Sketching The Transcendent Sundargarh – I

Plan for a sketching trip of my sketching club to Sambalpur was in place; a perfect plan. Everything taken care of including stay, food, travel and even the locations that we were going to sketch at. Personally this was also going to be my first trip to western part of Odisha. Our art materials along with other not so necessary belongings had been neatly packed and we were super ready. But as it often happens with perfect plans, our plan too came crashing down in the eleventh hour.

On the eve of our train journey we got the news that there was going to be a two day Bundh at Sambalpur; which meant no food, conveyance or any safe places to paint at. Every person we talked to advised us not to go because in Sambalpur a Bundh means a complete shut down. We were heart broken and just could not digest the fact that our sketching trip was not going to happen. But after pulling ourselves together, we got together in a conference call and Kedar who stays at Sundargarh suggested to change our destination to Sundargarh which is about 100 kms beyond Sambalpur. All we had to do was to go to Sambalpur, take a train to Jharsuguda and then a bus to Sundargarh from there. But we had no arrangements there and hence we were a little skeptical about travelling so far with nothing in place. Kedar had only about 12 hours to work out the logistics. But that was the best alternative we had and we took it.

The Journey to Sundargarh

06 Jan 2019

We traveled to Sambalpur in Bhubaneswar-Bolangir intercity express and got down at Sambalpur Road station only to realize that is not the station we were supposed to get down at. So we got an auto and asked him to take us to the station that is in ‘Sambalpur City’, without realizing that Sambalpur City is yet another satellite station and not ‘Sambalpur Junction’ where we actually wanted to go to. Hence we landed up at this small station in the outskirts of Sambalpur without any public transport in near vicinity to take us to Sambalpur Junction. But guess what! The latest train to Jharsuguda was available from Sambalpur City station within the next twenty minutes and it was on time. And…. (hold your breaths)….it was not going to pass through Sambalpur Junction. We would never have got the train had we gone to Sambalpur Junction. And that is not all; the train was relatively empty and reached Jharsuguda on time. After a quick meal at Jharsuguda we immediately got a bus to Sundargarh and it had exactly four empty seats left (there were four of us), as if it was waiting for us. As soon as we got seated the bus left for Sundargarh.

After a journey full of welcome happenstances we reached Sundargarh bus station in the afternoon. Kedar joined us within few minutes and we took an auto to the hostel of Kalayatan Art College, where our stay arrangements had been made. It was vacation time and the hostel was quite empty. Kedar who works as a lecturer at the same college had done very neat arrangements for us in the hostel. We quickly got rid of our baggage and ventured into the town. After a couple of hours of our town darshan we moved to the studio of Kalayatan Art College and did gesture study sketches for sometime with the students before dinner. Our sketching trip had now started in the true sense of it.

Capturing Scenic Sundargarh Town

07 Jan 2019

Sundargarh experiences very cold winters and being early part of January winter was at its peak. But missing the early morning light is the biggest crime a plein air painter could do and there was no other option than to brave the early morning chill and get ready. Hardship has its benefits and some of them are immediate. For us it came in the form of piping hot dosas, idlis and vadas at a nearby eatery. Food was not only hot, it tasted brilliant too. And thus with our souls satisfied and stomachs satiated we started our walk to Samalai temple which overlooks Ib river.

Ib river was quite dried up exposing its sandy bed and giving us an opportunity to paint from the middle of the river. It was something I had never done before and hence I rushed to the middle to find my spot from where I would be painting for the next couple of hours. A couple of minutes into my sketching, my adrenaline slowly stated to wear off and reality started to sink in. There was a steady breeze blowing which was amplified because of the open expanse of the river bed. This chilly wind was really hurting. But gradually I got involved with my work and all the discomfort vanished. In under hundred minutes time I had completed my first work of our Sundargarh Sketching Trip which seemed to have a feel of the chilly wind; suffering does not go in vain after all.

I continued sketching a little more at the same place and then moved up to the temple where I took a place under the shade of the temple. As the temple is a significant landmark of Sundargarh town I thought of painting it from the place I was stationed. When I shared this work later on Facebook, one of my friends reminisced about his childhood memories attached to the temple. You never know how and when your work is going to touch people, but when it happens suddenly out of the blue like it did in this case, its always a great feeling. Many students from Kalayatan Art College had also joined us for the sketching session and all of them had done beautiful works. Our joint morning sketching session ended at the temple with some group pics and group selfies.

