Chapter 1: To be an Artist from "An Artist's Thought Book"

                                                   #42

Art is getting your conscious mind out of the way of your unconscious processes: art is the craftsmanship of the unconscious.

It seems that so often what stops the artistic process is thinking. When we think, we judge, criticize, procrastinate, or even worse play it safe. The best ideas that I get for my art work generally happen when I'm doing something else and I get this "aside" thought about an art project.  For me, art ideas do not happen because I want them to happen, most of the time they happen in spite of me. They happen unconsciously (or at least automatically).  The most important thing is to recognize any idea as worthy of writing down or sketching out.  Probably the worst habit is to "evaluate" the worthiness of the idea before making notes on it. Now, the conscious mind is in control and frequently that part will tell you that the idea is "waste of time", "not that unique" or "too difficult". We have to learn how our own unconscious processes work and then put ourselves in the position received what it delivers.