would reflect my experience there.
On three separate occasions I have
drafted up ideas and sketches and
had relevant photos printed, only to
put them all aside. They always lacked
that special something I needed to
get my creative juice flowing, or, as
in the most recent case, my rough
sketch ended up looking more like
an advertisement for a tour company,
than something I wanted to paint.
Over the last year of study at Uni,
our recommended artist research
has included, amongst many others,
Gerhart Richter. About a week ago,
I stumbled across an interview with
Gerhart Richter. During the podcast,
we saw Richter creating one of his
works. He used a metal scraper, about
1 metre long by 30cm wide to scrape
paint back and forth, up and down on
the canvas. Judging by the six or so
steps he took, and his height, I would
say the canvas was about four metres
long by two to three metres high.
I instantly thought that the resultant
blurred canvas would be an ideal
vehicle for my Africa painting.
I intended to use a river and
bush scene I had visited (and ate
lunch near) as the background
and didn’t want it to intrude too
much, nor detract from the animal
heads I was going to focus on.
Inspiration comes
One morning I went for my usual
swim, and as I turned to start the next
lap, my goggles slipped, allowing a
drop of water to seep in. I kept going,
thinking I would adjust them at the
end of the next lap. The further I went,
the more the water leaked in, so as
I turned to breathe on one particular
occasion, the water got into my eye.
I noticed the lines and reflections
on the floor of the pool blurred, as
did the flags above and the lane
floats. AHA!!! Inspiration comes!!!
By the time I’d reached the end
of the pool, my painting had started
to evolve. No! not the Africa one,
but one related to the triptych done
earlier, and the title was quite clear- “The Swim”. I continued with my
swim, brainstorming ideas as I went.
Once I completed my laps, I
asked the manager if she would be
interested in hanging a large canvas
(120cm x 102cm) on one of the
walls. I already had a triptych hung
there, so I figured that she would be
amenable. At one point, mention was
made of “a more modern painting”.
Brainstorming
For those who do not know,
brainstorming is the process whereby
you create ideas. Many may be of no
use to you, but by thinking laterally,
you may trigger that special idea that
makes your painting “great”. I raced
home and wrote down all the ideas
I could remember thinking about
as I swam. Once the initial thrust
had slowed, I made a “cuppa” and
allowed myself some “quiet” time.
More ideas came and then I beganAbove: The Swim
Below: Thumbnails
Opposite page: Foreshortened
foot and leg, in different positions.“Abstraction and the
Cubists brought to
the fore, the idea
that we don’t have to
paint what an artist
friend of mine calls
“pretty pictures”.
They stressed that we
should concentrate
on essential elements
of what we want
to depict, and the
relationship of the
parts is subordinate
to that idea.”