For afternoon session we moved to Sundargarh court premises. The court is an old British building painted in brick red color. My color intensity was not permitting me to get the actual color of the building while keeping it transparent. Hence I stepped down the tonal values of almost everything in the subject, so that their tonal relationships don’t change. This was a fun exercise to do and what I ended up with was a brighter painting. The day ended with some quick facial gesture sketching at Kalayatn Art College later in the evening.

Kid in a Candy Store

08 Jan 2019

For second day, Kedar had planned a trip to a nearby tribal village called Tangarmunda. It was the first day of Bundh in western Odisha and fearing roadblocks we left quite early in the morning for Tangarmunda by an auto. Upon reaching there Kedar booked lunch in advance at the only eatery near the village. The eatery deals with snacks and short eats, but the owner agreed to cook lunch for the five of us. With food taken care of we moved inside the village and whoa!! What a sight it was. The village was dotted with cow dung smeared mud hoses with tiled roofs. There were all types and sizes of trees everywhere; probably more than the number of residents. Most houses had stacks of hay piled neatly in their backyards for the cows. Hens and Goats roamed around freely and a few children played with them while others were busy playing cricket. The hazy winter light was casting soft dappled shadows on the walls of the houses and on the muddy roads where children were busy running alongside their cycle tyres which they rolled by hitting with a stick to keep it in motion and hence in balance. Anywhere I looked there was a great subject to be painted. This was a paradise for a painter. At Tangarmunda I felt like a Kid in a Candy store. Unfortunately I could not paint everything; I could manage only two paintings till lunch. But during this time we had managed to strike conversations with the villagers and kids. When we were leaving the location we even got an invitation for a meal during our next visit. But it was time for our immediate meal which was waiting for us at the village eatery.

We walked to the eatery and took our places inside the small shack. Soon we were served steaming hot rice, dal, tomato khata and a mixed veg dish seasoned with mustard and garlic. The meal made with very few ingredients was simple yet super delicious. We ate to our hearts content and for me it was a meal I would not forget for a long time.

The afternoon sketching session took place in the outskirts of Tangarmunda. As I was looking around trying to pick my subject, my eyes fell on Kadar who had already started working on his painting. I like sketching people in an outdoor environment. When people are unaware of themselves being sketched they stay natural. But problem is that you don’t know when they would change their posture completely or simply get up and go. So when you know that your co-sketcher is going to sit there at least for the next hour you don’t want to miss the opportunity of sketching him. So I happily sketched Kedar away in the most direct way possible and this sketch turned out to be one of my favorites of the trip.

Read The concluding part of Sketching trip to Sundargarh here

Kedar's Sketch 08 Jan 2019 — Kedar’s Sketch 08 Jan 2019

En Plein Air at Ib river - I ; 07 Jan 19 — En Plein Air at Ib river – I ; 07 Jan 19

En Plein Air at Ib river - II ; 07 Jan 19 — En Plein Air at Ib river – II ; 07 Jan 19

En Plein AIr at Tangarmunda - I ; 08 Jan 2019 — En Plein AIr at Tangarmunda – I ; 08 Jan 2019

En Plein AIr at Tangarmunda - II ; 08 Jan 2019 — En Plein AIr at Tangarmunda – II ; 08 Jan 2019

En Plein Air at Sundargarh Court ; 07 Jan 19.JPG.JPG

IIT KGP En Plein Air Diary – Epilogue

Epilogue

27 April, 2018

I saw a dream. And in just over a year’s time it has come to be fulfilled. I thought on this day I’ll be the happiest person on earth. But today I don’t really feel happy or thrilled. On the contrary for some unknown reasons I feel heaviness engulfing in my heart.

Also read the Prologue , Chapter I , Chapter II, Chapter III, Chapter IV,  Chapter V, Chapter VI and Chapter VII of IITKGPEPA Diary!

After the shoot of the film ended on a high, the journey of IITKGPEPA project went on a downward spiral until last month. The first editor of the film spent over six months on the film. Even after all that time he was unable to proceed beyond the first two minutes of the film. I am not sure what the reason was, but to me it looked like he had lost interest. Whatever the reason, he did not make progress and we had to find a new editor. This is how one member of the camera crew, came on board as the new editor. But he too could not make any real progress in the last three months. Now that the academic session is going to end and our director Lokesh is going to leave KGP, it looked game over for IIT KGP en plein air project. But then what seemed like a divine intervention (again), both Lokesh and new editor decided to stay back in KGP after their end semester exams to complete the film. Lokesh messaged me this seemingly fabulous piece of news today. That meant finally the film is going to be completed within the few days. Surely this piece of news should have got me very excited. But it has not. My intuition just does not allow me to be happy. May be it is the exasperating experience of dealing with the editors or maybe it is just premonition. Whatever the case may be, I just do not feel fine.

