I said, I have completed many of them. I don't question or second guess myself at all during their creation. I follow my process and "puff" (or seemingly so) they are done. Something from nothing. A vague notion in my head (they aren't even clear imagines in my mind) in a relatively short period of time become real paintings. It is almost easy. I just have to put in the work and follow the process. I have heard that if I can conceive and believe, then I can manifest it into reality. It seems to work with the portraits. What about other things?

I have the conceiving ideas part of the recipe down. I get many ideas a day. Probably more than I even realize or hang on to. But this is where the process takes a turn for me, the believing part. Sometimes things (i.e. me and my thoughts) get in the way. I believe but I don't, all at the same time. I send myself and the universe mixed messages. "Don't give me any more ideas like this one, I don't buy it." And so the idea dies a slow death. If by chance I haven't killed off the idea, I may not put the effort into it to make it come to life. I don't work at it hard enough. The odd part is that anything that I truly believe in doesn't seem like work or is easier done than I initially thought. So many ideas appear to me as major mountains to climb. The challenges I take on often end up be hills, not mountains that just require time to walk over them.

I'm not sure where I'm going with all of this. The idea of the process of creation fascinates me. I'll be allowing my mind to drift off when I'm finishing up the portraits and see what I can come up with.

It is an Honor Just to be Nominated

I haven't posted in a while due to the holidays. Every year it completely adjusts my daily schedule. But now I'm back and I was looking at the latest suggestion from Bruce Mau's "Incomplete Manifesto for Growth" which states "Don’t enter awards competitions. Just don’t. It’s not good for you." This is the 26th suggestion on the list.

I have mixed feelings about this suggestion. On one hand, growth and creativity is done for myself, not for others to approve, judge or admire. On the other hand, without approval, judging and admiration, no one buys the work. And let's face it, money makes the world go round.

For me, this suggestion speaks to the concept of creating for creating sake and not to focus on the outcome. In doing so, the competition between me and others is eliminated. I have no need to enter award competitions unless it is a very good marketing tool (ah, the money thing creeps back).

In the end, if I use the awards or possible awards as validation of the work I'm doing, it is misguided. Self validation and the simple act of creation is all the matters. Looking externally will undoubtly influence and mostly stifle my internal voice, my inate, original expression.

This week I will review "Read only left-hand pages. Marshall McLuhan did this. By decreasing the amount of information, we leave room for what he called our 'noodle.'"