Two notions for you to entertain:
- Painting is adding.
- Sculpting is subtracting.
Adding means bringing things together. Perhaps there’s a sense of starting from nothing.
Subtracting means revealing what’s already there. Starting from something.
Think about the edges of those notions.
Think about adding being subtracting and vice versa.
Think about sculpting as being painting.
Combinations.
Think about process and idea.
Think about when you used to ride your bike without a destination.
Yes, and I suppose there’s a point of no return with sculpting…there’s more at stake…i.e. if you lop stuff off that’s it (unless you have tube of Araldite)…with painting you can always “correct” and layer over as you go. (You can, of course, simulate this finality with painting…or by drawing in indelible ink).
I prefer the finality of the ineradicable mistake, it’s an excitement…it concentrates the mind…like playing music in real time…or snooker for that matter…or agreeing to honour the first take…once it’s gone it’s gone. Lovely.
Wrote about that here: https://www.mikeoutram.com/2010/09/what-do-you-think-about-when-you-play/
maybe this should be painting or carving? (but i get the point).
any thoughts on getting ‘in the zone’. At gigs you can have people standing pulling faces outside windows, kids running around the back of your tube amp (think they’ll only do it once), people asking what drink do you want while you’re soloing over giant steps…etc. It amazes me how Jools Holland can do a national show like Later and in the middle of the show get straight in the zone behind a guest artist.