04 May, 2018

Universe has played a very dirty joke on me. I am completely shattered. How can a hard disk get misplaced? I just do not believe what the editor has told me just now. It is not like a needle has got lost in a haystack. It’s a hard drive which had been lost inside a room of not more than 100 square feet of space. And the nonchalance in the tone of our editor has troubled me even further. He made it seem as if it is just another hard disk which has been misplaced. It was not just a hard disk. It was my dream. It was a big chunk of my heart and soul. And then what about a backup copy? Two hard drives were acquired for this project. The backup copy must be present somewhere. A lost hard disk just cannot be an excuse now. I don’t know what the truth is, but I just cannot believe what I have been told.

A few captures at Harrys' — A few captures at Harrys’

29 May, 2018

It has been a very tough month. I have not been able to focus on anything. Sleep has been hard to come by all these days. Sharing with friends also has not helped.

I completely believed that the film that captured the spirit of IIT Kharagpur was meant to be made. I believed it in so much so that I started imagining coincidences to be signs of destiny. I had created an alternate reality for myself and had got trapped in it. And that’s why it has been so painful. Some of my friends suggest that I should go for it again. But what has passed can’t be recreated. What was captured on camera then just cannot be captured again. It will be different; very different. Even if I gather the courage to do it all over again it will be a different film. It may look similar from outer appearance, but in spirit it will be completely different. It will not be able to fill the void of what has been lost. But anyway right now I do not have the courage or strength to do it all over again. I am afraid the universe will trick me once again.

31 May, 2018

Does it really have to end like this? I have been behaving as if the world has come to an end. Whats wrong with me! Not many people dare to dream and pursue it like what I have done. Yes, it has ended in a way which has been difficult for me to accept and the cynics are probably laughing right now. But that cannot make me weak. Yes I do not have the film to show. But I have something significant to show right now. I have those art works I made. They stand witness to the amazing experience I had. Though they cannot replace the film, they capture the spirit of IIT KGP in a way that nothing else can capture.

My journey did not have the destination I expected. But what matters to me now is that I took the journey. My paintings bear a testimony to this journey. And they will touch people. They will be able to transport people back to KGP. People will experience their journeys at IIT Kharagpur all over again through my work.

Probably this was the destiny universe had in mind for my journey. As of now I’ll take that, till I start dreaming again.

p.s. Luckily I had this part of the film from the initial edits which will continue to remind me of my unfulfilled dream.

Why I Paint What I Paint (And Don’t Paint What I Don’t)

I Don’t Paint to Make a Political Statement

No I don’t paint to address social issues. Neither do I paint to make a political statement. First of all I do not understand politics so well. All I understand is politics divides people. In today’s world of allegations, counter allegations, media choreographed events and heavily opinionated individuals I just don’t know what the truth is. Today someone makes me believe in something strongly, only to find out the very next day that it was all propaganda. With my limited knowledge about the world it also becomes extremely difficult to make a judgement on what is real and what is not. As an artist I seek truth and freedom through my work. Hence I choose to remain at a safe distance from this world of falsehood.

I paint my surroundings. But people can always find political meaning in it.

Suppose a cosmic event turns me omniscient and under the heavy pressure of moral obligation (which all superheros seem to have) I paint to change the world. But who is going to listen to me? Millions of art works get created around the world everyday. Many of them even by well known artists and artists with superlative skills. If people have to listen to someone in all probabilities they would listen to those artists; not me. And then is anyone really listening? Today everyone only has something to say. Social media has made it much easier for people to just keep saying something. Everyone wants to be heard. In effect there is hardly anyone who listens. In conclusion the paintings I would be making to change the world would end up changing me into a grumpy painter, because no one would just listen to me. By the way are you still listening to me!!

Irrespective of what I have said till now, it can so happen that I can still stand for something I fiercely believe in. And to bring about those changes I have two options. In the first one I take direct action to address the issue. For example to do my bit on environment I get a few friends together and we can have a tree planting drive. Not only we plant the trees, but we take care of it till it can stand on its own. Second option is to paint a masterpiece on climate change and hang it in a sophisticated air conditioned gallery under impressive lighting system and open to a packed house of art lovers and collectors. I am sure the second option would be far less effective to do my bit on environment. In fact all the air conditioning, lights, high end cars of the art lovers would have generated sufficient carbon footprint to offset whatever change my brilliant painting can bring about.

