Fishy Sounding Insights into the Creative Process!
November 23, 2009
In the last post we began looking at the creative process using author Roy Peter Clark’s six stage model: Explore, Gather, Organize, Focus, Order and Revise. Let’s continue that discussion.
Gag Grouper
A couple of years ago I had the most productive day spearfishing that I will probably ever have. It was late October, bright and sunny. Seas were running 2 ft. or less. We were 35 miles out from the mouth of the Anclote river, in the Gulf of Mexico, when we dropped anchor next to a rock pile in 50 feet of water. Surface temps, like the air, were around 70 degrees. I descended the line toward the anchor which was in sand about 15 ft east of the reef. Horizontal viz was about 60 ft. Hovering just above the lime rock, much to my exceeding joy, were numerous grouper. Blacks, gags and reds, lined up like yardsticks. No, cord wood. All near 3 feet in length. Scattered amongst them were several sizable hogfish. (No they are not hog snapper. They are in the wrasse family. ) Swirling overhead was a large school of amberjack. My heart pounded with anticipation as drew back the bands on my 48 inch Biller. “Take a deep breath! Calm yourself. Stay high in the water column. What’s your plan?”
Surveying those fish was like surveying the table after breaking the rack. I felt like a pool shark about to run the table. This called for a systematic approach. “I’ll take my limit of grouper first. Those are my favorite. After that, the hogs, if they’re still around. Then an AJ and if he doesn’t kick my butt too bad I’ll shoot a couple snapper, too.” The savvy underwater hunter that I am, I drifted over the reef, staying high in the water column. At least 12 feet off the bottom. I acquired my target, a 30 + inch gag. “Steady, draw a bead, close on him.” Quick kick and POW!!!! “Now move him off the reef to string him and reload.” I systematically harvested all I was legally allowed on that one dive. Grouper, hogfish, amberjack and snapper. When I surfaced it took two guys to boat my stringer. My dive buddy didn’t do as well because a nosy bull shark chased him off of the reef. He fed it a fish off his stringer to keep it busy while he swam for the boat.
What does this underwater adventure have to do with your creative process? Well, there was a point in the story when I moved from strategic planning (Organizing) into overt action (Focus). By floating over the reef and acquiring my target I made that transition. In the context of a plein air event it’s the moment your subject is chosen and the easel comes out of your backpack. Being focused means you have a clear idea that possesses some level of profundity and are making a concerted effort to express it on canvas. Same is true if you are working in the studio.
The next stage in the creative process is Order. To me ordering means orchestrating the raw material of subject matter in a way that supports the central idea of your painting. In the spearfishing story, my central idea was to harvest four different types of fish. Selecting grouper first, spearing it, then moving away from the reef to string the fish and reload was ordering my approach to support my central idea. I wanted to avoid spooking the rest of the fish so I could accomplish my goal. In painting it might mean subordinating certain forms and passages to support the central idea and main line (the path the eye follows through the peice) of the picture.
The last step in the creative process model is to Revise. I plan to skewr a sacred cow or two when I talk about Revision so I’d like to save that for the next post. In the meantime let me do a little advertising. Don’t forget to sign up for my plein air workshop in Cortona, Italy in April 2010. You’ll be getting your tax refunds by then so why not spend it on a “whopper” of a plein air experience.
Comments
2 Responses to “Fishy Sounding Insights into the Creative Process!”
Got something to say?
I am astonished and delighted that you are adapting my model of the writing process to your own creative angling. Let me assure you that such strategies go both ways. Writing is a form of fishing, after all. With the bait of detail, we try to HOOK the reader. Cheers.
Roy, I am equally astonished and delighted that you found my blog and that you took the time to leave a comment. I enjoyed your talk at the Festival of Reading and look forward to taking a workshop with you some day!