Creative brain going crazy
Seems like this is a theme of my life now...
I’ve been having crazy ideas recently. A lot of them. With regards to art, life, my sanity and way of doing things… but mostly my brain is going crazy with many artistic ideas.
And I have decided to go for them, no matter what. Today I will bring you along my most recent creative outbursts.
It all started by finding watercolor brush markers in a random store.
Usually, I only get high-quality, artist grade art supplies, especially paints. I don’t want to be bothered by having sub-par materials, cos they will create sub-par outcomes.
I also decided, to be stingy around art is not what I want to be, especially not when I want to sell my artworks. I feel it is almost an insult to sell art so someone and not make sure that I created it with the best quality supplies.
It also trains me to see all parts of the artistic process as worthy, valuable and special and not be cheap about it. I think it is important to think about what we want to create, how we want to live and what we value. Cos it creates a whole other energy, compared to being cheap, stingy & constantly worried about quality.
And yes, I think and believe that amazing artworks can be created with very simple supplies, you will see in a second. But the purpose is key. If I want to practice and have fun, I wont take my expensive paints; if I want to create something to sell, I go for those more pricy materials.
Anyways, I went to a random store, not even an art store & saw these watercolor brush markers and immediately wanted to have them. Mainly to take with me to paint anywhere and also because I wanted to try them as a tool.
And I love them for playing around and having random ideas come to live. Because I have the aim to “play and enjoy” the process, I don’t worry about the outcome, either the used up ink or any smudge or imperfect line.
And the more I do it, the more freedom I feel, and the more daring I become. Maybe you will see it throughout the development of the pieces I will share with you here.
I started with simply testing the colors & painting some snails. Looking back at it, the outcome still feels a bit controlled, a remaining try to be “correct” in some way:
You can see that even though I decided to use crazy colors, the outcome is neat & controlled. Just like the first butterfly in the next piece.
The insects after that, are more free and I decided to go messy & crazy. I love to have graphite lines shine through when I sketch my objects. But here I often decided to start with color first, then I missed the graphite lines & added them afterwards, outcome:
And then, I felt sciency again :D. For those of you who know, I am a biologist and did my PhD in Plant physiology. So I love all kinds of science and because I love art too, I became a scientific illustrator.
I felt like I wanted to paint something sciency in an analogue way, with my new markers, so I picked microscopy pictures of the embryo development of the infamous Arabidopsis thaliana… at least for plant scientists :D.
To make it more happy & colorful, I went for a warm color palette et voila, some artsy-fied science:
By that time, I was hooked on these markers.
At the same time, the feeling of retrieving came up. Also the feeling of getting back to the basic roots of what it means to be a human. Making this type of art is soooo rewarding, on all kinds of levels. It is different from all the digital art I make and the current AI-this and AI-that, improving, polishing, perfecting and optimizing makes me go nuts.
It is insanity because it makes everyone go nuts. And disconnect from themselves and each other. Sooo, upon the inspiration from a friend Mark McCartney, I decided to initiate a “Silent sitting” hour in the city I live in. I thought about the spot and went there to paint it, so I could use it for my announcement. Here it is:
This piece means a lot to me, because it is part of the city I call my home, it reminds me of just going out, being present, look, see & capture what is around me. This really connected me to myself and the present moment and I hope tomorrow some souls will join me from 12-13 at this beautiful spot; sitting and just being.
Drawing and painting and creating also deeply connects to the feelings we have and feel and process. While I was working at my technical editor job, I suddenly felt the urge to paint. And during that process, some type of frustration came up, an annoyance and I decided to let it flow & it clearly shows in the outcome:
The last thing I want to share with you today is, that my brain suddenly started processing words and language in a specific way… in a type of visual way…
I don’t know exactly where this came from, but as I don’t watch TV, I don’t listen to news, I don’t listen to lyrics music at home, I am not sure of the source.
I think that when we take the time to listen to our bodies, thoughts & mind & emotions, when we connect to our intuition, things come up. Maybe its from my soul, maybe its from a greater source, I dont know.
What I know is that these thoughts about words were so much fun, that I decided to draw them. Here comes the first one, the beautiful butterfly:
I wonder: why have I never before thought about that word: butter-fly? I dont know, I guess we sometimes take for granted what we see, know & use and dont reflect upon it. But the second I thought about it, I immediately tried to find many more words like that. And here are the two last ones, arguable a bit more tricky to draw:
So yeah, these are the crazy thoughts of my brain.
And before anyone might ask: I did not use any AI, I did not use any ChatGPT or other LLM tool, I did not google for references on how a butter-fly could look. My own little brain had the ideas, I looked at a fly, a butter design, a penguin. Thats it. Then I sketched it with graphite & added the colors immediately.
You know, this makes me very happy. Because I notice that I start to remove myself from any of the crazyness around AI & technology & tools that society and humans supposedly HAVE TO use.
No, we don’t have to do anything. We have to die, at least our physical bodies will pass away, cos our soul will keep on living.
But we certainly do not have to use and succomb to any tools that degrade our way of thinking, being and creating. We do not have to automatize, perfect & efficiency-fy every freaking second of our life and work and everything.
It’s enough, for real.
I am convinced that people would do much better, mentally, emotionally, physically & spiritually if they would write themselves. Even if its five minutes, with a pen and paper.
Or draw or scribble something. Go out & capture your favorite spot. Look around, notice the tiny things & even if you just pick an interesting stone you will draw: you win at life, because you are suddenly present!
Without earpods blasting music onto your brain, sunglasses blurring your vision, the phone occupying your hands.
I am very grateful for life, people, yes, also technology, because it enables a lot of great things.
But I have had enough of this digitizing of human beings and the disconnection it causes. So I will keep on painting & scribbeling & if anyone of you would want to join that. I would love to do it together!
Love,
Daria