What About Finding My Own Voice!

Can you spot the difference? On top is a preserved fish in a natural history museum while at the bottom is a preserved fish that sold for millions as an art work.

But after all this blabbering they would still ask me the million dollar question. What about finding my own voice? What do they really mean when they say that? Is it being different from rest of the crew? Is it being original? But I really can not do it for the sake of it. Inventing something for the sake of it and hoping that it works is not going to work at all. That is more like style for style sake. It is the pursuit of excellence that is objective and something real. To be able to produce highest quality of work (irrespective of the subject) while working with lot of freedom and heightened sense of inner and outer perception is something that I pursue (Btw freedom is not about moving brush aimlessly on the canvas). And in that journey somewhere I hope I find my voice. And then lose it until I find a new voice. Finding my voice or developing my style is going to be just incidental. And it is also not going to be constant. It will always be work in progress. It will always be evolving. I can not get trapped in it.

In case you are wondering what this is I’ll surprise you by saying that this is a painting titled Blood Red Mirror which also sold for millions

Human beings are meaning making machines. They will find meaning where there is absolutely no hint of it. And when people find their meaning in being at a higher intellectual plane than their counterparts then they can stoop to the lowest level of pretension. A flat red canvas or a stuffed animal meant for natural history museum can sell for millions. As a person my idea of life’s journey is to go beyond judgement and assumptions that create such meanings. Its a journey based on observation and active listening of the without and the within. It is a journey to understand as things are and not as we assume them to be. That is how I believe I can go close to Truth and Freedom.

Why I paint (What I paint)

The joy experienced in painting with freedom stemming from skill is sometimes also felt by others — The joy experienced in painting with freedom stemming from pursuit of excellence is sometimes also felt by others

In case you have made it till here I would disappoint you now by saying that the above outburst may be completely unnecessary to understand why I paint what I paint. I paint landscapes, nature, animals, birds, humans, faces, figures, scenes from everyday life, things in my immediate surrounding because I just like to paint them. That is it. Direct interaction with nature and life around me is what inspires and motivates me to paint. That is the person who I am. For me being authentic is originality and if I persevere long enough with my authenticity it would eventually seep through into my work.

By painting what I paint I do get to see myself in a mirror. My work not only tells me who I am it also tells me who I can be. It tells me about a better self that I can become. May be the act of painting becomes independent of the subject someday. May be by painting something else I still would get to see the proverbial mirror. But probably it would be devoid of the joy I experience. And living without joy is something that is very hard for me to afford.

Enough said as of now. I’ll probably be singing a new song tomorrow as my worldview broadens. Tomorrow probably I’ll be laughing at what I have written now (Not that I am not smiling right now). But as of now I got to ‘Shut Up and Paint’.

shut up and paint meme by Milind Mulick — Shut up and paint meme by watercolor master Mr Milind Mulick

A Sketching Trip to Beautiful and Resplendent Mayurbhanj

Shimilipal tiger reserve in Mayurbhanj district of north Odisha had been in my bucket list for quiet a long time. But somehow luck had never been on my side and I could never make a pilgrimage to the tiger temple of Odisha. But then I had my ‘Oh Yes Finally’ moment in November this year. And it was not just a trip to Shimilpal. It was a sketching trip to the tribal hinterlands of northern Odisha. I was going to be painting in Mayurbhanj en plein air. And the icing on cake was that I made this trip with a group of sketchers of Bhubaneswar Sketching Club (BSC). I could not have wished for more.

Baripada

Baripada is the district headquarter of Mayurbhanj district and this is where we flagged off our sketching marathon on 4th of November. Coincidentally it was Kartik Poornima on the same day, a festival which is celebrated with a lot of enthusiasm across Odisha. People had gathered on the streets early in the morning after boita bandana and it created a very energetic atmosphere. We happen to be at MPC junior college which is actually a palace now functioning as a educational institute. The sunlight was also quiet angular and it created very interesting shadow patterns on the walls of the college. All in all it was a perfect morning to paint on location and all of us enjoyed sketching there. Later we moved to collector’s office which is housed in an old British building and sketched there.

