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Part 2 of 2
Last week I put forward some thoughts and theories on creativity and art, and this week I am putting forth some practical suggestions for you to become more creative. I always hear people who are afraid of doing art say, “I can’t even draw a straight line!” I say in response, “ Good, that’s a great beginning!”
Also I would like to say to those great non-visual artists out there that I think that a lot of these ideas will apply to you in your art, too.
I made an important distinction last week about creativity. I said that there is a difference between “deep” and “wide” creativity. Deep creativity is about creative intensity, and wide creativity is about madly experimenting and being more prolific. They are of course related, but deep creativity is hard to actually try for or even to catch in view. It is almost a grace that comes when you just work/play hard.
Here’s some suggestions for working more creatively. Adapt them as you will. They are not in any type of hierarchy of importance.
1. SHAKE IT UP! Do something really different. Forget about signature styles for a while. Or that you like to draw or paint flowers or horses or people or landscapes. If you always draw flowers, then draw some people and vice versa. I sometimes think that artists think that if they do something differently than normal for them that they’ll have a nervous breakdown.
2. WORK IN DIFFERENT MEDIUMS! If you only draw, try painting. If you do both, do some collage or try sculpting or write a poem or learn to play some music. I am convinced that you will then return enriched to your own chosen medium and creative center. If you only work in oil, try acrylics. 3.WORK IN DIFFERENT STYLES! I was joking about realism, but great realism is just that — great! So if you’re an expressionist like me, you should try to be more realistic at times. And if you’re on your way to being a great realist, try experimenting with a more expressionistic style, just at times. It won’t kill you, for cryin’ out loud! Two superb realists recently said that they want to do artwork more like mine. I was truly humbled and said the same back to them.
4. WORK DIFFERENTLY! If you work fast, work slow or slower. I’m trying that. If you work slow, try working faster. There’s a reason that Picasso was probably the greatest and most prolific artist of the 20th Century. He did all of this stuff. Work in different emotional states. If you usually work happy, then work sad. But put all your sadness into the work. I found out my wonderful Uncle Don was dying some years ago in the middle of a painting. I painted right through my tears while he died. It is still one of my best paintings.
5. BRING ENERGY AND ENTHUSIASM TO YOUR WORK! In the movie “Rollerball” (the first, better one with James Caan), an all-knowing computer tells Caan’s character “Energy is genius. Genius is energy!” I think that there’s something to that. I’ve mentioned before that I saw a film clip of the older Picasso working. He stalked around the canvas like a panther stalking his prey, laughing and grinning and frowning and talking to himself. Bring that sort of energy and genius to your work, and your work will be as good as his sometimes.
6. WORK UNDER DIFFERENT CONDITIONS Similar to above, but coming at it from a different angle. If you always work at your kitchen table, try working outside, or take a drawing tablet to the beach. If you always want Northern light, try Southern light. Some artists are goofy over this type of stuff. I’ve done great work in all types of light and half in the dark. If you get a good idea in the middle of the night, get up and work. And always keep a notebook of good ideas you get when relaxing.
7. TRY DIFFERENT WAYS TO HOLD YOUR PENCILS AND BRUSHES OR WHATEVER! If your left-handed, draw with your right hand, or even your mouth, as many paraplegic artists have done wonderfully. It gives you a different view of things. Then when you draw with your dominant hand again you will feel like an artistic Robin Hood, and then you can shoot an arrow into another arrow! That is the creative flow stage.
8. TRY PLAYFULLY COPYING OTHER GREAT ARTISTS! Don’t just copy, use it as an initial inspiration. Be playful with their work. That way you don’t have to have that fear of the empty canvas. And don’t even think you have to say “after Vermeer” unless it’s really close. All great artists took ideas from other artists; often, the greater, the more they took.
9. PLAY OFF OPPOSITES IN YOUR WORK! The great German philosopher Hegel thought that all opposites literally implied each other. Lao Tzu, the supposed founder of Taoism, also thought similarly, as in the Tai Chi Chuan symbol. For example, if one is always painting blond hair, paint black sometime (I am using the word “opposite” here very loosely.). Or if you usually paint white people, paint a black or brown person. Paint a mouth above the eyes or the eyes below the nose. If you always paint with thin paint, then try impasto. If you try not to use textures in your work, at least try it once.
10.WORK AT PLAY, AND PLAY AT WORK! You understand me; just have fun like a child. Picasso said, “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” Some people who don’t like my work — usually not artists themselves — say, “My child could do that!” I feel complimented. Yes, there is work in art and in all things, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t have play involved. Be like Sherlock Holmes — “The game’s afoot!” I call my way of working “transformational.” I draw something, then make a copy, put markers or chalk over it, then put it into the computer, then copy it again, then paint it — you get the idea. It creates lots of work and some interesting surprises. It is transformational in other ways. Beauty becomes meaningful ugliness, ugliness becomes beauty, women become men, people become animals.
If you work this way and don’t judge yourself or the work of art constantly, somewhere where you least expect it in all this jungle of wide creativity, a truly deep creativity will sneak itself in. When that happens, you’ll think, “Wow! It doesn’t look like I even did that!” And you know what? In a way you didn’t — the “total universe” did. That you won’t get from thinking, “That’s good or bad,” or “I only draw flowers, or people,” or “I only work in oil pastels.” It like throwing darts at a target; they won’t all hit the center, but a center will emerge eventually. Then you will have a powerful and deep signature style, or maybe a few of them.
If you try some of these ways of working and some of the others in my earlier articles, I can almost guarantee that you will create more and be more widely creative — and yes, even more deeply creative.
Caravaggio and De Kooning and Klee were not the only artists given creativity by the absolute source of all creativity. You were, too. Now go have fun and create as joyfully as a porpoise leaping wildly out of the water — beyond all past art.
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