The Working Wall

(This was really the topic for the last post when I got off on my rant & rave about work!)
Creating is very much a process for me. Even though I have a fairly good image in 'my mind's eye' for any project, going from the ideal to the real is mostly an evolution. I'm always impressed by my friends & colleagues who have an entire project (sometimes a very complex and/or original one) planned down to every detail before actually starting the project beyond the paper. In that respect they also know exactly the resources they will need. There are aspects of that I envy but I really don't enjoy working that way.

I most often start with an image in my head that's been rumbling around for awhile & is not well thought out with an execution plan. Where the image comes from initally can vary greatly--and people often ask me that exact quesiton: where did you come up with that idea? (please note that where you put the emphasis in that sentence can remarkably change the message!) Good or bad--the initial idea never seems to be my limitation; get the can opener & look inside. There are a million in there waiting to jump out ("me next..."). It can be a composite of other art pieces I've seen, an amazingly lucky or exciting combination of color & texture that I want to experiment with, a message or 'statement' that I want to convey, a new technique that I want to master, whatever.

The true beauty in having the idea begin to come alive is that it does, in fact, come to life--at least for me. Compared to those that have the whole project plotted, drawn & measured out, I have a very loose drawing--sometimes only a few sketched lines to remind me of the idea--and then I just start. As the project begins to unfold & begin it's life, it begins to transform the original idea--taking you deeper into the possibilities & challenges with each step & decision along the way. Your initial impulse is to fight the new waves of ideas & possibilities ('that wasn't how I was thinking it would be'). But I'm finding that each time now I'm better prepared for the journey into & back out of a project: stay open to the options, don't be so restricted to the original 'picture' in my mind, listen to what is unfolding--not what was. In the end, the project is ALWAYS better for the variation & change that occurs if I stay open to it. It becomes something stronger than I ever envisioned & before I truly engaged in the process. ("yes, Grasshopper, your reed grows stronger when it bends in the wind rather than fighting to stand straight!")

The only way this 'loosen up and go with the flow' approach works is to have a way to watch your work unfold--a place you can come & go. Get some distance, get right into it. Take a break, have 'new eyes'. See what happens in daylight & dark. There are many changes, modifications, better ideas that float in along the way. There is a lot of musing involved. Others perceive that as idle staring or spacing out! I think of it more as a meditation or immersion. It also helps to have some faith in yourself to pull it all together in the end; will my technical skills fall short of my imagination? Can happen. That's part of the musing: OK--how do I get myself out of this one? There must be a finish--not just the beginning. That, then, is the 'working wall'--the harbinger of what is yet to be, as well as the reflection of what has already come to pass. I'll share glimpses of my current working walls from time to time. . . like these two today.