Baldiha

On day 2 we headed to a tribal village named Baldiha. But before going inside the village we decided to sketch at the Baldiha dam where many films have been shot. When we reached the dam it was not difficult to understand why so many films have been shot there. The vast expanse of the river flowing smoothly till the dam and them the overflowing water from the dam gushing down with brutal force was something I could not take my eyes off from. We sketched here till lunch. After a hearty lunch of simple and delicious local food we moved inside the village.

Sketching inside the village was one of the highlights of the trip. The villagers welcomed us with a smile everywhere we went. I sketched in the courtyard of a house. It was amazing to see how the living space is shared with cattle, goats, poultry which itself is surrounded by agricultural land and forest. The life of the villagers was all about inclusion, interdependence, community and restraint. It was such a humbling experience to sketch there.

Similipal

It was the third and last day of our trip and a day I had been waiting for a really long time. We were going into Similipal and if possible we were going to do some sketching there. Once we got inside the forest, Similipal started to reveal its beauty gradually. And it was better than what I could have imagined. It was serene yet edgy. Sort of sensual in a way. We traveled about 120 kms into the forest. On the way we made stops at a few waterfalls. But nothing prepared me for our last pit stop at Uski waterfall. We could get really close to the waterfall. In fact two of us trekked upto the fall through the river and it was a lot of fun. Watching the water gush down the hill made time stop. It was difficult to take my eyes off it. Unfortunately it was starting to get dark and we started our journey back to Baripada. And in the meanwhile we did manage to sketch at a couple of places including Uski waterfall.

All of us had a great time doing intensive sketching and enjoying the natural beauty of Mayubhanj for three days in stretch. But those three days seemed to have flown by in a jiffy. Three days indeed were too short to soak in the beauty of north Odisha. I am already planning my next trip there.

The sketchers of Bhubaneswar Sketching Club

p.s. I also made a small video on our Similipal visit. You can see it here.

The Creative Process – Painting Outdoors

“Painting from nature is not copying the object; it is realizing one’s sensations.” -Cezanne

The sparkling morning dew on the grass that’s still refreshingly damp to touch. The whispering wind that caresses, carrying on with it the faint whiff of wildflowers and the sounds of roosting birds. The rains that darken the sky, mist the horizon and tap a melody over rustling leaves. This is what the artist is faced with when painting en plein air – where all his senses of sight, smell, sound and touch are continuously engaged, where he is in direct contact with nature’s life force. And in turn, this lends to his art something that is so invigorating – that it never fails to touch a chord with the viewer. A work done in the comfort of indoors may be technically more accomplished, but nothing can match the vitality of a watercolor painted outdoor in natural light!

The above paragraph was penned down by one of my writer friends called Amit. And I think it really captures the essence of painting en plein air. Sometimes these forces of nature have such a strong effect that a painting just happens spontaneously. But still most times there is a creative process that is at work when artists paint outdoors. This process is necessary not only to make successful paintings, but also to maximize learning and the joy of painting outdoors. This week I am headed to IIT Kharagpur, my Alma Mater to capture few of its beautiful location en plein air. And I thought it will be a good time to discuss about my creative process of painting outdoors.

This is the second post in my series of posts on Creative process. In the first post of this series, I have talked about the creative process in a generic way.

The Creative Process of Painting Outdoors

Identifying subject and the sweet spot

The first thing that happens in any creative process is Inspiration. Morning and afternoon light has the capability to turn mundane scenes to great subjects. Hence I generally prefer to look for inspiration in the morning or in the afternoon and avoid the flat noon light. A good subject does not necessarily mean a very beautiful scene. In fact sometimes a very beautiful scene may not turn out to be a great subject. What I aim to find in a scene is basically big abstract shapes, play of light and may be an interesting perspective. What I avoid is is clutter of too many shapes and colors. When I have found my subject, the next task is to find a good place to station myself for the next 2-3 hours from where I can observe the subject and paint. In fact the spot from where I paint generally becomes more important than the subject itself because if I am not comfortable in a place it is difficult for me to paint. When I find the perfect place for the perfect subject I call it sweet spot. All this exercise of finding a sweet spot involves quiet a bit of walking and exploration. Hence I keep my outdoor equipment very light and minimal and paint on papers that are no bigger than 11 x 15 inch (quarter sheet).

Getting a Feel

To begin with I only take out my portable chair and sketchbook and just start sketching anything that catches my eye. People, trees, buildings, cars, bikes, lamp post… It could just be anything. I just sketch to get a feel of the surrounding. Most of the times I would get my figures which later come into my paintings from these sketches itself. This exercise of getting a feel this way sets off the creative process of painting outdoors and it kind of prepares me mentally.

