Noticing Notes: Opening Out

// January 10th, 2012 // 2 Comments » // process, Uncategorized, writing ideas

Noticing Notes is a weekly event on this blog where I discuss my mindful writing practice of ‘noticing’ and encourage you to join in.

What’s noticing? Well, here’s the twitter version:

Comfy? Good. Start writing whatever you’re experiencing right now: sights/sounds/feelings/thoughts/etc. Stuck? Write ‘noticing …’ continue

And this post has a slightly longer version

*****

“I have learned that what I have not drawn, I have never really seen”

(Frederick Franck)

I’ve started incorporating small sketches into my noticing. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to get around to it. One book that influences what I’m trying to do with noticing is Frederick Frank’s ‘The Zen Of Seeing’. It’s about developing a meditative drawing practice– noticing the world through drawing.

I sometimes through the book, find an idea that resonates, then see how I can transfer that to my writing practice.

I’m always drawing, but it’s been ages since I really applied Frederick Franks ideas to my art, consciously anyway.

At the end of last year I started thinking how I was going to pull together my art and my writing, they’ve both been chugging along as mostly separate pursuits. I started doing some writing about how my focus has changed over the last 12 months. It seems I’ve stumbled into the business of noticing things, about developing creative presence and when I looked at the blog through that filter going back to drawing as seeing, as noticing seemed like the no-brainer thing to do.

So now I’m shifting between noticing as writing practice and noticing as a drawing practice and they fit nicely together and complement each other.

There’s a list of things I want to play with here, especially finding ways to do this that don’t rely so much on drawing skills. One thing I’m trying is, through the act of drawing, to see one fresh thing about the object that I’m drawing.

In the picture up top the one thing I noticed while drawing the coke can was the way the shape of it narrows when it gets near the opening at the top. There was also a bit of written noticing, that focused on the taste of the drink, how unsatisfying it gets (to me) once I’m partway through and the initial novelty has worn off.

Since starting noticing as a regular practice I’ve enjoyed the way I’ll suddenly be somewhere and just start noticing things mentally, I like the way this practice has started to open out a little and influence life outside of my notebook. Combining the writing with the drawings will hopefully encourage that to happen a little bit more.

*****

How You Can Join In:

Everyone is encouraged to join in in whatever way you like.

You could hang out in the comments section and share your own experiences and ideas.

If you have a blog, you might like to do a little noticing experiment in a post, or write about your experience with noticing, and leave a link! I’d love to go and check it out and leave a comment.

Of course, you could check-in and read the posts and never comment, just hang out and play quietly with your own noticing practice. (I’ve always been a shy commenter, and that’s my preferred way of hanging out on a lot of blogs.)

Noticing notes are posted early each week–Mondays usually–and are there to capture any noticing, or ‘noticing noticings’ that might come up for you (or me!) throughout the week!

You could also post mini noticing sessions, or noticing excerpts on twitter or google+. (Use #noticingnotes hashtag)

Creative Walls. Kinda.

// April 6th, 2011 // 8 Comments » // creativity, curiosity, process, Uncategorized

Creative walls?

I’ve lost count of the the times I’ve been partway through a project, everything rolling along nicely, thinking; “This is going great!” And then … Bam! When that sense of stuck-ness descends it feels as solid and impenetrable as any wall.

I logged onto twitter last night and, looking at my stream, I noticed I’d only tweeted two times in the last month. Here? My last post was a month ago.

I’ve hit some sort of creative wall. But it feels a little different–I’m actually writing a lot at the moment, way more than usual. It’s just that nearly all of my writing is being done by hand, in journals and notebooks.

I’ve been working on a new thing: doing writing sessions with people. It’s a weird hybrid-y thing structured like a coaching session, but without the coaching–they’re just writing sessions, really. Two people writing together. I have this great metaphor and we build this small world, then sit in it and write.

There’s no agenda, except to build the most comfortable space possible to get some writing done. No judgement. No criticism. No expectations.

While preparing for these sessions I’ve been doing a whole lot of writing, trying out exercises, session plans, and ideas for guided meditations. It’s been a really creative time, and somehow I’ve made a switch from writing on the computer, to writing by hand.

So, when I put my note-books away, and turn to the computer, it’s hard to get started. It feels just like the standard Creative Wall that everyone knows: “Oh, no. I’m totally blank, I haven’t got one idea in my head.”

But I know it’s not that, because my head is almost too full of ideas right now.

And it feels like I’m creatively blocked–that same tightening in the chest when I sit down to write, the smarts all draining out of my brain at the moment I’m calling out to them, and the frustration at sitting there. Blank.

Even though all those familiar feelings are there, it seems more like a computer thing. I’ve gotten out of the habit of writing on a computer and back into the habit of writing by hand.

Which is great. Except I’m trying to build this whole online creativity blog thing and I don’t think posting slides of my notebooks is going to cut it. What would be great for me, right now, is to see if I can build a practice of moving from one to the other–maybe hand written drafts and then typing them in to the computer for the editing and posting parts.

That would be nice, because I’m finding that writing by hand and typing on a computer are two entirely different ways of experiencing writing, and they both have qualities that I really like.

Writing by hand is a much more organic and flowing process for me, and I seem to write in a more leisurely style. It’s more relaxing too, but my writing needs more editing later on.

Writing on a computer has a much more accelerated feel and I usually seem very focused and compelled to edit while writing. I love the speed of it, and always feel like I’m being super productive–if I’m actually writing, not feeling too blocked to start, that is.

I like that this problem has come up. It’s making me look at creative walls, or blocks, in a new way, like they’re a more subtle experience than I’d previously thought.

*****

If you are interested in the writing sessions you might want to sign up for my newsletter–there’s a form in the sidebar, there –>

You might also like Havi’s beautiful post describing the session we did together yesterday.

