The Creative Process
- scottmiddleton
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
I’m fascinated by the near-mystical experience of artistic creativity. Specifically, that moment in which the artist becomes so thoroughly engrossed in his craft that he steps outside of himself and, in a very real sense, steps outside of ordinary time and space. Although it is a crime of understatement, we often refer to this state as “being in the zone.” It is only within this state that the artist is capable of shaping the purist expression of his vision.
I find my own creative process to be a wondrous interplay of conscious and unconscious thought, creating a sort of dreamspace in which I am able to relinquish control and give my thoughts over to be swept gently along a languidly flowing stream of free association. My incessantly-nagging inner dialogue, with all its embedded anxieties and doubts, fades to blissful silence. In this space, my senses are heightened. The sky and clouds above more vibrant. The breeze crisper and carrying scents of the season. In that moment, perception and reality blur. There is only ringing stone, rhythmic motion, and the metronome tapping of hammer on chisel.
My perspective shifts fluidly between the minute detail of the contour under my hammer and
the ever-evolving composition of the whole. As I pull back to assess the overall form, I am conscious of my thoughts, of myself, of my surroundings, and of the story I am attempting to tell in the composition. Returning to my tools, my perspective narrows to focus laser-like on the shape flowing out from my chisel. Conscious thought slips from the foreground. Only vaguely am I aware of anything beyond the shape I am carving. Back and forth my perspective shifts. Conscious giving way to unconscious. There and back again. A wondrous dance through which the spirit rejoices and beauty is birthed.
Comments