If you read my blog, you will be familiar with my struggles with the rigors of the MA course I am pursuing. Every now and again I hit on something which makes sense to me and this has been one of those moments. Recent email feedback from a tutor shone a light on Tim Inchgold’s writings, in particular this…. ‘We cannot make the future without also thinking it…The theorist does his thinking in his head, and only then applies the forms of thought to the substance of the material world….by contrast (the maker) allows knowledge to grow from the crucible of (his/her) practical and observational engagements with the beings and things around (him/her). This is to practise what I would like to call an art of inquiry.’
No prizes for guessing which camp I fall into! I’ve kind of edited the quote in order to own the words for myself. Clearly I am a maker rather than a thinker when it comes to my art practice. My tutor urged me to look at what my painting does beyond the initial intention.
I think I have been moving towards this. My work needs to express more than representation or narrative. But the next step is to use observations to initiate a connected but new image which is inspired by more than one thought.
These 4 images may appear to be unconnected but actually all feed into a new piece of work. I pinned a large sheet of paper to the wall and began rapid sketches of a generic figure moving through space. These were in my head because of the remembered poses from observational figure drawing I have been doing recently. They will be superimposed onto a landscape from any one of the areas I have worked on during the previous months when I was concentrating on landscape as a subject. I’ve been painting abstracted portraits of Kate too and even these might creep into this new work, I suspect.
Next I will let the materials take over and see where it leads. It’s in it’s very early stages at the moment. Movement, time and space will all be illicited somehow – not sure how yet. Memory plus feelings plus responding to the materials will all play their part. I think I’m making some progress towards a greater understanding of how my work is moved forward by thinking. How theory and research affect practice.
