Learning as Motivation

One thing I experienced several times during IFJM2017 is that solving a drawing puzzle or problem provided some motivation. (I like solving puzzles which is probably why I enjoy computer programming so much. I also like writing blog posts or emails when I have an idea I want to clarify for myself or get across to others.) Once during this IFJM I got frustrated trying to draw a tea cup and Googled "freehand ellipse" and found a wonderful video and I really enjoyed trying out the suggestions. (The teacher was so good and clear that it made me realize how much more I could have learned in many subjects if I'd had teachers like that.) Unfortunately, after I "got" it, I didn't have any desire to keep doing it. Then there were two problems related to colored pencils. (I'd not used them before but ending up ordering some because I'd bought a tarot coloring book and discovered too late that the instructions suggested colored pencils rather than markers.) The pencils resulted in two drawing puzzles: how to blend and how to draw animal fur. I ended up using blending in one journal entry and animal fur in another. But again, I didn't have any desire to get better at either of these skills.

After the project was over I listened to Roz's video interview and she said getting better at a skill is one possibility for an IFJM project. She mentioned two of hers: one was to get better at landscape painting so she did a project where she drew clouds every day and the other was to get more comfortable with chaos in her journal so she pre-painted pages, used stencils and a Gelli plate, incorporated materials people sent her, etc.

So one lesson learned is that a skill-building IFJM could be a good project for me if I were to choose a skill I really wanted to learn (not tea cups and animal fur or something I think I ought to want to learn) and wasn't likely to get bored with too quickly. I'm actually more interested in abstract than representational art so off the top of my head skills that might be fun would be learning to control acrylic paint better, e.g. making it smooth or not, making abstract collages, or using texture pastes and related materials.

I should point out that for me the need for skill building or for choosing certain materials is more of an iterative process and it's not always clear to me which is the chicken and which is the egg.. The Golden Paint Company's "Just Paint" newsletter often mentions that they've developed a new product in response to an artist's needs. This has made me realize that my mind doesn't work like that. I don't have a clear vision of something I want to create that will require material that behaves a certain way or depends on honing a certain skill.