Panoramio

I started using this google maps application which allows me to post pictures I have taken and placed them on a map of the world.  I am posting reference photos I have taken and turned into paintings.  http://www.panoramio.com/  This link is also on my home page of this blog under favorite links.

Creativity

I have been painting for a while now.  I have only gotten "serious" in the last four years.  What I mean by "serious" is working to get better and better in the quality of my work.  I am working on all aspects of my craft.  I am studying, trying new techniques, working different mediums, to name but a few of the ways I am trying to get better.  My style is evolving and I think I am getting better.  One thing I don't think I am working on is my creativity.  I think I take my creativity for granted.  I have read hundreds of articles in magazines and books about artists running into various forms of creative blockage.  Is this something I am going to run into in the future?  I hope not.
After reading another article about how to get out of the creativity funk; I stopped to think about my creativity.  It seems I am always thinking about my painting when I am not thinking about something else.  I am thinking about possible subjects, paintings I am working on, amazing colors, places I want to go to paint- it just goes on and on.                                                                                                                                  I think that my creativity is something that is and always has been inside me.  I think that my painting has become one of the consistent ways in which I express this creativity.  I think that painting is a form of excercise for my creativity and the more I practice the better I become at using it.  I think this whole discussion of the use of the left side or the right side of the brain is a matter of choice and practice.  I think the blockage of creativity in artists and their struggle to let their creativity flow is a matter of choice by the artist.
My creativity expresses itself best when I am focused.  I never think about anything besides what I am doing at the moment when I am thinking about creating or when I am actively creating.  I am sure that at a deeper level some other thoughts are happening. but they don't seem to surface.  When I am creating, my main thoughts are about how to best demonstrate my thoughts through the use of my materials and technique.  However, these thoughts of technique flow in an almost unconcious manner.  My skill or lack of it influences the outcome of the mental part of my creativity.  It is my ability to focus and to not become distracted from my thoughts and their actions that allows me to take my creativity to different levels.  It kind of feels like the differrent levels of sleep you experience.  When I am in my creative thinking process and I am not actively engaged through painting, my thoughts move around.  The act of painting focuses my creativity.  When I am engaged in creative thinking, I often become reflective about myself.

The above statements about my creativity may be right or wrong.  They seem right to me.  If they are true for others to a certain extent, then it seems to me that this creative block is more about the inability to focus, concentrate, and open up to the flow coming from your mind than anything else.

California Art Club

As a member of the California Art Club, I was given the opportunity to update my profile.  Here is the link to the California Art Club.  http://www.californiaartclub.org/membership/associate-artist