Serving the project…
a beautiful meeting this morning where it was a great opportunity for me to reflect on the process of art creation – but in general – the importance of getting out of Ego’s Way in order to serve the project (beauty… another’s wish… etc)..

For years now I’ve been teaching students about my five-step process to art:
1. Inspiration
2. Memory
3. Truth
4. Dedication through Practice
5. Essence extraction = Art

In Suibokuga, starting with inspiration – (usually related to the season we are in or that is upcoming), we feel drawn to create something in harmony with nature.. Breathing in that sigh of attraction to the subject, wistful, nostalgic, like visiting a cherished friend, we fall into 2. Memory: often what we remember may not be true of that dear friend: our love for them deletes their wrinkles, all we see is what we love.

In painting this is a dangerous place because we can mis-step the Truth of whether a plant bifurcates, or veins in a leaf – or the ratio or proportions that make that particular subject sing with beauty. Visiting Truth, ideally, the actual subject, running our fingers along the edge of the leaf, touching the bark of the tree, sitting and gazing from multiple perspectives the temple or bridge – all these acts of detached analysis where we are truly trying to ‘See’ our subject – help us to get eventually to a place where we can create Art, not just ‘art’, but “Art”.

Through analysis, we fall into a dedication to practice: steady, steady, the foot of the plant, the curve of the cheek, over and over, and over again. Each visit to the subject, whether in person, analysis, photography, we gain new insight and deeper perspective.

Every layer of that visit is stripping away our egotistical assumptions of what our brain tells us is there. Our eye is in a dance, a struggle with Truth. Through dedication, that practice reveals the Essence of the subject: That thing, those things or aspects, features or elements that makes it ‘thing-like’… The ‘rose-like’ vs ‘peony-esque’ characteristics that are the ‘unique features’ of the subject.

Through that inspiration, practicing that which we feel inspiration for and about, suspending assumption and setting our brain’s deceptions aside, leading our eyes into lies – we can visit the Truth of the subject, loving its elements and bringing forth its character through diligence and practice to a place where our hand, our brush or pen dance effortlessly.

In that place, where our bodies ‘remember’ the shapes, the forms, where our hands have integrated so deeply the movements and brushstrokes, we can call forward in moments of peace, inspiration, and contentment, a gorgeous rendition, our own Offering to the world. In extracting the essence, as we all uniquely taste and observe it, we offer forth to the world a meal that pulls at the heart, makes us take a breath of surprise, in that place, Art is birthed and we can serve the world in that Awakening souls through Beauty.

Another 5 steps…

Within the dancing line – just as colour and rests in music, tonal variation and gaps, variable line pressure and stroke-length: these are all natural elements that apply in the majesty of dance, of music, fashion, gardens – all things that move and flicker with light attract us… In Suibokuga, these principles are the same:

1. Aim for variable brush stroke length
2. Try to have a a minimum of 7 – 9 tones, in addition to the white of the paper and the deepest black of the ink..
3. Vary the pressure and speed of the strokes – fast, dry, light, slow, bleeding, meandering.. and all in between..
4. Consider and create the Three Distances (at least) embedded within S-shape composition where there is at a minimum, room for the eye to rest and breath (70-30 or at least 60-40% white space to content).
5. Allow the viewer to ‘speak’ and room to ‘create’ in the painting: leaving something unsaid..

On beauty and painting..
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