Curiousity

There is something that happens as we move more deeply into art and art practices that we have fallen in love with.  We are curious.  Perhaps, we are curious to others as well, but we see things, we study things that may be uncommon for others to be curious about.  

I have found that I have an inner curiosity, in that I think things about 'a within' that inner space where my creativity lies.  Other times, when I am studying others' artistic presentations and creative work, and I come to a place of deeper study and following instructions from a presentation.  Other times, I take classes and dig deep into their processes and chose those I can fit into my type of art.  (That is a curiosity in itself because I am mixed media and anything goes with me.)  I do not tend to preplan my work though.  I get inspired and my curiosity as to how to portray what I have a sense of, just happens.  It seems to be short spans of pre-thought and curiosity but not prolonged for each piece I do.  I do tend to research, betimes, as to what might be a potential to something I want to create.  

As I work, I am experimenting with my own curiosity about the thing, person, place, I am trying to develop.  I might try some things that do not work, but then I try to figure out what else could be done.  I think y9ou can be an intuitive artist and still be doing some digging and be curious about what it is you are doing, or have done.  Sometimes I startle myself, find a sense of curiosity about how that happened. 

I do research skills, and I take it in like comfort food for a starving soul.  I play with things that worked.  I play with thing that did not work.  I think it is innate in me to be curious.

This happened with this piece.  It is not my usual type, but it was fulfilling.

I did a totally random background with inks and pens and blobs and blotches and suddenly, my curiosity about what were in those markings. I saw shapes.

I, for some reason, unbeknownst to me, decided I would try spraying some varnish on the canvas. 

  

But, to my amazement, it became workable in ways not spraying would have.  My curiosity about spraying that varnish was a good thing in this one.  I was able to play with drawing and mark making and collaging and fussing.

and suddenly the piece took on its own life.

What are you creatively curious about?  How does curiosity show up in your art work?

©Carol Desjarlais 3.29.20