The Thumbnail and Idea Sketches

detail sketch of the temple and thumbnail

When I have sketched enough I start narrowing down on the scene that I would be painting. I look around through a view finder made with my palms to get an idea of the portion of the scene to paint. Squinting helps to identify the big shapes in the subject at this time. When I have found my subject I do a few thumbnail/composition studies to reduce the subject to 2-3 major tonal shapes. In these sketches I may move things around, add something that may not be there (without taking away from the subject), merge shapes together. This is an exercise to get my composition right without losing the tonal layout. Sometime I even color these sketches lightly to get an idea if my color scheme will work or not.

Execution – Spontaneity v/s Original Idea

When I am done with my preparation I finally setup my easel to paint. At this point I feel I have got it all worked out in my head. I feel very confident of making a great painting. I draw my subject and then start my painting with great enthusiasm. But somewhere in the middle of the painting many a times my world comes crashing down. I find myself completely lost. After all the medium I paint in is watercolor. And it has a mind of its own. It has its own powers to guide the painting. And when that happens its always better to go with the flow. Its better to change my plans and go in the direction watercolor wants me to go. Believe me or not, most of the times it does result in a better painting. The best parts in the paintings actually turns out to be what I did not paint, so to say.

Reflection

A sketh with color notes — A sketch with color notes

Ninety Nine percent of the times I am not happy with my painting on location. When I get back home I put my work in a drawer or a corner so that I cant see it for a few days. When I see it after a few days it does look much better. It is probably because I do not have the actual scene in front of me to compare with. But at the same time I look at it critically and if needed I make some tonal or color corrections. One trick I learnt from a friend is to take picture of the painting, print it and then try the corrections on the print first to check if it works or not. This way I can be sure that the changes to the painting will not kill it at least.

Indoor v/s Outdoor

somedays its just about sketching — some days its just about sketching

There are three major differences between working in the studio and working outdoors. First is the time factor. When you are painting outdoors you have to finish (or almost finish) your painting within a shorter time period. Second is the tools and materials that you can use will always remain limited. And third is that the outdoor environment is very dynamic and can be very uncomfortable. The secret to painting outdoors is to turn these into positives. Painting fast with a purpose often takes away over thinking and brings in spontaneity and freshness. Working with limited material makes the work simple which is the hall mark of a great watercolor work. And the dynamic environment is a great source of learning and also brings in new elements to one’s work.

In the end I would stress upon the fact that this is just a generalized process I follow. But in reality sometimes I don’t sketch at all and directly paint while at other times I keep sketching and never paint. While a process can help you never be afraid to go with your gut feel. Its more fun that way.

En plein air Mausima temple, Bhubaneswar

En plein air Distillery District, Toronto

En plein air Mukteswar temple, Bhubaneswar

The Creative Process of making Art 2 : Reinventing Oneself

There are times when you could be at the top of your game. Painting well, painting in a good rhythm, creating masterpieces on a regular basis. But still the satisfaction of creating them is a short lived one. This little voice in your head starts whispering in your ear and keeps telling you that you have become too comfortable. And when that happens it is a tricky area to be in for an artist. You know you are in a good place and common sense tells you to enjoy it as long as it lasts. But then the creator inside you never likes to be ‘comfortable’ and wants to create something new. And funnily enough this situation is the trigger to reinventing oneself; Yet another creative process of making art.

I too am trying to reinvent myself and in this post I’ll share my method which I have followed till now.

The Comfort Zone Trap

Spontaneous creation of from a 'blank' state of mind — Spontaneous creation of from a ‘blank’ state of mind

The comfort zone builds up slowly. But it surely happens multiple times in a creative journey. Its a nice place to be in, but not for long. Because the more you get attached to it the more difficult it becomes for the artist in you to develop. So its good to be aware of this fact and just keep doing a sanity check once in a while if you are getting into the trap. A close look at your recent works will help you. Check if a certain pattern is glaring at you from those works. Check if you are getting repetitive. Do an honest assessment and your works will tell you if you are slipping into a comfort zone.

Well I did not do any such checks. I just strongly felt I need to do something new. And that I guess came from subconsciously seeing a pattern in my works.

Starting From Blank

Refining the spontaneous sketch during conscious exploration phase

You have identified that you are in a comfort zone and you want to break out from it. But now what. How do you let go of your style to do something new that you are not even aware of. This is a good problem to solve in the creative process of making art. I am going to tell you the process I followed and its just one way of doing things. You can invent your own method. You can even try my method. It is fun by the way.

