Thoughts on Plein Air II
Painting is not so different from a puzzle. Each sketch is a challenge one needs to “figure out” and there are any number of tools you have available to begin crafting your solution. These might look like; colour or tone or something more like a distinct brush stroke, scraping paint back or an element of impasto - I could go on and on. The point is there’s a broad selection of tools and techniques painters have available to them.
We arrange these tools together to create solutions. For me this is the truly creative element of painting.
What type of solutions might I want to create? One that is simple, easy to read. Maybe one that is colourful (ha no, I hate colour), or maybe elegant and sophisticated. There are innumerable directions, overlaps and possibilities one might undertake.
At the moment, painting on plein air (silly french term we use for outside) has given me some direction when it comes to answering some of these questions in my work.
Plein air allows me to restrict some of the options I have available and creates a number of barriers, (a limited palette, shortened time-frame - shifting light, wind, lack of comfort, f***ing insects!). It forces a lot more of the creativity to come from you. Your solutions need to be gymnasts - capable of hurdling sophisticated problems, drawing the eye and putting on a show with as little as a single flourish, (I clearly have no knowledge of gymnastics).
It’s a test - asking myself what variety of solutions can my brain create under this orchestrated duress? How can I be truly creative?
While I’ve used painting to frame this example, I believe it’s a formula applicable to particular difficulties we face in life. There are certain questions we face everyday; what do I want to do with myself? How do I spend my time? Was Boadicea really ginger? How can I be a good person right now?
For me these are our puzzles.
They need not always be so broad. Often more practical issues dominate. How will I be able to afford a home? How can I improve my relationship with ‘someone’? How can I overcome this addiction or complete my homework and a season of GOT within a single evening?
While I said we as painters have a diverse range of tools - we as people have almost an almost infinite variety. Our work ethics, minds (truly sublime tool, so long as it isn’t like mine), our jobs, support structures, faith, friends, passions, emotions, hobbies, copious amounts of caffeine!
There are also limitations. Some we choose, some we cannot avoid and some we can work to dispel and overcome, *insert ill-advised gymnast metaphor*. I’m talking about lifestyle issues, geographical differences, financial barriers, troubling mental health issues or simple IDGAF.
Creativity, and in many ways art itself is our capacity to arrange our available tools to create elegant, meaningful solutions to the issues arising in our lives. It’s comprehending the relationship between our agency and barriers. It’s about allowing ourselves to live. I use the term live as a verb, in a way that acknowledges the challenges we need to overcome, as an action that would be meaningless without them.
I’ve begun to look closely at the ingredients of my life, particularly during 2020, in an effort to register what variety of life I’m cooking at the moment.
What is the quality and source of my ingredients?; am I participating in practices, habits, work and commitments that are important to me, that add value to my life?
Are my measurements precise?; do I find a successful balance of rest and work, time for social engagement, reflection and enjoyment?
Who will I be eating this meal with?; How am I engaging with the people in my life? Are they supportive and genuine? But more importantly do I take the time and effort to be a supportive and genuine human to them?
(The vague cooking metaphor is just as bad as the vague gymnast one)
The more we trust ourselves with selecting the ingredients and navigating the areas of our lives the more fulfilled we shall be. Its about taking responsibility. Being brave and enacting the agency we each have to implement creative solutions to the issues existing within our lives.
There will always be issues, they grow and arise and arrive in ways we can never predict. Rather than running, let’s begin implementing solutions to create a picture wonderfully beautiful and elegant (and colourful and deep, heartbreaking, hilarious, devout and indulgent, open and warm but cold and balanced and all we wish it to be).
p.s. and begin refraining from metaphors on sports for which my knowledge is null.
