The Creative Process

I wasn't necessarily planning to go to the Studio today, but then in the early afternoon I got a call from Molly, telling me she was heading up there, and I got the impression that she would appreciate some company. I did have some errands to run, but I went to the Studio first. Molly was already there working on a commissioned project, and it gave me a chance to give her some music news that I knew would interest her, find out how things went with this past week's critique group (very well it seems), and discuss some end of the semester teaching stuff and some other art related topics.

While all this was going on, I was continuing to give thought to the new print project I mentioned in the last post, related to the Japanese print. I'm still in the note taking stage, nothing to say here yet, much less sketches to show. Some ideas lend themselves to quick resolutions and the blocks get started almost immediately. Others are like what I was working on today, just lots of thinking, taking notes (words, not images), trying to draw on my accumulated memories. This is even more important than research, because it deals with those specific details that made the most impression on me- and thus the most significant details of the central idea. Once I have used those key details to work out the basic structure of the print (or series), I will then do whatever research is needed to fill in the smaller details that add layers of meaning, as well as provide additional areas of interest for both me and the viewers.

But all that is a long way off. In the short term, I have to finish all my class grades, but that will be done early next week. Since I don't like going long periods of time without anything to work on, I'll likely get going on a simpler print soon after, perhaps the supermarket print I also mentioned last week. I should scout some locations when I'm doing my weekly shopping tomorrow. Or maybe a new saint, taken from past notes.