Conscious Exploration of 'new style' — Conscious Exploration of ‘new style’

I started from blank. I also made sure that I don’t use my regular paper, brushes and palette. First I arranged my paper, paint and brushes around me so that I can start painting as soon as I want to. Then I randomly picked a reference photo without looking at it and then closed my eyes. Next I visualized darkness and meditate on that to allow my mind to become empty. At some point I opened my eyes, looked at the reference pic for a few seconds and then started painting. I just let my hand move as fast as possible in a subconscious and spontaneous manner. I took around 10-15 minutes to paint and then went away from my easel. When I came back to it after sometime I tried to find a new visual language in it which I can pick up and explore further.

Explore and Allow Yourself to Fail

And I did find something I could pick up on. In this case because of the nature of the paper I had to limit my washes to light ones and number of layers to only two. And as I had ‘thrown’ paint at the paper, some parts of the painting was not painted. I had taken a spontaneous decision and had ‘drawn’ the unpainted parts with a rigger brush using black paint. So I decided to try these things out. That is

‘Throwing Paint and leaving a lot of white of the paper
Limiting maximum layers to only two
‘Drawing’ with rigger to suggest the unpainted parts.

Now again this step is about exploration just like the last step. But this is more conscious while the previous step was more subconscious effort. In this step as you can see from the pictures I was trying different ways of ‘throwing’ paint and leaving out whites and also different ways of drawing the unpainted details. Some seem to work while other did not. The idea here is to paint with abandon and try things without fear. The more you fail the more you learn. Allow yourself to fail in this step of Creative Process of making Art.

Finding the ‘New’

The whole idea behind the previous step of conscious exploration is to get used to the new thing you have found and establish it in your mind. The paintings that did not work teach you what to avoid and the ones that worked teach you what looks good. This way your decision making becomes better in your new found style. And as you keep painting more and more holding on to the spirit of the new method this decision making gets more refined and your muscle memory also get stronger. And then there comes a time when you become really good at it and the next comfort zone sets in. And then its time to break the barriers all over again.

As far as my exploration goes there was a divine intervention. One of my idols happened to nudge me a little to align me to the right direction through a comment on one of the works I posted on Facebook. Now I’ll try to look for subjects to suit this new style and keep refining it. As I keep at it hopefully I’ll find a new visual language somewhere on the way. And again hopefully that would lead to a set of accomplished and satisfying works till I get dissatisfied again.

The Creative Process of Making Art 1 : Generic Creative Process

As an artist, there is this particular question that I often face from different people on a daily basis. I am sure all my artist friends around the world must be facing this question too. And the question is “How muchtime do I typically take to make a painting”! I generally answer this question as, “Anything between a few minutes to a few years”. And then the eyebrows start to get raised.

The Creative Process

People often look at the time taken to make a piece of art as when a person is actually painting. And that time for me ranges from a few minutes to a few hours. But that is just the final execution time for the painting. All the time spent before that to reach that point in time when I am actually painting is more important and that time is highly variable. All the thoughts processed, all the ideas explored, all the actions taken to crystallize the idea and get clarity (many times just trusting intuition) and every other little things done to reach a point when I start to put colors on paper (including the action of putting colors on paper) is what can be called as my Creative Process of making Art. And this process varies depending on whether I am working outdoors or at the studio, working from life or working from photographs, working on some painting of my own or working on a commission.

Though its termed as a process its not necessarily a set of steps that I follow or have to be followed by anyone. The creative process sometimes can be purely spontaneous while at other times its methodical. But generally it is a mix of method and madness most of the times. In this series of posts I’ll take you through my creative process for different contexts. In this post I’ll touch upon my creative process in very broad terms.

Inspiration

In my opinion art can not happen without inspiration. Inspiration is basically that strong and sudden emotion that makes you want to go and create. It can come anywhere and anytime. It can come from a beautiful scene, a song, a story, from another art work or it can just be idea that strikes you. Inspiration can come from anywhere and many times it is from places you least expect. But unless you are looking for it there is a very small probability that it is going to strike you. So to begin the creative process look for inspiration and let it strike you.

Exploration

While painting outdoors I just sketch anything that catches my eye to form an idea

Just because you have been inspired, it does not mean it can turn into a master piece right away. However in some cases inspirations seems to give birth to great art works directly. It seems so because rest of the creative process happens inside artist’s head and that can not be observed externally.

