Drawing Transformations - Creativity & Reflections on Watercolour

Today was a self study day, on which I chose to review a number of U-Tube and Vimeo vignettes that had earlier been recommended to me.  It's so easy to use the technology of the internet to see how others develop their fluency and artistic creativity...

One video that thoroughly en-captured me was an older sequence recorded in 1991, by John Cleese, of Monty Python fame.

The video was taken during a speech he gave in the Netherlands, regarding "Creativity & the 5 elements needed for success"...   Whilst John is almost always associated with a somewhat left field or even asinine humour, this lecture he gave was without doubt in my mind, one of the most poignant and educational that I have yet seen.  Nothing short of brilliant, perhaps (To use his own parliance maybe!)... So, as it's in the public domain, here it is!... - Together with the notes I made at the time..

You need the following five conditions to get into an open mode;

1. Space - Get away from the distractions of life, that keep you in a closed mode.  Seal yourself off. An oasis of quiet.   Space enough to play! NO DISTRACTIONS!
2.  Time.  Create a specific slot / a moment to seal yourself off. JC believes this is at least 1 & 1/2 hours.  After an an hour and a half take a break... Don't try to do it continually - it won't work. Restart it some time in the future, after a few days of latent pondering perhaps.
3. Time.  Time to reflect on your ideas created previously.  You should defer decisions until they actually NEED to be made, not when you have just come up with an idea.  Give yourself time to ponder.  Re-consider. Don't necessariliy go with your first solution. Think about it, stick with the idea, but consider how it can be adapted.  Play with the problem and solution to make it better.  The anxiety in trying to resolve something makes us uncomfortable, but stick with this anxiety!.. Ponder longer... Your solution will be more creative. (Avoid strangling creativity with false deadlines, defer the decision as long as possible).  IF will your pondering, someone else demands a decision, tell them that you will not come out of your discomfort of anxiety, as that is easy! 
4. Confidence.  The fear of failure is the greatest of all.  PLAY!... Whatever happens, it is OK.  The fear of failure will stop you playing.  Take risks!... While being creative, NOTHING is wrong!
5. Humour. This gets one from the closed mode to the open mode quicker than anything else!.. Without humour, even with serious problems, creativity will be stifled. Solemnity is an invention of the Victorian era.  "It serves pomposity and self-important egotists, humour is a threat to those types!... Humour is an essential part of spontinaety and playfulness.  Never be with people who crush free thinking, if you can help it... Anything goes, there are no bad ideas!... and giggle all you want"

And finally.... (which spookily John Cleese used as a regular phrase for a different programme);

...Keep your mind gently back to the problem... in a freindly and persistant way to ponder.  You will be rewarded out of the blue! - Precisely perhaps, when you least expect it!...

Make, (play with) random connections.  Afterall, new ideas are just simply the connection of two previous ones.  Make "Indeterminable (or Impossible) Interconnections", as Edward De-Bono once coined.  These inbetweeners (Remember Jaques Derrida, and his undecideables?) are usually connections to something else, - the stepping stones to new and better ideas, - so don't discount them as being silly or of no use.  They are useful, if only for you to get to the next stage; That being A NEW IDEA!...

------------------------------------------------ Humerous, creative mode on... ------------------------------------
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... ... ...
--------------------------------Clear space, and some time later... Creative mode off -------------------------


Another very short, but inspiring vignette was that of Sonia Yekinni, a young British artist who provides an eloquent rendering of why Watercolours are so important to use for sketching.

One particular method that she uses, which I had not considered before seeing this, was to simply use a narrow tipped "fine-writer" (a fibre tipped pen) at the same time as her use of water-colour washes. Literally, creating a "wet (ink) in wet (watercolour)" sketchbook painted capture of a scene.  Hugely evocative and effective way of drawing and mark making.  I will definitely be adjusting my sketches accordingly as I love the wash quality of the combined mediums, - they are both simple, but also elegant.

And finally, I just loved this inspirational poster, it's something everyone could have on the inside of their front door!...  I wish I had seen this maybe 10 years ago!

 The original is courtesy from http://holstee.com/collections/staff-picks/products/holstee-manifesto-poster.