The Handicap of Expectations

I was working with a preteen recently who was very reluctant to bring anything to her private lesson that she considered “unfinished” or “not very good”.  I had planned to base our two sessions together on her works-in-progress, keying my instruction on any challenges she was having or opportunities I saw to expose her to new techniques, materials or methods.  

 It occurred to me that her reluctance was due to the fact that she had an established reputation among her peers and adults in her life as being a talented artist, even precocious.  A wonderful gift to have talent, of course, but a burden to live up to expectations.  So at the vulnerable age of 12, she is already experiencing limiting behavior.  Doesn’t this happen to most of us?  We do something well (this could be in any category) then think we have to always do it to that standard, or we aren’t ok and somehow let others down.  What an unnecessary burden, and one that limits our thinking, our experience, and, more importantly, our possibilities for discovery and growth.

My insight made sense to her.  A suggestion I made was - do lots of sketches, especially gesture drawings, as opposed to finished drawings.  Gesture drawings are done very quickly with an intent to capture the essence of the subject.  They are visual note taking in the form of scribbly drawings, and these notes provide more information to the artist than to anyone else who looks at them.  Since they are meant only as notes, they are less open for judgement.  We can safely protect our ego while building a wonderful skill , because gesture drawing trains the eye to trust the hand.  As more trust develops, the marks on the paper will be more fluid and confident.

Attachment to outcome, built on expectations, obscures our connection with the process and takes us out of the present moment.  We are left too much in our head, dwelling on expectations, whether our own or others.  We’ve all heard the “Let Go” mantra, and for good reason.  It is simple, but health giving.  Active involvement in the process will lead to good work in the end. 

Add comment August 16th, 2006

Negative Space

In the world of art, negative space applies to the unnamable shapes between the namable ones, such as the air-space shapes between the legs of a chair.  The negative is harder to see because it defines what is not there (abstract).  However, it is critical to see negative space readily in order to draw accurately AND it is critical to see the negative in order to see 100 percent of what you are looking at.  Seeing the negative for for the first time is often an ah-ha experience.  Suddenly your visual information is doubled!  Your eyes feel like they’ve opened wider.

A simpler example of negative space is the shape between the closed line we make to form a letter.  Another example is the shape of the space between each letter form within a word and also the shape of the space we leave between words in a paragraph.  If we make a page of writing and give thought to placement of the groups of words, we are composing based on the arrangement of positive and negative shapes.  So you might be using the concept without awareness of its impact on design.  Thoughtful use of negative space is critical to good design.

Another critical application of negative space is in our lives.  Here negative space constitutes the breaks between activity - mental or physical.  We need more than sleep at night; we need breaks, periods of rest, empty spots, room for turning inward to our breath.  I tend to fill up my days habitually utililizing every scrap of time to accomplish something.  Lately, when I catch myself in this habitual behavior I pause and look at life pulsing around me, or sit and visualize peeling away layers of mental and physical clutter. 

 Negative space also is present as spaces between our stuff.  I crave empty space yet I make stuff and readily fill it up.  A crowded environment leaads to crowded and clouded thinking.

Getting rid of physical clutter requires action steps.  A rule in our household is that if something comes in something else needs to go out.  It’s a good rule but not quite enough.

I’d like to dialogue on the spaces between.  Login and register then Send me some feedback.

Add comment August 4th, 2006