DISCOMBOBULATIONS • Blocks / Procrastinations
My subconscious will bounce around and find things to think about, often humans tend to focus on problems to analyze, familial conflicts, preconceived negative expectations. Music, vibration or beat, a soundtrack or movie dialogue will take care of that subconscious by keeping it engaged in an existing story just enough deter thought distractions. It attempts to fill that space so the brain is not so inclined to do so. This lets my mind be entertained essentially by keeping it engaged with a steady mood so that I can keep the primary focus on the task or artwork as to not allow it to be affected by disconnected emotions, worries or actions or statements of others nearby. Sometimes I will play movies not quite in my field of view but in surround sound.
Abstract paintings have become an essential tool in remaining somewhat sane and they are great for breaking free from routines or patterns blocking creative flow.
When my mind gets overwhelmed by seemingly random subconscious waves of thoughts brought on by day to day events, news, media, or a destructive repeating sequences of unreal imagined interactions. I will stop what I am working on and go to the studio, pull out a blank canvas and start auto painting with whatever colors are left on the pallet. The act of boldly yanking a canvas out and throwing paint on it acts to discombobulate mental and physical states or patterns to redirect the thought process to something more comfortable, in alignment with energy I wish to express rather than the letting negative energy expressed by others like outrage profiteers online—not to mention the people willing to post negative comments on your work who do it for no other reason. The older I get the more I realize how destructive the regular ongoing exposure is.
Once the discombobulation has occurred I focus on the elements of the act of painting. It becomes easier to feel of the brush in my hand, feel the paint as it is moved across the canvas through the brush in my hand. Soon a smile creeps in, adjust the audio a bit and take a moment to enjoy it and be thankful for the opportunity while you immerse in the sounds, the beat and rhythm.
Time to take a few deep long breaths and now pull out specific colors purely on how they make you feel. Clean the brush, hand or tool of choice and move back toward the painting that has yet to take any shape. I find my knees loosen and the rhythm takes hold and strokes of determined color hit the canvas in time with the beat. Soon I am contemplating the joy of life and how fortunate I am. Many times this is when I begin to work out concepts for figurative conceptual paintings. A sketchbook or a stick in the dirt will accomplish the same thing.
I have since learned of a simple technique for anyone to discombobulate negative or critical thought spirals. Take a moment to sit quietly and close your eyes. Hold up your hand and focus on the feeling the surface of your palm, take note of how it feels. The focus your feelings on the bones of your hand and take notice of how it feels different that the palm. The focus on the back of your hand and take notice of how it feels with tiny hair sensors detecting the atmosphere, how it is decidedly different that the palm or the bones. Notice the difference between temperature and something that almost seems like magnetism.