My friend The Purple Owl says:

Getting creative ideas is not something you do.

It’s something you allow to happen.

My best ideas for solutions often come with time; they rarely present themselves immediately.

For instance, in Chris Price’s Painter Lab at the Digital Art Academy, the first week’s assignment this fall was to paint bold.

What is my bold? I asked me…

• In Pilates, bold means reaching further, standing taller, stretching beyond myself.
• Bold is drama, strong color, size of brush stroke on canvas…
• It’s running ahead on the trail to be first to discover what’s around the bend…
• It’s publicly declaring my intentions, my goals, my purpose, holding myself accountable to all who hear…
• And sometimes, for me, it’s as simple as exploring something different.

So, a week later in The Lab, I picked up the brushes (translate that Painter X and Wacom Tablet brushes), opened a canvas and started painting. This day my bold turned out to be not colors or large brush strokes, but the doing something different, with perhaps a bit of drama.

What took form was a box. A small one, the kind our grandmothers might have kept on the dresser top for little things. My grandmother’s held brooches, and matched her hair brush set.

I don’t know if the face is a reflection or part of a memory. I think it’s a memory, because even though I haven’t finished the painting, my mind sees a woman’s partial profile to the left and just above the box. Perhaps she is also a reflection — from the mirror above the dresser…

Okay — it’s weird, but there you have it. We were in Chris’ Lab after all… and he throws out ideas that take some brewing time before pouring out.

What is your bold?

Barb

Tags: Add new tag, bold, digital art academy, ideas, Just Thoughts..., over coffee, solutions, time