Special Guest Article — Consider Some New Motivation 

This issue's Guest Article comes courtesy of Robert Genn, accomplished Canadian Artist. We're pleased to bring you one of Robert's articles from his own Industry–recognized “Twice Weekly Letters of Insight and Inspiration”. We'll be regularly sharing some of Robert's insight and life journey in upcoming A&CNet e-Zine Newsletters.

Editor's Preface

I want to challenge you. I'm just setting the stage for a couple of Robert's thought-provoking articles. I'm asking you to take a few minutes to ask yourself some pointed questions, but don't answer them too quickly... Don't worry. Nothing's going to dismantle any fragile souls. This is good to do every once in a while.

• How easy it is to be automatically drawn into our usual ways... We do so much without thinking. Or better said, how much do we keep on thinking the same old way on "autopilot"? Perhaps we don't spend enough time gathering up those cobwebs amidst the recesses of our mind in exchange for some "new stuff" or "different stuff", which we could replace there??




• What about our art or our craft? Do we get stagnant? Do we ever get tired of the "same old, same old" within us? Is it showing in what we're creating these days?

• Are we growing in our talents, the depth and scope of our creative offering? Do we still have tons of fresh new ideas and a wish-list of desires? Or have we fallen into a bit of a rut, some lethargy, some "boring-ness", or at least it feels that way??




• Are we tired of ourselves, and longing for some "thing" to change that we don't know whether it's in us or something apart from us? Is there some fog in our way?

• How often are we pushing our own creative envelopes and forging into hitherto unknown artistic territory for ourselves?




• Are we an experimenter or more a status quo, "why rock my boat", "if ain't broke, don't fix it", kind of person?




• Are we that kind of an artist or crafter that prefers conforming, or going where no one would think to tread? Are we "safe" by nature, or do we get excited taking some risks and pushing ourselves where we've never been before? Or are we too afraid our customers won't come along for the journey?

• Do we need to re-find or re-invent ourselves every once in a while? Or is that a bit scary of a thought, cuz' it might mean some big changes?




• Has what was previously our "depth" of talent and every story behind every peice of art we created, started to somehow seem more "shallow"?




• Hey, do we just need a change of scenery... a break? Or does part of me need to break off and something new be birthed in its place grafted on?

Hmmm... I'm just musing, just thinking and talking aloud...challenging myself and submitting the same for your consideration.

I came across these couple intriguing articles from Robert Genn the other day, and he got me thinking. These are good for any artist or craftsperson. I started to go way beyond what he was writing, and it was well overdue in me. It got me thinking about how I might "zap" myself into some new ways & means, some new approaches, or simply being more daring in myself to try some new things. I think you know exaclty what I mean...

His first article is entitled, "Contrarian". May it challenge you to dare going against your own personal grain, or whatever it is that you feel are those certain mostly unspoken rules within your own personal artworld.

The second is related, but in a different sense — "Avoid the Borinary", the boringly ordinary, that is. Let your sprockets start turning, and do some self-checkup. Engage yourself a little farther than you might normally do.

But by all means, unearth something. This just might get you excited and re-fired again if you need a new dose of passion, some new motivation, and re-freshed thinking.

Contrarian

Do you remember "Mary, Mary, quite contrary"? This children's nursery rhyme represents an archetype of human behavior. A contrarian is a person who bets on the opposite of the conventional wisdom. We really ought to be doing one thing — but very often our intuition or our perverse inclination is to do another. The habit can get us into a lot of trouble, interfere with our progress, even keep us poor.

It can also lead to joy and fortune. Here's how: Think of artists as free-range chickens — not beakless, cubicled fryers on the way to Colonel Sanders. Our ability to lay superior eggs is dependent on our freedom to roam. Without pushing the metaphor too far, as the foxes of conformity, mediocrity and compromise stalk us, it's important for artists to think outside the box. An artist needs to learn to trust his individual intuition above all other faculties. Give some consideration to the following:

• Run proposals through your contrarian mind and dream another way. Help yourself and others to see the possibilities. That's what were paid for.




• Follow the will of your willful mind. It often takes less time, gives more satisfaction and better results.




• Know that what you're doing wrong is your style. Wrongness is precious. Watch for it, understand it, and keep it up.



• At those times when the conventional wisdom is to be unconventional, give thought to conventionality.

If things are never different, they're always the same.

"How does your garden grow?" "It grows very well, thank you."

P.S: "The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." (Rudyard Kipling)

Esoterica: Mary's cockleshell garden might even be considered defective. Wisdom knows how to love and understand her defects. "Certain defects are necessary for the existence of individuality." (Goethe)

Avoiding the "Borinary"

"Don't play what's there, play what's not there", said the jazz artist Miles Davis. His thought is one of the keys to avoiding the boringly ordinary... "the borinary". Many works of art are what I call "one-two". That is, they engage the mind and sensibilities only so far. Putting a half-filled wine glass into a landscape foreground, for example, turns borinary – for better or for worse – into a bit of a conversation piece. It becomes a "one-two-three".

Writing on the work of Salvador Dali, Sidra Stich noted: "Refusing to idealize, the Surrealists awakened a sensitivity to the arbitrary and the unusual". In degree, it's the calculated addition of visual surprise and incongruity that makes works of art speak both to the artist and her people.

There are degrees of incongruity. That wine glass is relatively benign. It mildly suggests romance, escape, maybe even the end to a lovely day in a nice location. Think also of incongruities that suggest threat, remorse, lost innocence... perhaps a child's doll floating in a foreground puddle. Take it in another direction — inconsequential incongruity — a piece of foreground flotsam, a jet plane in the sky, a beach-ball in mid flight. Keep in mind that it's easy to fall into conventions. For example, the ultimate illustrational cliché – birds. "Cut to seagull", says the movie director when he can't think of anything else.

The idea is to make a list based on your own personality and passions. These can be the precious elements that make your work unique. I invite you to look around your own workspace and the greater world for incongruous items that you may consider putting into the stew. Just as I'm tapping this letter into my laptop, Emily, the Airedale, is coming toward me. Hanging from her mouth is the ragged leather case of one of my vintage cameras. I'm paying attention. What does this mean? "Artists", said Leonardo da Vinci, "must preside over their states of consciousness with obstinate rigor".

P.S: "Common objects become strangely uncommon when removed from their context and ordinary ways of being seen." (Wayne Thiebaud)

Esoterica: Try "spoiling" your work by adding an incongruous element. You might consider isolating with a varnish so that you can change your mind. Apart from the fun of monitoring the reactions to your incongruities, there's a bonus for your own creative exploration. Incongruity stimulates. "Regard everything as an experiment." (Corita Kent)

Courtesy of Robert Genn

Robert Genn, is recognized as one of Canada's most accomplished painters. While his work is well known internationally, and his subjects are universal (he has painted in many countries), he excels in portraying Canada. He is perhaps best known for his work on the West Coast and in the Rocky Mountains. If you would like to receive Robert Genn's Twice-Weekly Letter service for artists, visit  www.painterskeys.com

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