Manon Gauthier
Manon Gauthier
Montreal, Quebec Canada
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CharmLotta
It was a bit difficult for me to distinguish "ideas" from "memories and emotions". In a simpler form, couldn't the first question actually be "what can you do with this item?", "how could you use it"? My first item was a cake baking pan and I answered the first question: "baking cakes", "testing new recipes", "creating a homely atmosphere". How do you think, is the last answer an activity or rather an emotion?
Manon Gauthier
Hi CharmLotta! The last answer to me tends more towards an emotion than an activity: what does a "homely atmosphere" mean to you? The heat radiating from the oven while it's baking? The idea of sharing a tasty piece of food at the family table? The smell of baked goods spreading through the house? This can mean a lot of different things to each individual. I think in retrospect, creativity is to help our minds see beyond the obvious: a baking cake = action of baking = a cake. And so if you go beyond and look at the idea of "homely atmosphere", then this is when you step away from the obvious and let your imagination wander...
Manon Gauthier
Contrary to the previous project, I took each object individually and I tried not to derive my choice from a global meaning or theme. I chose a human heart, woman's lips and a ram's horn.
catherine boaziz
Hello I am a doctor, therefore formatted for a reflection framed by demonstrated scientific bases and must apply protocols while respecting precise recommendations. Sometimes, however, cases deviate from standard situations and it is necessary to tailor them by associating rigorous data and a new situation. It is therefore necessary to create a scientifically acceptable and possible proposal for the patient according to their physiological but also psychological characteristics. In addition, I do clinical research and we explore new treatment avenues by comparing them to standard diagrams. It is therefore a fairly limited creativity To compensate for this, I do digital painting, photography, drawing, and that's how I discovered this site. I am studying the basics and "doing scales", learning anatomy, etc., but I like the illustration that expresses an idea with a few lines and "letting go" without a precise framework and improvising. I really like literature, playing with words, having fun with language and image connections, like representing figurative meanings, for example, to throw oneself into the water in French means to dare something, when we say to have the stomach in the foot means to be hungry, to be hungry, etc., I am very interested in composition and the different possibilities of structuring the space of the drawing, the relationships between mathematical rules and composition The same subject in a different structure expresses different things I like it when the project takes me where I didn't think I would go In Photoshop I look at how AI can also introduce unexpected elements I also sometimes dream of images that I would like to reproduce, it is rare but very intense I get bored quickly in general, I need adventure and novelty in everything I do. Here in two words I think my relationship to creativity I hope that Google will translate well what I want to say .. I will try to understand the journals of the other members Thanks for their testimonies
Manon Gauthier
Hi Catherine! Nice to meet you! I'm from Quebec, and I know exactly what you mean with these French expressions. I once entertained the idea of becoming a doctor when I was a kid. It didn't happen, but I've always stayed close to the human body in my artistic endeavors. I have one foot in science and one in art - my interests are many, but when I want to solve a problem for myself, be it physical or otherwise, I will delve deep into research. Lately that was researching the intricacies of human microbiology and the workings of hormones. Well. What can I say? Believe me when I say that my interests are many. All this to say that it made me think about the medical community, scientific organizations and protocols, the College of Medicine and its ethics. And I'm glad that it didn't work out for me as I find this world very limited in its thinking, as you pointed out in your first paragraph. I like to say to the people who strongly believe in science almost as if it were a religion, that before a scientific fact became a scientific fact, chances are it used to be considered a "pseudo-science". If ever there was an analogy to be made with science and creativity, it would be this: science can be limiting where pseudo-science is its creative counterpart. I'm very curious about human nature in general, and I find that drawing anatomy, recreating the human body on paper and then drawing people, poses and expressions, make me dig deeper into that illusive nature. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. I look forward to seeing your work and sharing with you!
Kristy Lannan
Oh! I really like this idea of individual connotation versus universal! I'm appreciating waiting a day between lessons to let ideas sink in. Probably a good practice to get into. I am totally the kind of person who just watches everything and says I will do the assignments later. Trying to approach this one differently because on the invitation to wait. Enjoying chewing on the concepts!
Manon Gauthier
I've always approached my art with lenses of connotation. What you just said, however, makes me wonder: as artists, it's easy to get so enthusiastic about our projects that we kind of rush into them. I've seen it time and again with some of my students, and also in the comments of other people when they find out that I put a lot of thought into something - as if they couldn't be bothered with doing the research or the thinking. Even now I don't think I put so much thought beforehand when I work on new ideas - a lot of those thoughts come during the creation of the finished piece and it always makes me wonder how much better it would have turned out if I had just taken my time with it. At the end of the day, it's a very personal balance: allow yourself to savor the creation process, but don't let it stop you from creating... I find that these exercises will be just what I need to achieve that balance! How about you, Kristy?
Manon Gauthier
These are objects that I grouped together to create a continuity in what they represent to me. I love symbolism and my work is usually full of it. The book is a leather journal I received as a gift. It reminds me of a grimoire, and I used it a bit like an anthropologist would use a diary in which he notes his findings and sketches his discoveries. The dagger is a collectible piece I acquired a long time ago - I thought it was so beautifully crafted that I couldn't just let it sit in a store's display case. :D Lastly, the last piece is a brass lamp that can be used to burn incense, but I acquired for its exotic quality and the idea that perhaps there's a genie hidden in there... All the while drawing these, I had stories of adventure and discoveries while roaming in ancient civilizations. It also makes me wonder what it could be like going through a collection of similar objects residing in the dark recesses of a museum's basement... I had a novel project a few years ago set in a Fantasy world that I had to put on pause for various personal reasons. I never got to complete it, but while I pondered on what objects to pick for this project, and as I was drawing them, my mind wandered back to that story and gave me more ideas that would advance my plot. I would have expected, though, to get ideas for a visual composition, not a written one! I suppose it's part of what creativity is all about: you get inspiration for something, and it comes in a way that was totally unexpected.
