Picture Element 0.5

Picture Element 0.5
 
For me there is something profoundly remarkable about the smallest measure of any one component; hardly viewable to the naked eye, almost non-existent or at least imperceptible unless we’re looking for it. As a whole or grouped together these smallest of elements brings a thing to life, moving and breathing together. Today I also gave some thought to the downside of the smallest measure of an element. The tiniest of fragments of any one form or image only gives us a partial representation of the whole, maybe a little like the microcosm that is social media, snippets on the news, or a picture in a magazine. This has got me thinking and pondering...
 
Scratching and Creativity:
Tharp (2003) calls the rooting around of ideas scratching. She says that ideas are everywhere, all around us, all the time, but that good ideas come from those that turn us on. You know you’re onto a good idea because it will generate more ideas. I have found this to be true of any personal artwork that I embark on. It’s turning out to be true of the idea I’ve been developing during this project. If I don’t connect with an idea, I become very bored, and agitated. As a commercial artist, I often must dig hard for a connection and sometimes just barrel through a project, because the ideas aren’t always my own. But, cultivating my own creative habit, scratching at my own ideas, allows me to think about things that matter and resonate with me. That habit also makes it easier when those projects that aren’t my own. As an educator, this is something I see as necessary to keep in mind when encouraging creativity for students.  
 
Fear:
Uncertainty is a big factor for fear during creativity (Bayles & Orland, 1993). I think it must be one of the bigger reasons for making creativity hard to want foster, know how to support, and continue to grow. Uncertainty comes about from what you want to say, the materials you want to use, and whether you’ll be satisfied with the work or not. This fear manifests itself in irritation, apathy, distraction. I found that over the last five days of this project I have felt some sort of fear on four of those days, and those little manifestations of uncertainty happened each and every time. To get through it I just keep my pencil on the paper, even if I am just doing a repeating pattern of shapes. I also realize that most of what I create will not be good by my own standards, but there will be some. So I will keep scratching away.