Planning: Overrated!
I’ll show my hand here at the outset; I’m not against planning. I’m against my former anal-retentive, hyper-controlling methods of getting creative things done. Can you imagine how much of my own art-making I’ve stifled simply because I’ve “planned” what I’m going to make down to the n-th degree?
At the gallery (ArtFx) last Friday evening I got to speak with people about my work. Many were engaged by the power of the colors. Others were taken by the impression of movement. Some of them moved in closer and mentally dissected the work wondering how it was made.
“How’d you do this?,” they’d ask. Do you sit down and plan what you’re going to do?”
“No,” I’d tell them. “It’s all an act of faith. I trust my instincts and feel my way forward not knowing what I’m going to get.”
That’s a really big change for me in the last few years because it hasn’t always been like this. Up until recently I’d plan everything trusting entirely in the plan and the planning process itself. What I was doing was completely left-braining a right-brain process. I was rationalizing, naming, labeling, and categorizing the work, all the while thinking that something creative would emerge from the process. I was a really tight person. You would not have wanted to spend much time around me. Heck, I didn’t even like being around me back then.
For me it was a control issue. Brought about by the way I was raised, my hot-button was having control of my life taken from me. How I was raised; who I had become through that horrid process had imposed itself upon my art-making. It was killing me.
What I’ve recently discovered in the growth out of that tight, closed thinking is another dimension to the convergence of faith and art. It’s one thing to be a faith-driven artist; making art in the company of the Lord. It’s another to believe not only in God the Father through His Son, Jesus, but to believe in the creative process from within that milieu.
In the nourishing and nurturing environment of faith in God, I am asked to trust, to surrender, and to really believe in what I do not yet see on the panel. I am asked to simply choose colors, forms, and movement as He and I “dance” in the studio. And, I say it again, every single time I open the gluing press the next morning, it’s all-ways a surprise. I am always amazed at what was made even though I was present for every moment of the making.
I don’t plan anymore. These days I simply gather, ruminate, and respond. My blood pressure is almost ten-points lower. My joy is high and growing daily. And my faith and confidence in this additional convergence of faith and art is an endless exploration of discovery.
In the end that’s what I told folks at the gallery about the art I make; that it’s all-ways an act of faith, and a process of discovery. And you know, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
In the studio, what does faith look like for you? Where do you find convergences of faith & art? How does that work for you and your own art practice?
How I Manage My Three R’s
It’s nothing new, we’re all buried in information of sorts. I’m up to my armpits in my own set of three-r’s; reading, writin’, and research. The internet is my haven for wading through mountains of information and knowledge in search of wisdom and meaning for my arts practice.
Current Projects
Currently, I’ve got three book concepts I’m researching to see if they’re worth doing, and what approach I want to take. I’ve got three art-making projects in the works. I’m swimming through books and blogs about minimalism, simplicity, culture, and faith & art. I’m learning to manage how I gather so it serves my process and I don’t drown.
Finding My Own System
Among the many blogs I read are several which offer good advice about how to “manage” these often divergent resources. Some of the advice works for me and much does not. I’m a gleaner, and a searcher. I gather tips and tidbits which actually work for me and discard the rest. I’m not one of those who thinks, “Oh maybe, someday it’ll come in handy.” No, it’s either valuable now or it’s gone.
I used to force myself to conform to the “systems” of popular organizational gurus until I realized that unless it helps me make meaning, I’m not going to bother. That doesn’t mean they’re offering bad advice, it’s just not good advice for me. I mean, you’ve got to love on yourself a little bit, get real, and do for yourself what actually works.
Info-Hoarding
Like many philomaths (major love of learning) I’m an information hoarder. I go searching for one thing, and end up sideways looking at something related to the original, but definitely not the original. I get it from my dear Grandmother who raised me to enjoy (and I really do) trawling through dictionaries and encyclodepiae. I’d begin with one word, and while reading the definition, if there was another word I didn’t understand, I’d go look that up too. Soon I had a growing relational chain of thought(s). It taught me nuance.
Realizing that I need to get back on track, I now “file” the blog/website URL in my “favorites”. Now, I’m not going to give you a precise count, but I’d guess I’ve got some two-hundred website/blog URLs in dozens of folders because I don’t need a cloud, I need to actually find meaningful resources.
I house-clean about every two or three months. I may use something in a folder and see the loads of other “favorites” in there. I go through each and in a flash, without thinking about it, I look at the website homepage and make an immediate decision – keep it or ditch it. Most I ditch because I don’t really need then anymore. Their project is done, and I’ve moved on.
God Bless Blog Aggregates
The same goes for blogs, and I read (using Google Reader) a load of blogs. I’ve become really picky about their quality too. When I began reading blogs regularly, I created a folder, one for each day of the week, and browsed each of them on their day. Then I learned about aggregate readers and how they’ll show you what’s new and what’s not. It saves me going through each and every blog just to see if there’s anything new. It also shows me when a blog’s gone dead (no new posts for weeks/months) – bye-bye!