When inspiration strikes, the next step is to search for that idea which would express your intention (born out of the inspiring moment) clearly on canvas. This is where imagination starts to come into play and continues to play a role in rest of the process. For me just sketching without any fixed ideas in head (exploring) or making small thumbnail studies helps in reaching the idea that would work on paper. Sometimes nothing works. In such cases just give it some time and space and the idea would come when you have almost forgotten about it.

Research

Many a times a painting needs some background research for factual correctness. For example if you are painting a scene from a bygone era you can not paint the figures with cell phones in their hands. You need to find out about things like clothing, vehicles, architecture etc of that period. Research typically includes reading, internet searches, talking to experts, travel and discussing with other people. While painting outdoors this process is much simpler as the subject is right in front of you.

Preparation

This stage consists of a lot of sketching if I am painting from a photograph. I generally use different mediums to sketch. I also make sketches of different sizes. While painting outdoors also I do a few sketches of my surroundings to get a feel of the place.When you sketch your hands and mind warm up and ideas start to get crystallized. It brings clarity in your head.

This stage may involve learning to work with a new medium or picking up a new skill or technique. In such cases preparation time is typically a few months to few years. The exploration stage also involves sketching. But here the sketches are done with some idea and intent unlike the free sketching in exploration stage.

Feeling for the ‘Aha’ moment

There are only subtle differences in these two sketches. But the Aha moment came for the one on the right probably because of the difference in lighting

This is the stage that is quite elastic in terms of time. Sometimes I am okay with the first sketch itself. And more often than not it takes many sketches to reach that ‘Aha’ moment. Its that moment when the sketch is able to match the unseen vision. And it does not have to be the latest sketch you would have done. It could be an earlier sketch which did not appeal to you when it was done. But later when you see it with a fresh mind it seems to work. Here you can ask how can a sketch match up to something that is still not clearly visible even in your head. Well the question is absolutely valid. The eureka moment is actually intuitive and its like a spontaneous uplifting emotion that I have come to trust. And when that moment comes I dont explore any further. That sketch becomoes the reference for my final painting.

Sometimes that ‘Aha’ moment never comes. In such cases I dont go ahead with the painting. But sometimes I just looks at technicalities of the composition, color scheme etc and go ahead with the final work just to see how it turns out.

Execution

This is the implementation stage where the final painting is executed. All the previous process steps put together can be called as the build up stage which as I said earlier can last from a few minutes to few months and can go even up to years. All that time helps to bring clarity and confidence for executing the final work. But that clarity and confidence does not have to be 100%. In fact for me it has never been 100%. There is always room for spontaneity and improvisations. Especially when working with watercolors there has to enough room for things to happen naturally on paper.

Avoiding the ‘Oh No’ moment

Most paintings are killed when they begin to approach completion. A false stroke here and there towards the end of painting especially when working with watercolors can spoil all the good work that you would have done before that. So I prefer to be careful and take time to do the final touches in a painting to avoid the ‘Oh no’ moment.

Contrary to what I have said here sometimes an unintended stroke has actually worked for the painting. But the chance of that happening is very low.

Evaluation and Adjustments

The top painting was rejected after evaluation stage and painting below was done at the back of the paper.

When a painting has just been done one can be very attached to it. At times you may never see any glaring issues with it and at other times you may find faults even where there is none. So when I finish a painting I put it away for a few days. Typically 2-3 weeks works fine. Then I come back to it and do a critical evaluation. Depending on the evaluation I may do some minor changes and adjustments. But I dont do any major changes. If there are huge issues with the paintings I dump it in rejects drawer. Sometimes I paint it again on new paper or on the backside of the paper. Cropping the picture is also one of the things I sometimes resort to.

Learning

The creative process does not stop when a painting is done. You would always learn something new (however small it may be) from every painting. Its a good idea to document it by taking pictures and making a note somewhere. You can also take feedback from appropriate persons about your work and see how can you improve it. Many a times you stumble upon a technique, brush stroke or color mix in the process of making a painting. Make a note of it in your sketchbook and see how can you use it in your subsequent work.

The creative process is not linear. Its a loop and hence a never ending process. An artist just keeps traversing the loop again and again throughout his life. But every traversal of the loop makes her a better artist and her works more mature. Creative process is like a roller coaster ride of emotions. Generally the lows are more than the highs. But the high, when it comes is that of pure joy.