Motion Stop Motion
I love the world of stop motion animation. It brings me right back to childhood, of folding little origami sheets and making these paper creatures come to life. There’s something magical about it. If you need to be converted, check out these amazing videos by Australian duo MaricorMaricar.
▲●■ from MaricorMaricar on Vimeo.
Big Green Idea from MaricorMaricar on Vimeo.
Creativity and the Brain
I started this site about six months ago to more or less catalog my interests and personal work. But when I look back and study all the posts I’ve published so far, I’m starting to see that my blog is just a big love letter to creativity. I’m obsessed with the creative mind. I love anything imaginative and thought provoking. Whether it manifests itself in a film, a painting, a delicious meal, or an idea, as long as it has a spark, I’m interested. I’m not fussed by the medium.
So now that I’ve defined what my blog is about, I want to share this podcast from the Guardian Science Weekly about creativity and the brain. Neuroscientist John Lehrer and author of Imagine -How Creativity Works sheds light on some of the scientific mysteries behind the creative mind. Most people define a creative discovery coming to the person as an “ah ha” moment, like an epiphany that just appeared to them. Bob Dylan describes the song “Like a rolling stone” as a pure moment of insight, a flooding in of lyrics and music. Because the very idea of creativity is so ethereal, science has had a difficult time measuring and studying how these moments appear into the mind. But many of the observations they have made are pretty telling.
They found that students who are too drunk to drive are 30% better at solving creative problems. Obviously rock stars and many writers are already aware of the creative benefits of drugs and alcohol, they realize your ah ha moments usually does not come from sitting in front of a computer. But while inspiration is a key to creativity, the other main ingredient needed is persistance. Success comes from perspiration and going through revisions and edits.
So how do you maximize your creativity? Work really really hard. What separates Picasso, Einstien, Dylan from others? Single mindedness and persistence.
A Painting Experiment
I usually paint by looking at an object or a picture but lately I’ve been bored with the results. So I thought I’d try out painting from my brain. Here are the results. Also it’s my first time trying out gouache paint. I think I want dive deeper into this more abstract style and see what else my subconscious is thinking about.
Jacques-Henri Lartigue
“I’m not a photographer writer painter, I’m a taxidermist of things that life offers me on the way.” - Jacques-Henri Lartigue
Hiromichi Ito Illustrations
“For me, the first impression that it was to dry out the elephant skin. I want to apply a moisturizer cream to his dried skin if I can.”
Fun paintings by Hiromichi Ito.
Being Elmo
“When a puppet is good and true and meaningful, its the soul of the puppeteer that you’re seeing.”
This documentary made me so happy!
Post Orange Detox
I just had the most ridiculous and fun weekend celebrating Queen’s Day with great friends. I’m sad it’s over but now it’s time to relax and detox. Back to painting bathtubs while listening to The Hunger Games audio books.
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