I think most people would agree we are born curious. Curious about pretty much everything and eager to explore and discover. As children I think, when we are allowed to, we are able to explore and follow our curiosity almost without thought. It is only when there is interaction and often judgement from others that we begin to limit and curtail this. It seems that it is an easy tap to turn off and it can be a hard one to turn on again.
Being curious and following our curiosity to explore and allowing ourselves to feel wonder at simple things, without any worry is often pretty hard. Following our curiosity and exploring and playing can, in paint, lead to the creation of mud and requires a focus on the process as well as a lack of attachment to the end product.
For me, following curiosity is paying attention and noticing when a little inclination or nudge occurs. To try a different brush, colour, pen, paper, tool. Sometimes, I temper my curiosity with experience. So I might try out a new colour or mark on a scrap of paper. This is especially true if it is a piece I have worked on and I want to create a particular effect or if I am honest I don’t want to risk ‘spoiling it’. When I say spoiling it what a really mean is taking it in a direction I don’t like and then having the challenge of moving it back in the direction I do like.
Sometimes, especially when I am creating layered pieces and backgrounds, I recognise I need to explore, to experiment and to play. Having spaces where I can do this and follow my curiosity unburdened with wanting to achieve a particular outcome helps me to get to know my tools; it helps me gain information about what I like and don’t like; it helps me to learn whilst also allowing me to try the weird and wonderful ideas that arise for me.
Another place I find I can follow my curiosities is when I am painting or creating a mindful moment exercise. These offer space for curiosity in a way that feels good to me. I enjoyed exploring all the different marks and patterns my brain could come up with using just straight lines.
I am rediscovering my enjoyment of sketchbooks as a place to do this through the filming I am doing that is aimed at primary school teachers to help them quickly understand the skills and concepts needed for different media and to support their art teaching in school. All of the skills and lessons I am filming are in a sketch book and I am (almost constantly) advocating how useful it is for teachers to have their own sketch books.
I’ve been thinking recently that I would quite like to have a sort of techniques sketch book; where I have a technique and some writing about both the process and my feelings and further ideas.
As we gain experience, a lot of which comes from play, experimentation and finding things that we like and things we don’t, we are creating a virtual tool box. Inside this virtual tool box we are building a bank of tricks, skills, knowledge and attitudes; all of which can support us in our creativity.
In my tool box I have developed a number of attitudes or ways of thinking and working that are supportive to me as an artist and as a creator. Being curious is a really important one. Curiosity has led me to new ideas, combinations of media, and some of my favourite things.
Mandalas are a really good example of where curiosity helped me. I was curious to try them but my previous attempts had left me with a reaction that was almost a tensing of my body. Curiosity prompted me to ask why? Digging deeper led me to recognising the need for everything to be perfectly symmetrical and just so, felt stressful. My curiosity asked the question ‘why do they have to be perfect?’ Through following this curiosity, Wonky-Dalas were born.
They were a framework that enabled me to relax and enjoy making mandalas that were deliberately wonky. Over time this has lead to me feeling less tight about more precise and symmetrical mandalas. Another example of following my curiosity is the creating on imaginary creatures which are formed from a mixture of animals, plants and crystals. This entire process is really led by my curiosity once I have the elements I want to include in my creation. This is a video of a book that contains the creatures I created in 2021 and 2022 and some Mandalas.
Being curious is the second of the three core principles in my mindfulness based approach to creating. It began as observe with curiosity. This works beautifully with watercolours (and other paints and media). Watercolours flow and diffuse sometimes with a mind all of their own and beutiful things can happen when you add salt, cling film, bubble wrap, alcohol and more. I think that being curious also offers the opportunity to change your mindset to one of a beginners mind. Where you try to experience this without any preconceptions, much like a beginner would.
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