Creativity: Is a Walk Away

Walking walking walking –  all this walking tires you out!?   I keep posting on my walks.  Little did you know thats the source of my artistic creativity.  Thats how I keep filling the well.  Its not about the exercise!

When I  start to run on empty,   feeling like I’ve used up everything in the art well and there is nothing in there to draw upon,  thats when I need to get back to some afternoon strolls.

Nothing major, nothing strenuous.

Nothing really anyone would realistically call aerobic exercise.  Nothing but fresh air and and a wander.  Of course some days the wander may be quite short.  Like, really short.  Out the front door and across the road kind of short. Other times,  I can spend a couple hours ambling down the path, looking at reflections, bark, clouds, flowers.  Its fun, relaxing, and it is good for me.

 

So much to do, not enough time. I’m just like everyone else.   I get too busy, too many  projects going, overworked, too sore, too tired, etc..  Some days,  perhaps   some weeks,   a super short walk is about all  thats going to happen.

But-  the value of a walk, any walk…. 2 minutes, 5 minutes,   10  or 60 minutes   is absolutely  worthwhile.   And  even 2 minutes can do the job.

“Around the block” patterns in the walkway,  was just  literally meters away. I love the warm/cool contrast and the broken up chunks, the linear movement gives it a direction and the deep shadows add depth.

Did you know that Stanford did a study last year with Dr. Marily Oppezzo on the effects of walking on creativity?  Her findings are reported in The Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning, Memory and Cognition.  Basically, we can improve our creativity about  50-60%    by walking.  Great news for artists,  ok… and other people too.

 

So, the rain stopped and I’ve been ‘making hay while the sun shines.’   Discoveries on these short walks has been amazing.  I’m  finding some fascinating shapes, designs, skies, creatures and flowers and gorgeous soft backgrounds.

 

 

Frankly,  I don’t take the photos with the intent that I am going to paint from them.

I take the photos because the subject intrigues me at the time. I take it if I was mesmerised by the fall of the shadows and criss crossing of shapes and patterns.  Or the colours just sang out to me. But,  not with the purpose to paint from.  For me, thats usually a creativity drainer.

I may have taken a great photo of a orchid, a bird, a tree and thats it, I am done. I don’t need to paint it.  I  want my photograph to be my finished art work.

Usually, when I take photos I’m generally a bit more focused on specific details than when I’ve got my brush in my hand and splashing away.   Not always,  but most of the time I use the camera to record detail and the brush to Express feeling.

We are all different  there is no right or wrong, its just how I create.

Creativity is a funny thing.   It can’t be forced, just ‘helped along.’   Going for a walk, a stroll helps me see what others may not see.

Then the fun part is to find ways to show what I have discovered!

Then too,  Overcoming the dread of getting it wrong usually helps nurture creativity too.

I’d like to take photographs with more …. me.  Less traditional, standard, “everybody’s done that before!”   Time will get me there.

This soft background – intrigued me just as it is.  The criss cross of the viridian stems, the purple greys and the pale buff background was … delightful!   It suited my fancy, my vision for that moment.  Its different.

 

I want to paint with authenticity.  From my own well that I have stored up images and feelings.   Not relying on other’s  ideas or their feelings, memories or constraints. I want my feelings, my memories, my ideas to stand up and be different.

Maybe I have painted a rose but someone says,   can you turn that into a banksia?  Perhaps,  but I don’t want to!

The song I sang was a ‘rose’ song.  When the ‘banksia’ song is ready to be sung  I will sing it……  or,   in other words  that’s when I will paint it!

 

Back to my final 2  tagalongs as I was  strolling about.  There are times,  I meet up with interesting companions along my strolls. Some are cute.

 

All of these  images were from two short walks,  1 was a 5 minute stroll, the other a 35 minute shoot- through the nature reserve.

The reserve had fun quirky creative names like:   Leaping Spider Orchid,  Pink Fairy Orchid, Snake Bush, Dancing Orchid, Granny Bonnets and then the stunning red and green kangaroo paws.

How,  could I not become creative!?