Flipping into the art unconscious–not thinking too much

A friend once told me that we only use maybe 5% of the brain. When I paint, I go into what I call the “zone”, I flip into some part of that other 95% of the brain–the “art unconscious.” After all this time, I’m able to trust that that is when I do my best art work.

I’ve realized that when I think too much about what I am painting or try to analyze the painting that I am working on, I get into a whole lot of trouble.

However, I find that flipping into that other 95% of the brain is always exhausting.

Balancing art and life–getting on the art planet

I’ve asked writers and other painters how long they can actually work (the actual writing or painting etc.) in a day. These are artists that have at least published their second book or gotten through their second one-person show–artists that are in it for the “long haul.”

For artists in it for the “long haul,” who work almost everyday, who know that their art is their vocation, it is always a challenge to figure out the right balance between one’s art and the rest of one’s life.

These artists almost always say 4 hours (this does not include the hours and hours of “artistic incubation” that take place to make these 4 hours of actual writing, painting etc. happen, see earlier post on “artistic incubation.” Neither does it include all the time devoted to the “business” part of art, which takes a great deal of time.)

Most people would say 4 hours, well that’s ridiculous, that’s nothing. Actually it’s not. (Yes, I know, this is when most people, parents, loved ones, significant others start screaming, “4 hours! Get a real job!!!”…calm down, relax, start getting on the “art planet!”)

The drool stage

I find that 4 hours (not including the artistic incubation part, and the business part) is just right. If I work 5-6 hours, I’m exhausted, and any more than that, I get to what I call the “drool stage”, where I’m beyond exhaustion, and can’t do much of anything, except, sit, stare into space and drool! I hate being in the “drool stage.”

The trick for me is to balance my day, and to know when to stop right before I get to the “drool stage.” Sometimes I stop too early, sometimes I stop too late, and sometimes I get it just right. Love those days when I get it just right.

Mary Baker

An artist’s job differs from a regular 9 to 5 job in that it requires what I call “artistic incubation.” An artist can be disciplined and work a certain schedule, but an artist’s creative endeavor is not a linear process.

Our culture values business, whether the business is actually productive or not. Our culture does not value the internal process that must take place to create a work of art, which might look to an outsider to be laziness, but actually takes a great deal of hard work, and is vital to the creative process. The actual getting down to write, draw, paint, sculpt, dance, act cannot be adequately achieved without it.

If someone were to spend time with me they would find me wandering around my studio, sitting and staring at my paintings, pacing back and forth. All of that is part of my own “artistic incubation.”

I almost always get to a place in a painting where I don’t know what to do next. I’ve learned over time to just leave the painting alone, that great phrase, “when you don’t know what to do, do nothing” echoing in my head. And there comes a point, maybe days, weeks and even years later when I then know exactly what to do. Without that period of “artistic incubation” the painting would be overworked and ruined.

Sylvia White has written an article where she addresses this issue. In the article she has this to say:

” It wasn’t until I really understood the process of making a painting that I realized how much of the work is in just looking…thinking…imagining what it would be like to do this or that. Mental activity that to the lay person looks like relaxation. I could accept the fact that slathering paint around was work…but, sitting and staring, that was hard for me. What I came to learn was that the “looking,” is the hardest part. It was kind of like hearing about the way Mozart wrote music. He wouldn’t write anything down until he could hear it all in his head first, then he would write it out perfectly in a matter of minutes.”

Please visit Sylvia White at her website, www.artadvice.com. Sylvia White has also graciously allowed me to reprint her article on my website Mary Baker Art.

Mary Baker

I like the way it was described in the write up in the New York Times on Highly Creative People, that Dr. Barron “worked in a way that seemed to be casual and without any particular focus”; but Dr. Barron, a highly creative person, obviously had a great deal of focus.

For me, the creative process is a mystery. I wake up in the morning, and I have no idea what my day will be like or which painting I’m going to work on that day.

I often don’t know until I walk into my studio, which of the many, usually 9-11 paintings, will get my attention.

And if someone came into my studio, they would think I was wandering around aimlessly, doing things that have nothing to do with painting.

Usually it takes about a year for a group of paintings to begin to take shape and show some cohesiveness. After all these years I am finally comfortable with the chaos of that process, because I have been amazed, again and again at what emerges from it. Eventually what emerges in a year and a half to two years, is twenty paintings that are a consistent body of work.

I wrote a piece on my own creative process on my website, called Creativity. It explains in more detail the cyclical nature of the painting process.

On October 13, 2002, I came across a write up in the New York Times of Frank X. Barron, known for his studies of highly creative people. When I have doubts about myself as an artist, I read it and it always makes me feel better, because– a) it makes me smile and– b) I feel like I’m not alone.

I’m passing it along to you:

Dr. Barron once described a highly creative person as “both more primitive and more cultivated, more destructive, a lot madder and a lot saner than the average person”.

Dr. Barron found that highly creative people show high levels of ego-strength, a trait that allows them to channel their energy into creative work. They resist conformity and demonstrate a willingness to take risks.

And this is the part about highly creative people that I really like

Significant creative advances require a high tolerance for disorder and a preference for complexity, combined with the ability to extract order from chaos.

Dr. Barron’s own style reflected many of these characteristics. He worked in a way that might seem, if you hadn’t followed it for very long, to be casual and without any particular focus. But after a few years it became clear that there was an inner compass that guided him and continued to guide him for all of his life.

Blue Morning Glory
Oil on Panel
12” x 24”
Mary Baker © 2004

When I found Jenna Avery’s article on Highly Sensitive Souls on the Internet it was such a relief. Jenna articulated things that I had felt for years as an artistic soul, but had felt that something must be wrong with me. After reading Jenna’s article and going to her website–Highly Sensitive Souls, I realized that all those things that I had felt were wrong with me, were actually good things, maybe even great things.

Sensitive artistic souls

Jenna’s article describes so beautifully what it is like to be an artistic soul. Artists do have powerful intuition and awareness; artists do have emotional passion, intensity and depth. As artists we are very observant of the subtleties of our environment and yes, to be an artist, it is necessary to be a visionary.

Artists do receive much more information from our surrounding than other people and can get easily overwhelmed. Artistic souls have an inner life that is just as complex as our outer life and private time alone really is necessary to feel replenished and rejuvenated.

For years I felt that I didn’t “fit in” with the people around me (sometimes I still feel that way!), and it was a wonderful feeling after reading Jenna’s article to know that I wasn’t alone, and that nothing was actually wrong with me.

Helping other people to understand what it is like being an artistic soul

Jenna gave me permission to print her article Highly Sensitive Souls on my website Mary Baker Art. People have told me that they have printed the article and given it to their husbands, their parents, their co-workers, their children and even their children’s teachers to articulate and explain to them who they are.

People have also printed the article and given it to fellow artists for encouragement, reassurance and motivation.

If you are an artistic soul you will probably enjoy Jenna Avery’s website, Highly Sensitive Souls. I think that you are in for an incredible treat!