More on variables and parameters

I first mentioned Kristina Laurendi Havens back in 2010 as an artist whose work fascinated me at the time I was starting to explore the world of life drawing. It was particularly her use of colour and her expressive figurative work that attracted me. I recently re-accessed her website to discover that she had made an observation about an issue which I have been very interested in and one I have posted some thoughts on a number of times. It is about becoming aware of the numerous variables that come into play to influence one's art and how one can introduce constraints or parameters to help guide one's process. 

My most recent comment on this was my posting of October 13th 2022 (Context: the variables influencing a life-drawing response). Here is what Kristina had to say:

Practical Productive Practice for Artists  (January 26th 2020)

There's a million ways to paint an apple.  An apple.  Think about it.  You could paint an apple in any color of the rainbow.  Paint it cut in half.  Paint it rotting on a cutting board.  Paint it in a basket.  Paint it in shadow.  Put in under a spotlight.  Paint it abstract.  Paint it in black and white.

You see where I'm going with this?

SO many choices.

If you were told "go paint an apple!"

Would you know what to do?

Would you know what surface you want to paint it on?

What brush to use?

What palette to use?

What medium to use?

What would you want to SAY about the apple in your painting?

Those are the questions the Artist has to answer before they even pick up a brush.  And it's in those questions where frustration can sneak into the studio.  I HAVE TO MAKE SO MANY DECISIONS JUST TO MAKE A PAINTING.

So, the practice - the act of practicing painting - can be frustrating if you don't work within a few parameters.

What makes practice practical? What makes practice rewarding, so that you want to practice MORE?

Rules.  Parameters.  Parameters are your friend.

You will recall my current 'material/physical' parameters are: 220gsm white cartridge paper in portrait format, a fine-liner pen in each hand, sitting at my easel. Occasionally I adopt a different medium, but I resist the frequent suggestions from my colleagues to break into paint and colour (look back to early postings to see how I enjoyed pastel, conte, coloured inks, tinted charcoal, sometimes paint, etc.) As I have mentioned a few times over recent years I believe my work changes, almost week by week. It is an evolutionary change process, sometimes (or probably most times) the differences may be imperceptible to the eye of many beholders. However I strongly believe that my highly constrained material/physical parameters do allow me to focus on 'my process' and on a deeper engagement with 'my feelings', 'my intuition', 'my spontaneity', 'my emotion', 'my meditation', 'my sub-conscious', 'my looking and my seeing', etc.,  etc.,