To quote, again, the famous 10 rules by Sister Corita Kent, from the art department at the Immaculate Heart Convent School in Los Angeles (c1968).
They are all good, but these are the ones most important to me:
RULE FOUR: Consider everything an experiment.
RULE SIX: Nothing is a mistake. There’s no win and no fail, there’s only make.
RULE SEVEN: The only rule is work. If you work it will lead to something. It’s the people who do all of the work all of the time who eventually catch on to things.
RULE EIGHT: Don’t try to create and analyze at the same time. They’re different processes.
RULE NINE: Be happy whenever you can manage it. Enjoy yourself. It’s lighter than you think.
RULE TEN: “We’re breaking all the rules. Even our own rules. And how do we do that? By leaving plenty of room for X quantities.” (John Cage)
Helpful hint: Save everything — it might come in handy later.
http://www.brainpickings.org/2012/08/10/10-rules-for-students-and-teachers-john-cage-corita-kent/
Strange how a convent school, not generally known for their liberality, has some of the most broad-minded and helpful guidelines for creatives.
For me, one of the most helpful is rule eight about not trying to create and analyze at the same time. I know artists who are paralyzed into inaction by over-thinking what they do, and so I try not to bother thinking about it at all.
Until afterwards. Or later. Or maybe never.
I made some of these composite images from stills where I have accidentally captured myself during timelapse shoots. My photoshop skills are not great, but I’m getting better, and some of them are a bit rough. But I really like them.
I don’t know if I can manage 365+1 for the whole year (it’s a leap year) but I don’t see why not, and I might start staging more of them like the one shown at the top.
http://bolam365.wordpress.com
I don’t know what they are, or what they mean. But what I do know is that they are something, and that I am making them, and that I have not allow any thinking to get in the way.
I’ll leave the analysis until later, and wait for the X quantities to kick in.
Retrospective: Richard Bolam at 50 