Kristy Lannan
“One of the most important skills for a creative person is how to make decisions despite ambiguity.” Now that felt important to hear and mull over. When I drew the wooden truck, my inner monologue was pretty negative. I was hard on myself about how bad it was and how hairy my lines were, and I could not break through my inner critic to have more profound creative thoughts. However, I pushed through to finish it despite not liking it. It took me a long time to draw. It was a few days before I was able to come back to do the other two. I appreciated the experience because it got me thinking about how being hard on myself stands in the way of my creativity. When I did the vase, I listened to an audiobook because concentrating on my thoughts did not serve me. It took me far less time, and though it’s a bit wonky, I am okay with how it turned out. I missed out on the thinking portion with this one, but it was how I had to problem-solve to regain my momentum. Today I drew the little clay owl—my thoughts were serving me more today—I was thinking about how it was likely made and how to capture its natural texture with a marker. This was a great opening creative project. It got me thinking about how sometimes my thoughts might get in the way of my creativity.
Manon Gauthier
Hi Kristy! These are great drawings. I especially like the little truck because it brought back memories of an antique little car my grand-mother gave me as a kid - probably one of her own family heirloom toys, and that brought back a flood of emotions as well. My grand-mother was born in 1898, and passed away nearly a hundred years later. It's mind-boggling to think that she lived through getting electricity in the house, being able to call people living on the other side of the planet, going through 2 World Wars, discovering television, cameras, and computers. All this with your little truck... Never underestimate the power of your drawings, even if you don't find them as perfect as you would have liked. And thanks for sharing, and the recovery of this old memory of my antique car - I wish I still had it, I would probably use it as a model for this assignment!
CharmLotta
I like reading about others' experiences, so I'm sharing mine too. I was always keen of making various crafts (sewing, crochet, knitting, papercraft). So I have some kind of art background - I design paper decorations and pop-up cards plotter templates as a hobby (blog / Instagram links in my profile), but I feel my designs are so simple and not very impressive (although people like them, because they are also easy to make). Generally I find it difficult to create my own project without "feeding" my imagination with other people's creations. Of course, I don't copy their ideas literally, but I don't have my own distinct style either. That's why I'm here. I'm also participating Stan's "Drawing Basics" course.
Manon Gauthier
I'm also doing the Drawing Basics course, and some others too. I find that people who are good at many things, techniques, crafts, woodworking, etc, will often be the most creative! So I think we're in the right place!
Manon Gauthier
Here are some answers I'd like to share: -- Are you new to creativity or experienced? I'm experienced. My background is in IT, as a programmer, database architect and data analyst. In other words, I'm a problem solver, which requires quite a bit of creativity, most of the time. The reason I'm posting this here is because I think it would be helpful to make a few points. As I was reflecting on this (I will spare you the long-winded reflection and internal conversation that resulted in this exercise), I came to the conclusion that I was NOT a creative person as a child. I don't think that I would have fit in that study of highly creative children, but rather developed my own creativity later in adulthood. Perhaps it has to do with how certain people have their own way of processing information. After that self-reflection, I came to the conclusion that my creativity as a child was not properly stimulated. For example, in 3rd grade we were given an assignment: build a musical instrument. I couldn't come up with any original way of designing and building a musical instrument. The only thing I could come up with was an empty box of Kleenex and a couple of elastics to make some sound as this very badly designed guitar. However, I did come up with something that I was very shy to present, was scorned by my fellow classmates for, but left the teacher very impressed: I had everyone clap in their hands at different intervals to create the sounds of a crackling camp fire. Then I proceeded to have them hit their fingers together to create the sounds of rain hitting a roof. My point is, if the assignment had been "create a new way to make sounds", which is way more abstract than "create a music instrument," my child's mind back then would have struggled a lot less to come up with that idea. To my peers, it was a lazy solution: I hadn't done any work or built anything from my hands to get there - obviously, my poor attempts at making a guitar with a box of Kleenex didn't count for anything. But having them work for ME and my assignment, while unacceptable to them, was impressive to my teacher. I've had an epiphany about talent and creativity since a few years ago, and my approach to my own art has changed drastically, but mainly is that I don't really care any more what my peers think about my approach - as long as what I do and how I go about it is satisfying to ME. -- Do you have an art background? Yes. I've been sculpting clay since 1995, although I don't earn my living as a professional artist. Being a professional artist is just my second job! I teach the art of ceramics: sculpture, pottery, glaze making. I received my Bachelor of Fine Art back in 2022 and really loved the experience of college education (all done online) even though I recognize that it was lacking on many aspects - which I'm working to remedy. -- Where do you want to be more creative? Mainly in my art process. But creativity serves all aspects of life, and I'll take all that I can get. Strangely enough, I only recently found the "art category" of my own artwork - Creative Realism. And that alone put everything into focus for my artwork and my future projects.
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