New artwork by Siddhena and a piece of writing on creativity, on the intuitive back-and-forth flow between action and response.
Have you heard about the curious octopus? This remarkable creature has nine brains, three hearts and can continuously change color! Apparently they are problem solvers; ingenious in their complex movements and both playful and curious in how they go about life. Ingenious, playful and curious? This sounds like creativity to me.
I recently read Osho’s answer to a question from someone asking for guidance on returning back to society after sometime in the Buddhafield. Osho’s insight was not to plan, but not to drift either – instead, to plant seeds and nurture them. For myself this was a teaching about response; and how in my painting process there is an initial spark of some kind followed by an unfolding process of responses.
As an artist I work on several pieces at the same time, each one in some way communing with and nourishing the other. And the process involves this intuitive flowing back-and-forth between action and response; both method and mystery moving the creativity in the piece at hand as well those various works as a whole.
I was recently painting with Sumi or Japanese ink, one of my favorite mediums, and some had spilled on the table. I write notes on postcards, and I flipped a stack of them unintentionally into the spilled ink. As postcards they were now useless, but taking a second look some had wonderful random marks and stains on them.
Setting them in a row to dry I realized they were the beginnings of a series of paintings – small but full of possibilities. To some I added more Sumi, others became the ground for webs of fine white lines, and I even sprinkled some with turmeric or pastel powders. It was all so easy and playful; the size and prepared quality allowed the process to unfold in a loose and natural way. Later these spontaneous experiments, both as images as well as a process, have initiated larger paintings in other media.
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