ANNOUNCEMENT:

This month's new Academy course explores intervals and how the way we use them can make or break our paintings. As always, we are introducing it at half-price throughout this month. 

You've probably heard the term monkey brain. It's known as that continuous stream of thoughts that preoccupies our brains and ends up controlling much of our behavior.  We are prone to accepting those thoughts as true without questioning them.  But we are reminded by therapists that thoughts are merely thoughts, that sometimes they are not true, but it is in our power to change them in ways that can change our lives.

One kind of monkey brain thought that can hamper our painting skills is our tendency to label things.  We all do it.  It's necessary to sort out our world, but for the emerging painter (and the rest of us, too), labeling can interfere with our creative growth.

When we give something a label, then that label is where our attention gets focused.  That can be especially inhibiting when we are painting.  For example, if I am painting a red apple...

... and keep my thoughts stuck on "red apple", then most likely I will not see specifics of that apple that can enable me to create an intriguing painting of it.

I might end up painting something similar to this...

...rather than this.

... or if I prefer abstracting, creating this.

I might miss the lively gestural movement of the apple's edges... 

...or fail to see colors that aren't red at all. 

And that is just the beginning of things we can see when we stop labeling it red apple and start asking questions about what makes it appear the way it does. 

KINDS OF QUESTIONS

Tell your monkey brain to not notice apple, but instead ask:

(1) Where is the light source and what is it doing to the color? 

(2) Where are the form shadows and the cast shadows?  

(3) In what direction are the angles tilting on the outside edges? 

(4) What hues do I see where the light rays are hitting strongest? 

(5) What hues do I see in the form shadow? 

(6) What values are those hues?

 (7) How saturated are those hues?

I could continue with many more questions about why we see this apple the way we do.

TRY THIS:

  Check in with your monkey brain thoughts today. Notice the labels you automatically put on images and try substituting those labels for any of the above questions.  It wouldn't hurt to make this a habit.

Light and Shadow: The one thing that lets our eyes see.
Visual Movement: What our eyes do when images are visible.
Seeing Beyond the Image: The possibilities beyond just describing what our eyes see.
Freeing the Artist Within (Curiosity): Finding our individual interpretation to what our eyes are seeing. 
Composing:  Finding ways to put together all that we discover.
Drawing:  Searching the potential of images.
The Craft:  Continually forging our skills to visually communicate what we continue to discover with our eyes, mind and soul.

And the eighth:

The Art:  The results when all the above are working together.