Possibilities

// November 30th, 2010 // 5 Comments » // creativity, labyrinth picture, Labyrinths, process, Uncategorized

This is the final day for Art Every Day Month, although for me it was more like Art Every Couple Of Days Month.

Even though I didn’t get to make art or post every day it’s still been a great experience. I did manage to sink deeply into the labyrinth through studying, walking and drawing them, and I’ve learned a lot over the past month. I also got to meet a whole bunch of new and creative friends and to check out their wonderful blogs!

At the start of the month I wanted to explore the labyrinth and see if my interest could be sustained over time, and it has. I’m excited about the possibilities of working with labyrinths more in the future. I’m hoping to get to San Francisco in February to do Labyrinth Facilitator training and hopefully lead labyrinth workshops in the future so I can hang out with other people and learn more.

I’ve already started writing content for some training on Labyrinth Drawing, painting and journalling as an art practice and I’m excited to see where that goes.

This picture has been in my mind for a couple of days and I got some time last night to paint it. I’m seeing a lot of references to the similarities between the labyrinth and the womb, links to Goddess religions and also noticed for myself how the back and forward rocking motion that comes from walking the labyrinth is very much like being cradled. So this seemed a fitting image to close the month out on.

Toes Over The Line

// November 27th, 2010 // 4 Comments » // Labyrinths, process, scribble to Image

Today’s labyrinth is a little off-centre, a little rough. And I’m really happy with that.

I have to remind myself that painting the labyrinth is not about getting the form completely right, it’s about the process of painting itself.

I never ask myself if I’ve walked the labyrinth correctly, never berate myself if my toes go over the line. When I walk the labyrinth I just walk it. When I paint the labyrinth, why not just paint it?

When I first started painting labyrinths I put a lot of work into getting them perfectly centred on the canvas, or paper. I wanted the lines to be as smoothly painted as possible, the paths a consistent width.

Part of the reason I like this one is that I let myself paint intuitively, there’s a lot of pink, blue, green, and yellow swirls and circles in the layers beneath the final image.

I even knocked my water all over the piece of card and had to mop it up. Arty, messy fun.

If the end result looks good, looks like a piece of ‘art’, that’s nice but it’s only part of the deal. I like that I’m starting to loosen up a bit. When I paint more loosely, each labyrinth seems to allow it’s own qualities to come through. It becomes less about me, and more about the labyrinth.

Which is quite a relief.

30 Labyrinths In 30 Days

// November 1st, 2010 // 10 Comments » // creativity, Labyrinths, process

We’ve rolled into November and I’m going to be participating in Leah’s “Art Every Day Month’ .

I’m really excited to join in, I’ve been participating in the Creative Every Day monthly themes for a while now, but this is my first time participating in AEDM

A few weeks ago, I was reading some of Havi’s writing about walking the Labyrinth at Taos, and it got me interested in labyrinths and I started investigating.

I’ve walked a labyrinth before and had read a little about them, but they never seemed more than mildly interesting to me.

For some reason, this time around, reading about them just triggered something, and well, to cut a long story short:

I have Labyrinth Fever.

I’ve been devouring books on labyrinths, drawing and painting them, I even put up a rope labyrinth in my back yard last week. I’ve decided to make walking the labyrinth a daily practice.

I do a walk first thing in the morning and one at night once the boys are asleep. They’re the easiest times for me to consistently be able to walk. Almost every time I walk the labyrinth I get some small insight, or image. And when nothing comes up, I just feel good walking it. The labyrinth is on the lawn outside our living room and I spend a lot of time standing at the windows tracing the path visually.

While I was working out how and where to build my labyrinth I began drawing and painting them. I was surprised at how meditative, and calming, painting a labyrinth was. It made me want to paint labyrinths exclusively.

All day, every day.

When I’m not walking them, that is. (They’re kind of hypnotic.)

I’m thinking about doing some Labyrinth Facilitator training next February. So, I want to use this month to really explore the labyrinth and see if my interest (obsession?) is still running hot after a month of being immersed in the labyrinth.

So, for Art Every Day month I’ll be creating 30 Labyrinths in 30 Days. Some drawings, small sketched paintings, some bigger paintings on canvas, labyrinth musings, maybe even try a labyrinth poem.

Gypsy Fire (Finished!)

// September 10th, 2010 // 7 Comments » // illustration friday, painting, process

This week’s Illustration Friday theme is: Proverbs.

I was going to do a piece for IF this afternoon after I’d done some tidying up of my Gypsy Fire painting. But as I was finishing up the bird, the phrase ‘bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’ kept going through my mind, and I thought this painting was like a little twist on the proverb: A bird in the hand is worth two in the fire.

Is that true? I’m not sure. It may not really stand as a proverb, but it’s related. And it means I don’t have to do another illustration for today’s theme. Score!

*****

This painting has been a tough one to complete, I kept messing it up, then getting it back. But it’s finally done.What a relief to sign off on it.

I think I’ve learned more from this painting than any other piece I’ve done since I started the blog, and as a bonus, I’m pretty happy with the final result. I think it’s pretty much as good as I can make it, given where I’m a with my painting right now.

*****

News: I’m putting together an Etsy shop. This one should go up today, hopefully (It took me over two hours to work out how to list a painting the other day). I’m pretty excited to get all my completed pictures in there, and I’m looking at getting some prints made as soon as possible, too.

Other news: The RSS subscription button in the sidebar has fallen off. But you can click on the question mark and it will still sign you up as a subscriber to the blog. You should try it out–don’t worry, you can’t break it any more than it already is.

Fun Fact: If you click on the image then zoom in, you can see that the stars came out like tiny fried eggs floating in space.