Plein Air and the Creative Process!
November 17, 2009
The Boatmen of Barcelona
The above painting by Dionisio Baixeras Y Verdaguer, 1862-1943, courtesy of the ARC. Not much is known about the artist. I chose this painting because I wondered what these guys were planning.
In my last couple of posts about plein air painting events I promised to discuss “the creative process.” The topic relates to one’s strategic approach during a plein air event and overall approach to the creative life. So here goes:
Recently I accompanied my wife, Penny, to a local event called the Festival of Reading, which could have been called the Festival of Writing. I went to hang out with my wife not because I was interested in the authors who were speaking. Penny knew their work. I didn’t. Unless John F. Carlson and Andrew Loomis were making posthumous appearances there would be no authors I knew. It was a Saturday well spent. Those highly creative people helped me frame my own the creative process.
Author Roy Peter Clark broke his creative process into stages:
- Explore
- Gather
- Organize
- Focus
- Order
- Revise
According to Clark, exploration is really a nice word for procrastination. In the context of a plein air event it’s a day spent driving around, looking things over, all the while telling yourself, “I really should be painting.” It’s crossing paths with another artist who is doing the same thing. Killing an hour catching up on small talk. It’s the elephant in the living room. You’re both procrastinating, you know it, but neither wants to mention it! So why not re-label it. Call it “Exploration“. Think of it as allowing your creative compass the time it needs to settle on due north. You can’t get your bearings and chart a course until it does. When I worked as a charter boat captain I had to wait for the ship’s GPS to acquire satellites before I could set a waypoint and follow a heading. Time spent in avoidance is like that. It’s a necessary part of the process. I do it in the studio, too. I put a painting up on the easel, look at it for awhile then take it down. Put up another, look at it awhile, mix some paint then give it a couple of touches and take it down. Make a cup of tea. Send an email. Put up another painting, momentum takes over. I put up a blank canvas, get started. I used to think I was procrastinating but now I know it’s called “Exploring”.
I like the way author N.M. Kelby put in her book “The Constant Art of Being a Writer”. She writes about going to a place called Kincaid’s Billiards, “This is where I come when words logjam my brain. I play for the need of that perfect moment, that perfect sound – the clack – that pure note of ball upon ball….I play because the distraction of the sport, which is similar to the process of writing, makes me see my work in a new light…..I tell my family I’m doing research.”
During the Exploration stage I find my self making mental notes, noticing my emotions and forming impressions. In short, I’m “Gathering” information. In the context of a plein air event that might mean checking weather reports, observing the movement of the sun, asking locals for their input and looking at things through the viewfinder of a camera, taking pictures and scanning through them. This gathering of thoughts and impressions is like shopping for ingredients to a stew without a recipe. Maybe I’ll use some of this and a little of that. It’s filling your cart with potential ingredients.
Things naturally progress into the Organizing stage. Borrowing N.M. Kelby’s pool analogy again, it’s like surveying the table after you have broken the rack. There are a lot of possibilities. Some easier, some more challenging and some that inspire. Your first shot sets up your second, which sets up your third and so on. Each subsequent shot also opens up previously unforeseen opportunities. The key is to look at the table from all angles, follow your instincts, formulate a plan.
In pool I look for shots that suit my eye. Plein air events aren’t too much different. I look for subjects, colors, tones or qualities of light that suit my eye and inspire. Organizing has to do with having all of your options on the table, looking at all the angles and formulating a plan.
In the next post we will take a look at the other half of Roy Peter Clark’s model.
In the meantime I want to make sure you know about a couple of workshops coming up in March:
I will be at the Indian Rocks Beach Art Center, March 19th-21st, 2010 giving a workshop called “Plein Air – the Art of Study”. I am making the bold claim that this workshop will cover absolutely everything you need to know about painting.
March 29th-31st, 2010 I will be at the Boca Grande Art Alliance giving a workshop entitled Painting the Impressionist Landscape. For pricing and info click on the respective links.
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Nicely done!
[...] the last post we began looking at the creative process using author Roy Peter Clark’s six stage model: [...]
[...] Does it serve the art and the artist well? I don’t think it does. Let’s segue back to Roy Peter Clark and the final stage in his model of the creative process: [...]