Barbara Rachko's Blog - Posts Tagged "rachko"
Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity...Excerpt
"One evening, after one false start too many, I just gave up. Sitting at a bar, feeling a bit burned out by work and by life in general, I just started drawing on the backs of business cards for no reason. I didn't really need a reason. I just did it because it was there, because it amused me in a kind of random, arbitrary way.
Of course it was stupid. Of course it was not commercial. Of course it wasn't going to go anywhere. Of course it was a complete and utter waste of time. But in retrospect, it was this built-in futility that gave it its edge. Because it was the exact opposite of all the "Big Plans" my peers and I were used to making. It was so liberating not to have to think about all of that, for a change.
It was so liberating to be doing something that didn't have to have some sort of commercial angle, for a change.
It was so liberating to be doing something that didn't have to impress anybody, for a change.
It was so liberating to be free of ambition, for a change.
It was so liberating to have something that belonged just to me and no one else, for a change.
It was so liberating to feel complete sovereignty, for a change. To feel complete freedom, for a change. To have something that didn't require somebody else's money, or somebody else's approval, for a change.
And of course, it was then, and only then, that the outside world started paying attention.
The sovereignty you have over your work will inspire far more people than the actual content ever will. How your own sovereignty inspires other people to find their own sovereignty, their own sense of freedom and possibility, will give the work far more power than the work's objective merits ever will.
Your idea doesn't have to be big. It just has to be yours alone. The more the idea is yours alone, the more freedom you have to do something really amazing.
The more amazing, the more people will click with your idea. The more people click with your idea, the more this little thing of yours will snowball into a big thing.
That's what doodling on the backs of business cards taught me."
Hugh MacLeod in Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity
Comments are welcome!
* an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on.
www.barbararachkoscoloreddust.com
Of course it was stupid. Of course it was not commercial. Of course it wasn't going to go anywhere. Of course it was a complete and utter waste of time. But in retrospect, it was this built-in futility that gave it its edge. Because it was the exact opposite of all the "Big Plans" my peers and I were used to making. It was so liberating not to have to think about all of that, for a change.
It was so liberating to be doing something that didn't have to have some sort of commercial angle, for a change.
It was so liberating to be doing something that didn't have to impress anybody, for a change.
It was so liberating to be free of ambition, for a change.
It was so liberating to have something that belonged just to me and no one else, for a change.
It was so liberating to feel complete sovereignty, for a change. To feel complete freedom, for a change. To have something that didn't require somebody else's money, or somebody else's approval, for a change.
And of course, it was then, and only then, that the outside world started paying attention.
The sovereignty you have over your work will inspire far more people than the actual content ever will. How your own sovereignty inspires other people to find their own sovereignty, their own sense of freedom and possibility, will give the work far more power than the work's objective merits ever will.
Your idea doesn't have to be big. It just has to be yours alone. The more the idea is yours alone, the more freedom you have to do something really amazing.
The more amazing, the more people will click with your idea. The more people click with your idea, the more this little thing of yours will snowball into a big thing.
That's what doodling on the backs of business cards taught me."
Hugh MacLeod in Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity
Comments are welcome!
* an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on.
www.barbararachkoscoloreddust.com
An Artist's Creative Process...
Each artist has his/her unique creative process.
My working methods have changed dramatically over the years with my current process being a much-simplified version of how I used to work.
In other words, as I pared down my imagery in the "Black Paintings," my process quite naturally pared down, too.
One constant is that I have always worked in series with each pastel painting leading quite logically to the next.
Another is that I always have set up a scene, lit and photographed it, and worked with a 20" x 24" photograph as the primary reference material.
In the "Domestic Threats" series I shot with a 4" x 5" view camera.
Nowadays the first step is to decide which photo I want to make into a painting (currently I have a backlog of images to choose from) and to order a 19 1/2" x 19 1/2" image (my Mamiya 6 shoots square images and uses film) printed on 20" x 24" paper.
I get the print made at Manhattan Photo on West 20th Street in New York.
Typically I have in mind the next two or three paintings that I want to create.
Once I have the reference photograph in hand, I make a preliminary tonal charcoal sketch on a piece of white drawing paper.
The sketch helps me think about how to proceed and points out potential problem areas ahead.
For example, in this photograph I had originally thought about creating a vertical painting, but changed to horizontal format after discovering spatial problems in my sketch.
Also, I decided to make a small painting now because it has been two years since I last worked in a smaller (than my usual 38" x 58") size.
I am re-using the photograph on which "Epiphany" is based. Using a photograph a second time lets me see how my working methods have evolved over time.
Comments are welcome!
www.barbararachkoscoloreddust.com
My working methods have changed dramatically over the years with my current process being a much-simplified version of how I used to work.
In other words, as I pared down my imagery in the "Black Paintings," my process quite naturally pared down, too.
One constant is that I have always worked in series with each pastel painting leading quite logically to the next.
Another is that I always have set up a scene, lit and photographed it, and worked with a 20" x 24" photograph as the primary reference material.
In the "Domestic Threats" series I shot with a 4" x 5" view camera.
Nowadays the first step is to decide which photo I want to make into a painting (currently I have a backlog of images to choose from) and to order a 19 1/2" x 19 1/2" image (my Mamiya 6 shoots square images and uses film) printed on 20" x 24" paper.
I get the print made at Manhattan Photo on West 20th Street in New York.
Typically I have in mind the next two or three paintings that I want to create.
Once I have the reference photograph in hand, I make a preliminary tonal charcoal sketch on a piece of white drawing paper.
The sketch helps me think about how to proceed and points out potential problem areas ahead.
For example, in this photograph I had originally thought about creating a vertical painting, but changed to horizontal format after discovering spatial problems in my sketch.
Also, I decided to make a small painting now because it has been two years since I last worked in a smaller (than my usual 38" x 58") size.
I am re-using the photograph on which "Epiphany" is based. Using a photograph a second time lets me see how my working methods have evolved over time.
Comments are welcome!
www.barbararachkoscoloreddust.com
