Got into some pickle over the Christmas break: Wanted to make paintings but ‘the hand’ did not seem responsive to ‘the mind’s’ intent.
Still trying to figure this First World conundrum out.
Some say there’s multiple intelligences. I won’t bore myself trying to list them (for I don’t recall them all) but there’s something that rings true.
The experience was of my hands not knowing what to do. Of course they (my hands) didn’t know what to do because I didn’t know what to do. A biofeedback loop was in action. The “bodily-kinesthetic intelligence” was not in sync with the others (and referencing one listing now it could be a few of them: Logical-mathematical intelligence (“number/reasoning smart”); Intrapersonal intelligence (“self smart”), etc.
Here’s my theory: I’ve chosen (for now) to paint ‘abstract’, and in particular, to paint ‘what I don’t know’. So, this translates (partly) to this: Because I’m not painting anything in particular, I’m reliant on ‘internal’ momentums to do ... something.
What are those momentum attributes? Choice of brush, colour, brushstroke and expression (and more exactly – a searching-for a particular feeling-expression).
In the absence of any of the above, what to do?
I could of course draw ... something (anything), try a different brush, paint with my eyes closed, paint naked, etc.
I could – in other words “Just do it” (to reference the vernacular – whatever the “it” might be).
Currently (for reasons unknown), all of this has not been particularly interesting (though I have tried different brushes).
Abiding in discomfort, therefore, seems to be more interesting, and despite my best efforts at showing up doing something (rather than waiting for inspiration), there’s also something to “not pushing the river” (referencing Barry Stevens’ book “Don’t Push the River: It Flows by Itself”).
Sometimes the river has need to flow in different directions, and where it goes, I do not know.