Eventually, I had built up a list of about 80-blogs. If they were highlighted by the reader, I’d browse them for new material. If they were not, if they didn’t have something new, I’d skip them. That worked fine right up until I got to this full-on list and the the daily “reading” was two or three-hundred new posts. I don’t know about you, but I’ve got other things to do. I need to move on.
So, to use the oft abused and misused word, I “evolved” to a simpler system. First, I renewed the folder per day discipline, and though I am tempted to “peek” at say, Wednesday with its one-hundred new posts (LifeHacker is excellent, but they post a bundle of new stuff each day), I don’t look. I restrain my self and I really, actually read the new posts from that day’s blog folder. Instead of merely glancing and feeling like I must move on, I actually get something out of it.
My Digital File Cabinets
I’m the same way with “notes” (my current favorite clipper is EverNote). Today, my file cabinets are digital and they hold gigabytes of stuff. I gather, and pile, and accumulate until eventually the original idea hiding in there reveals itself and I can make meaning. Like most creatives, I gather, incubate, and create, giving birth, as it were, to something meaningful and new. And the only way that process continues is if I keep tweaking how I manage my three-r’s.
Leave a Comment: I’d love to hear from you.
What’s your system for remaining sane in the sea of creative influences? What creative sorting or piling do you use? What does your creativity demand, and how do you fulfill that need?
Simplicity, My Life-Aesthetic
Suggested Reading
If I could be said to have an aesthetic for life, simplicity would be the driving core value. I agree with DaVinci; “Simplicity is the epitome of sophistication.” These days we worship sophistication, believing that the more complex and “rich” something is, the more sophisticated. I’m of the opposite mind. The power in a thing, or an act, is the direct result of it’s lack of complexity; less is more. A single gesture, a word; one note, can speak volumes: simplicity.
For me the development of a life-aesthetic is a journey. As I continue to know myself better, and am truly honest, I live by deliberately chosen values. I live on-purpose. A life aesthetic driven by simplicity squeezes out the unneeded, the unwanted, and the waste, from an existence of mere boredom or frenzy.
Life-Aesthetic
I think of a life-aesthetic as the expression of my core life-values. As an artist, I’m all-ways expressing my values in my work, of course. I’m also an avid observer of people. We all display our values in what we wear, what we drive, how we behave; our values are expressed in all we do and are. You can tell a lot about a person just by watching them. You can deduce even more by listening. Perhaps my people watching is what drives my affection for a good play, a novel, or motion picture.
Self-Reliance
Ideally my simplicity-aesthetic is a celebration of things homemade, handmade, and of a life of self-reliance. Remembering Leonardo again, I’m not suggesting we throw off all that’s good and useful in our technologically sophisticated lives and just go romping around in the country. To me, simplicity means that I throw all that is artificial, superficial, phoney, fake, burdensome, and needless. In short simplicity brings liberty and power to live well.
I’d love someday to have a large garden where I could grow a good deal of the food we’d eat. I’d love to learn to raise chickens, and perhaps a sheep or two. My daughter would make very good use of the wool, and I’d probably be blessed with all the knitware I’d ever need. I’d also love to build a house full of furniture for Emily and me; simple Craftsman Style, or Amish pieces with very little decoration and all handmade by me and my sons.
Gleaning
In my on-going quest for simplicity I find that I’m a gleaner. In my adult life I’ve always been this way. I go out “hunting & gathering” bringing home all sorts of information and things. I pick through it all and recycle as much as possible. That’s how I read, and write, and live. I sort through what seems sensible, meaningful, useful, and simple (powerful) and I discard all the rest.
Art-Making.
Gleaning is how I make my art. In fact I think most artists glean many sources for inspiration and materials. I look at books, blogs, sketches, artworks. I read, doodle, and draw. I gather all possible meaning and ruminate on it until it either wears away, or I’ve discovered a meaning-filled nugget or two to share.
I try to write directly and simply, but I’m afraid I’m a wordy person. It has something to do with my being a global-thinker. I tend to live in big, wordy, pictures. I don’t have the verbal incisiveness of Twain, Churchill, or Shakespeare, but I’m working on it.
Faith
In my faith walk this year I’ve learned to let go and to deeply trust. It’s this letting go of control of my life, of mountains of stuff, which has given me more liberty than I’ve ever known and added much to my personal aesthetic of simplicity.
A long time ago God gave me this Psalm, and though I’ve framed it and kept it on the wall near my desk for years, I never lived it as much as I do now.
You are my portion, O Lord I have promised to obey your words. I have sought your face with all my heart be gracious to me according to your promise.
I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to your statutes. I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands. Though the wicked bind me with ropes, I will not forget your law.
At midnight I rise to give you thanks for your righteous laws. I am a friend to all who fear you, to all who follow your precepts. The earth is filled with your love, O Lord; teach me your decrees.
Psalm 119:57-64
When I think of a life driven by an aesthetic of simplicity, I realize how deeply embedded it is in all I value. My values are completely woven into me, and so I strive daily to live an authentic, transparent life. I strive to live a life blessed with the power of simplicity.
